BECOME A GC 09 INTERCESSOR

July 3rd, 2009
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[Ed. Note:  The odds are against the Episcopal Church agreeing to maintain the 2 moratoria requested of them by the Primates, the Windsor Continuation Report, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Archbishop of Canterbury.  These moratoria were first approved at the Lambeth meeting last summer. Prayer can accomplish ANYTHING GOD WANTS!  Please set aside time every day to pray for this General  Convention.  Thanks in advance.  Cheryl M. Wetzel]

http://csgw.wordpress.com/

Fr. Rob Eaton

by Fr. Rob Eaton

Please start by going to this website and reading the “About GC 09 Intercessors” Page first.   Then come back here.

The commitment to intercede is described here as in columns and rows.  Think of it in terms of a spreadsheet.   Each day of General Convention is represented by an up and down column, counting down 24 lines (rows), one for each hour in a day.  Each day becomes a Vigil.

The rows, going left to right, represent each of those hours in a day, but going across the entire length of columns which would be 14 days worth.   So, the rows refer to taking a time “across”, that is, praying at the same time every day.

Referring to those “rows”, we are especially inviting Anglican provinces to pray at their 6am time, their “First Hour”, making it easy to remember.   However, if this is what you are called to do and you are living in Los Angeles, and you are called to pray at 11:30, then great.   Just leave a comment saying so on the “First Hour” Time Zone Page, and we’ll build you into the coverage.

You can also take a whole day to pray, or a part of a day, as your schedule allows.   That is the “column” method.   Let us know which day and for how long by leaving a comment on that day (use the “Categories” dropdown to find your day the quickest).

Especially, though, on the Vigil Days (the columns) we are looking for whole dioceses or other parachurch organizations (like Faith Alive, Brotherhoodof St Andrew, Daughters of the King, Anglican Fellowship of Prayer, etc.) to “host” a day.  See the days posts for what we want to see happen.

A briefing paper on how and what to pray is now posted under “Pages” as “HOW TO PRAY for GC 09″ and and also linked here.   Also, we want to hear from you during and after your times of prayer.  Live blogging during prayer as a function of sending “comments” is fine.   If you have a twitter account, please get the word out.  A Twitter account for this site will also be established by GC09.

Please see “Lent & Beyond” for special prayers.

If you have any questions, or need clarification, please leave a comment at the website.   Thank you for your consideration in prayer to be in prayer for the deputies and bishops meeting as General Convention.

Cherie General Convention 2009, General news

Episcopal Leaders Prepare for Homosexuality Debates

July 3rd, 2009
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[Ed. Note:  Just over one year ago, the bishops who will vote next week at General Convention were shocked and alarmed at how angry the other bishops at the Lambeth Conference were with them.  Even though the most angry and adamant bishops from Africa did not attend, the "moderate" bishops from smaller provinces and churches were blatantly honest about the jeopardy the pro-gay actions of TEC and Canada placed them in. They spoke candidly about how further actions will split the Communion.  Now, we stand on the threshold of this General Convention.  What will direct these bishop's votes?  The remembrance of anger or the arrogant assumption that they cannot be "kicked out of the Communion?"  We will know the answer within the next two weeks.  Cheryl M. Wetzel]

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090702/episcopal-leaders-prepare-for-homosexuality-debates/index.html

By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 02 2009 12:02 PM EDT
Episcopal Church leaders are scheduled to meet in a private session next week with the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.

Members of the Episcopal House of Deputies are expected to address homosexuality issues and how LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) members are involved in The Episcopal Church during the meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, according to the Episcopal News Service.

The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe of the Diocese of California told the denomination’s news service that the meeting will be set in the context of the “Listening Process,” in which Anglicans worldwide are encouraged to listen to gay and lesbian persons and all sides of the homosexuality debate.

The meeting is taking place the same week of the 76th General Convention, The Episcopal Church’s triennial legislative meeting.

Leaders at this year’s convention, which takes place July 8-17 in Anaheim, Calif., will be considering resolutions that would allow the consecration of openly gay bishops. Some dioceses, or regional bodies, have asked the General Convention to repeal or retract resolution B033, which was approved in 2006.

B033 calls for restraint in ordaining bishops “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church,” mainly noncelibate homosexuals. It was passed amid calls by Anglican bishops overseas who were outraged after The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism – consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, in 2003.

The Diocese of Newark argues that B033 was never intended to be permanent and that it was only passed to prevent further fractioning of the global Anglican Communion.  [Ed. Note:  This is inaccurate.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, in written note, made it clear that TEC bishops would possibly not be invited to the Lambeth Conference if they were not willing to make some concession on this issue.  B033 passed the House of Deputies within the last half hour of the General Convention, after being strongly urged to do so by the House of Bishops.  Cheryl M. Wetzel]  Read more…

Cherie Anglican Communion, Gay Agenda, General Convention 2009, General news

US laity fear centralisation

July 3rd, 2009
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[Ed. Note:  The House of Deputies is composed of laity and clergy.  When a lay person is President of the House, there is always discussion about the Deputies being "third cousins, seated in the back row."  You can expect a larger than normal demand from this House of Deputies for equality with the House of Bishops.  My question is, "What don't you get about the name Episcopal and how that is related to Bishops?"  Cheryl M. Wetzel]

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=77477

Pat Ashworth looks ahead to the US General Con­vention

for the Church Times, London

LAY PEOPLE at the General Con­vention of the Episcopal Church in the United States will have some hard questions for the Archbishop of Canterbury when he visits, says the president of the House of Depu­ties, Bonnie Anderson. The triennial convention meets next week in Anaheim, California.

Eyes from all around the Anglican Communion will be on its business, notably whether it will vote to re­peal Resolution BO33, which in 2006 urged a halt to ordaining any more gay bishops for the time being. To repeal it would require the consent of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. Bishops have no collective authority to exercise power in the Church, where laity and clergy have an equal voice, and the former have historically exercised strong influ­ence. They elect bishops in a demo­cratic operation — something that is out of the experience of many pro­v-inces in the Anglican Communion, Mrs Anderson says.

The deputies are unhappy with moves towards greater centralisation of authority in bishops and in panels appointed by Lambeth Palace. “We work very well together [with the bishops], but to see that kind of po­tential disenfranchisement of laity is really adverse to our polity,” Mrs Anderson said on Monday. The Bishops will have divided loyalties. They are acknowledged to have returned from the Lambeth Conference much influenced by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s appeals for unity, and mindful that newly formed relationships with African bishops could be jeopardised if any steps were taken on this and on same-sex blessings.

“The indaba groups enabled bishops to get to know one another,” Mrs Anderson says. “They are very faithful about transmitting information to us. But I think we can safely say that people in the Episcopal Church like to get in­formation first hand, and we like to speak for ourselves. So there is always that little bit of an edge.” Deputies are not delegates. “In the wisdom of our forebears, we were not delegated to repeat the viewpoint of those who elect us, but deputised because we are trusted by the people who elect us to go with an open mind.” It is the deputies who are eager to revisit BO33. Many were unhappy with the way it was passed in 2006. “We’ve had an opportunity since then to live into that decision: did it work, was it good, did it buy us some time in deepening our relation­ships in the Anglican Communion, which we desperately want to do?”

Jim Naughton, Canon for com­munica­tions and advancement in the diocese of Washington, recalls how the resolution was written amid “rumours of transatlantic arm-twisting by the Most Revd Rowan Williams. . . “On the final day of the conven­tion, the newly elected Presiding Bishop, the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori, took the unusual step of addressing the House of Deputies. Her popularity, coupled with fears that Williams would recognise parishes and dioceses threatening to break away from the Episcopal Church as the authorised Anglican presence in the United States, led the Deputies to pass legislation that had seemed all but dead.”  Read more…

Cherie Anglican Communion, Gay Agenda, General Convention 2009, General news

Moline congregation sues Episcopal Church, bishop

July 3rd, 2009
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http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=447087

Posted Online: July 02, 2009, 9:19 pm


By Anthony Watt, awatt@qconline.com

An ongoing split between parts of the Anglican Communion has spilled into the Rock Island County court system.

The communion has millions of followers worldwide, including members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Several dioceses of the Episcopal Church — among them the Diocese of Quincy, which includes several Quad-Cities churches — have split from the larger body because of differences over a variety of topics from interpretation of the Bible to homosexual relationships.

Moline’s Christ Church, one of the churches that left, filed suit Wednesday against the larger body, alleging attorneys for the Episcopal Church have locked up funds held for Christ Church in First Midwest Bank by writing letters to the bank.

The letters claim the money belongs to the Episcopal Church, not Christ Church.

Christ Church is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the larger body from doing so, according to court records. The Moline church was granted a 10-day restraining order Thursday in Rock Island County court that will allow it to pay its expenses and its attorneys.

“It is regrettable that we have had to respond to the acts of others against Christ Church by resorting to the court system,” Canon Ed den Blaauwen, leader of Christ Church, said, reading from a prepared statement.

Canon den Blaauwen said the church intends to continue its work, but declined to say more about the suit. He said he has not asked other local churches that also left the Episcopal Church if they have received similar letters or have filed suits. He said he has not otherwise heard of either happening.

Neva Rae Fox, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church, said she had not heard of the suit before being contacted for comment Thursday night. She declined to comment on the merits of the suit.  Read more…

Cherie General news, New Province, Property Litigation

Bud Kennedy: Crackdown was about police, not gays

July 3rd, 2009
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[Ed. Note:  The Tobacco and Alcohol agents that raided the Rainbow Bar last weekend have received negative press from every news source.  It has been in the headlines here all week.  This is the first article (op-ed piece) I have seen that tries to clarify the issue.  Cheryl M.  Wetzel]

A local Web site asks whether Fort Worth is “The New Ground Zero for Gay Rights?”

The Atlantic columnist Andrew Sullivan calls Fort Worth the home of a “violent, homophobic raid to persecute and physically assault gay men.”

Syndicated columnist Dan Savage (Savage Love) accuses us of “gay panic” and “state-sponsored violence.”

I can’t begin to speak for the more than 2,000 gay and lesbian couples who live here, not to mention the singles.

But the city I’m reading about doesn’t seem like Fort Worth.

This is the city Where the West Begins, one that celebrates the Old West tradition of rugged individualism.

Our motto could be “Welcome to Fort Worth. Now Mind Your Own Business.”

This is the city where arch-conservative Republican Chuck Silcox led the City Council vote to protect gay and lesbian residents from discrimination.

This is the city with openly gay elected officials.

This is the city where prominent Episcopal and Baptist churches defy their leaders and welcome gay and lesbian Christians.   [Ed. Note:  Gays were welcomed into Episcopal parishes prior to the Diocese of Fort Worth leaving the Episcopal Church.  This is not a new policy.  Cheryl M. Wetzel] Read more…

Cherie Gay Agenda, General news