Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury celebrate Vespers; Catholic monarch could put Church of England in peril, bishop warns; Anglican Covenant gathers four more “no” votes
Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury celebrate Vespers at San Gregorio al Celio
Vatican Radio – Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams celebrated Vespers in the church of St Gregory on the Caelian hill on Saturday afternoon, as they gave thanks together the 1000th anniversary of the Camaldoli monastic community which is based there. Philippa Hitchen was at the celebration and tells us more about this ecumenical encounter..
“It is good to touch the soil on which you are nurtured”. Those words from Dr Rowan Williams explain why three successive archbishops of Canterbury have come to the Rome church of San Gregorio al Celio – to the very place from where Pope Gregory the Great sent out Augustine and 40 of his monks to take the Christian gospel to Anglo-Saxon England at the end of the 6th century.
Today, for the third time, Pope Benedict said in his homily, the Bishop of Rome is meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury in the home of St Gregory the Great. Today’s celebration, he said is therefore marked by a profoundly ecumenical character, which as we know is part and parcel of the spirit of the Camaldoli community that has lived and worshipped in the church on the Caelian hill since the mid 16th century. Noting the hospitality and openness of this community which has made it a place for fruitful dialogue throughout the centuries and now in different parts of the world, the Pope said we hope that today’s celebration will act as a stimulus for all the faithful – Catholic and Anglican – encouraging them to renew their commitment and prayer for the unity that Jesus himself asked of His Father.
www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=570449
Full text: Archbishop of Canterbury at ecumenical Vespers
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=570412
Church leaders ready to fight for traditional marriage
BBC News – There have been some powerful, even outspoken, criticisms of the government’s plans to introduce gay marriage, but it is the softer-spoken critics to whom ministers may be paying most attention.
A letter written by the two archbishops representing London’s Roman Catholics – to be read in churches this weekend – alerts churchgoers to a potential future political fight to preserve traditional marriage.
The letter – by Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith – tells Catholics that changing the nature of marriage would be a “profoundly radical step” which would reduce its effectiveness and significance.
Archbishop Nichols – the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales – has a record of mobilising the faithful.
In 2006, when the government proposed to impose quotas on admissions to Catholic schools, Archbishop Nichols wrote to schools telling them to lobby MPs.
The letter – to be read out in 2,500 churches this weekend – ends by telling Catholics they have a “duty to do all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations”.
Another moderate speech that will not have escaped the government’s attention came from the leader of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17315515
Anglican Covenant gathers four more “no” votes
Four more diocesan synods of the Church of England have rejected the Anglican Covenant in voting today. That makes the total 17 against and 10 in favor. If 22 synods vote against the Covenant it will not be taken up by the Church of England’s General Synod for adoption.
The reports today are all coming via Twitter at this point (follow the link to the source tweet for the specific report):
Ripon and Leeds: BISHOPS : 2 FOR 0 AGAINST/ CLERGY 12 FOR 22 AGAINST/ LAY 8 FOR 17 AGAINST
Bath and Wells: F-A-Abst B 0-1-1 C 17-22-1 L 18-23-1
Southwark: bishops 1 for 1 abstention. Clergy 10 for 27 against 2 abstention Laity 21 for 32 against. Motion falls
Worcester: #AnglicanCovenant Worcester figures laity 6 for 22 against, clergy 5 for 19 against, bishops 2 for. Provisional figures only
The dioceses of Coventry and Carlisle are also voting today. We’ll update this report as those results are posted.
Coventry and Carlisle have both voted in favor of the Anglican Covenant
Coventry: Bps: 2 for; 0 agin; 0 abs Clergy: 22 for; 7 agin; 0 abs Laity: 26 for; 2 agin; 0 abs
Carlisle: Bishops F 2 Clergy F 19 A 13 Ab 2 Laity F 33 A 17 Ab 0
So, it looks like the percentage is roughly holding today with about a close to two to one ratio of no votes to yes votes. Anyone arguing that there is a consensus in favor of the Covenant in England, should there eventually be enough votes in favor to send this back to General Synod (unlikely) is going to have a very tall hill to climb.
Modern Church has a full listing of the schedule of Anglican Covenant diocesan synod votes and the results so far on their website.
http://modernchurch.org.uk/resources/mc/cofe/2012-1.htm
Catholic monarch could put Church of England in peril, bishop warns
Telegraph – Bishops are preparing to fight Government plans to allow a Catholic to ascend the throne because they say it would put the Church of England’s position in peril.
The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, who leads the 26 bishops who sit in the House of Lords, tells The Sunday Telegraph that David Cameron’s policy to end Britain’s 300-year-old succession laws risks overturning the Church’s constitutional role.
Bishop Stevens also defended the bishops’ recent political opposition to several Government reforms and said that they were watching draft legislation carefully for measures that could disadvantage particularly poor or vulnerable people.
He argued that the Prime Minister’s plans to repeal the ban on the monarch being married to a Catholic posed a serious potential risk. Currently the Queen is required to take on the role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England — making it the established Church. But the bishops said that it would be impossible for a Catholic monarch to have that role.
If Mr Cameron’s reforms were passed it would be possible for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s firstborn child to marry a Catholic and still ascend the throne. If that monarch had a child, he or she would have to be brought up as a Catholic under the rules of the Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9136295/Catholic-monarch-could-put-Church-of-England-in-peril-bishop-warns.html
Church leaders ready to fight for traditional marriage
BBC News – Archbishop Nichols – the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales – has a record of mobilising the faithful. In 2006, when the government proposed to impose quotas on admissions to Catholic schools, Archbishop Nichols wrote to schools …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17315515
Blair takes on the Pope by backing gay marriage
The Independent – A consultation on gay marriage to be launched later this month has met fierce opposition from senior figures in the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. On Friday, Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholics to block the “powerful political and …
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/blair-takes-on-the-pope-by-backing-gay-marriage-7555115.html
Manchester chapel holds civil partnerships
The Guardian – The Cross Street Unitarian chapel is the first place of worship in England to be granted such a licence
A famous chapel in Manchester has become the first place of worship in England to be granted a licence to hold civil partnerships.
Cross Street Unitarian Chapel has been granted the licence which will allow same-sex couples to hold religious and civil ceremonies in the building.
The, originally the “Dissenters’ Meeting House”, is the mother Church of Non-Conformity in Manchester. The original Chapel erected in 1694 on the site was probably the very first building erected for non-Conformist worship in Lancashire.
William Gaskell, the husband of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, was famously minister at Cross Street between 1828 and 1884. The Gaskell Society continues to meet at the chapel and there’s a Gaskell Room that houses early editions of her novels.
The Reverend Jane Barraclough, the current minister of Cross Street Chapel, told the BBC that offering the service fulfilled “a basic human right”.
A new law allowing civil partnership ceremonies to be conducted in places of worship came into effect in December 2011.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/mar/10/chapel-manchester-civil-partnerships
More than 100 churches and vicarages have chosen solar panels
This is Money – More than 100 churches and vicarages have gone solar in the past few months. A decision by the High Court to extend generous rates of feed-in tariffs (FIT) for solar panels before they were slashed led to a Church of England solar-panel building frenzy …
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2113158/More-100-churches-vicarages-chosen-solar-panels.htmll
Weymouth churches get set for Olympic and Paralympic Games
Dorset Echo – The regional training day, called ‘Get Set’, will run from 10.30am to 4.30pm on Saturday, March 24 at All Saints Church of England School, Wyke Regis, Weymouth. Eleven workshops, organised by the Games-inspired charity More Than Gold, will include how …
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/9582078.Weymouth_and_Portland_churches_get_set_for_Olympic_and_Paralympic_Games/
Ramadan, Iranian hijabs, Sikh daggers add unexpected drama to the London Olympics
Belief net – This year at the London Olympics, Sikh athletes will be allowed to carry daggers – and some Muslim competitors may be exempted from their annual Ramadan fast. But a decision to experiment with the safety of hijab headcoverings for Muslim women soccer players may have come too late for Iran’s national women’s team. London’s 2012 Olympics will take place during Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month. From sunrise to sunset, devout Muslims bar anything from passing their lips,…
http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2012/03/olympics-ok-sikh-knives-nix-irans-scarves.php