The Northern Province of the Moravian Church, which represents the northern half of the full body of Moravians in the United States voted last night to approve the full communion agreement that the Episcopal Church approved last summer in Anaheim.
Canon Kearon explained the removal of Episcopalians from the Anglican Communion ecumenical dialogs as being due in part to the collapsing of the dialogs. Yet Bishop Chris Epting points out that the Episcopal Church is in full and lively conversations with a number of ecumenical partners, including in parallel with some that are in conversations with the larger Communion.
Executive Council finished its meeting today and has issued a report detailing what happened, and what decisions were made. It also reports that Bishop Douglas and The Rev. Gay Jennings were elected to fill vacant seats on the Anglican Consultative Council.
This Saturday the news of the diverse ministries of the Episcopal Church in its congregations across the country brings us stories about the founding of a Hospice, congregations providing business incubator support for new “green” businesses, pet ministry, missionary work overseas, and civic redevelopment.
Rice University sociologist Elaine Ecklund has tested that belief by surveying more than 1700 leading scientists about their personal faith. She finds that many, nearly half of the responding scientists, describe themselves as being religious. But because of perceived pressures, they keep their faith beliefs to themselves, living what Ecklund describes as a “closeted faith”.
It’s been a relatively slow week in the news, at least in terms of reporting of the day-to-day ministry of Episcopal congregations. Most of the attention has focused on the Pentecost letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury and his proposals to various group in the Anglican Communion. But reports of the everyday ministry of the Episcopal Church continue in spite of the primary attention being elsewhere, whether in the religious or the secular media.
The President of Malawi has intervened, pardoned and ordered the immediate release of the gay couple that were recently sentenced to 14 years of hard labor for holding a marriage commitment service in December.
Parishes of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland in the city of Baltimore are partnering with people of other denominations and faith in a program that hopes to stop the rising count of murders in the city
Every major Christian denomination in the State of Arizona has expressed deep concern regarding the new law enacted which makes it a state crime to be in the state without proper documentation. But while everyone agrees that the law is troubling because of fears of how it will be enforced, there are significant differences between denominations about how to proceed next.
Because the House of Bishops has its own regular meeting, and its own College for Bishops, it’s not surprising to learn that many bishops read the same books over a given year. And it’s always interesting to find out what’s on the reading list, because the ideas tend to surface in public again and again.