Lipscomb (Southwest Florida) said he has written to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, asking “to be released from my ordination vows and the obligations and responsibilities of a member of the House of Bishops. I have taken this step in order to be received into the Catholic Church.”
While phase one of the process involves the applicability of the 1867 statute, Judge Bellows will also rule on a second phase involving arguments on the constitutionality of the statute itself. The contesting sides submit written briefs to Bellows to argue this question in the next few weeks. A ruling on these two phases is expected January 17, 2008. The third phase will ensue when the claims of each of the 11 defecting congregations will be heard case-by-case.
Bishop Harvey said there are only a few parishes he knows of that are willing to follow his lead, but hopes his decision will act as a symbolic opening to many others who are unhappy with the Canadian Church.
What direction, though, is the causation? Growth surely increases self esteem, sense of purpose and joy of the congregation. No doubt joy is attractive and causes growth. But can you choose joy? Can a congregation choose to be open to change, or is that a characteristic that’s in its DNA? All organizations face such questions. A course of action for growth may be clear to the leadership but it’s another thing to change the culture of the organization.
So the upshot is this: I’m going to focus more on Science vs Theology here – and start posting my thoughts about the Great Anglican Upheaval over on the Cafe elsewhere. We’ll see if I can stick to that, but at least for now it’s the plan. Grin.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon visited the region and offered “all help humanly possible” to the more than 300,000 Tabasco residents whose homes were flooded or damaged and to the thousands of farmers whose entire harvests were destroyed….
Only a week or so ago, a US blogger was remarking charitably that it wasn’t worth expending a bullet on the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who is the first woman to lead a major Christian denomination. The blogger, incidentally, was herself a woman.
The Church of England had provided no bishops for the colonies prior to the Revolution and it was not prepared to do so afterwards. The consecration of Seabury was a key to the formation of the Episcopal Church. Its relationship to the Anglican Communion was figured out later.
A two-week trial began Tuesday in Fairfax County Circuit Court that will determine whether the 1867 law governs the dispute between 11 Virginia congregations that voted to leave the church and Episcopal leaders who reject the validity of those votes. At the time of enactment of the law, Protestant churches had been torn apart over slavery and abolitionism, and the splits were never amicable or formally recognized by both sides. Ironically, the Episcopal Church was an exception.
The movie of Philip Pullman’s book, The Golden Compass, will be released in December. Beliefnet’s entertainment blog Idol Chatter has created a Golden Compass category.