The Episcopal Church Center, commonly called “815” (its street number on Second Ave in New York City) has announced that it is about to reorganize the way it works and reorient the structure of the various program groups that work directly under the Presiding Bishop.
It’s not really news that godparenting has evolved into “a revered but blurry mix of religious and secular duty,” but The Tennessean has devoted an extended feature to describing the history and current context of the tradition, which aligns closely with infant or child baptism and traces back to around the 8th century, when Catholic doctrine decreed that one’s spiritual birth is distinct from one’s physical birth.
Bishop Gene Robinson has publicly endorsed Barack Obama, according to published accounts of a telephone press conference today. On the one hand, Robinson is in the spotlight as a “civil rights leader,” but two cautions spring to mind, both issued by the Interfaith Alliance soon after the report of Robinson’s endorsement emerged.
Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia has removed 21 clergy from the Episcopal priesthood. Twentytwo had been inhibited in January after the diocesan Standing
Committee determined that they had abandoned the Communion of The Episcopal Church. One inhibited clergy member has chosen to retract association with the group.
The opening prayer at the U.S. Senate usually doesn’t generate a lot of controversy. But on July 12, 2007, when chaplain Rajan Zed of Reno, Nev., became the first Hindu to deliver an opening prayer in the U.S. Senate, he was interrupted by Christian protesters….
Tobias Haller: It also strikes me that we are seeing, in the development of the Network, the final collapse of a geographical rootedness to the church. We are entering the world of the virtual church, the Church of the Five Faves, the church not of geographical and terrestrial space, but of affinity: Ecclesiastical MySpace
The Federal Trade Commission has recently completed a study of the practice of using credit ratings to price auto insurance, a practice several states forbid
“One thing became especially clear to me. Our African brothers and sisters want us to come and see them! When I suggested in one meeting that the money spent on plane tickets might be better spent on funding various projects, I was quickly reminded that ‘God created people before God created money,'” writes Smith.
Monday he was praised as a “great leader” by The Right Rev. Bob Duncan, Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network. Tuesday an Ecclesiastical Court in
Radner: “The recent statements by the Moderator of the Network, Robert Duncan so contradict my sense of calling within this part of Christ’s Body, the Anglican Communion, that I have no choice but to disassociate myself from this group.”