Speaking of San Joaquin ...

Posted today on ENS:

Presiding Bishop Comments on San Joaquin Actions

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has offered the following response to actions of Bishop John-David Schofield and the Convention of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin.

I lament the actions of the Bishop and Convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin to repudiate their membership in the Episcopal Church. While it is clear that this process is not yet complete, the fact that the Bishop and Convention have voted to remove the accession clause required by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church would seem to imply that there is no intent to terminate this process before it reaches its full conclusion. Our task as the Episcopal Church is God's mission of reconciling the world, and actions such as this distract and detract from that mission.

I deeply lament the pain, confusion, and suffering visited on loyal members of the Episcopal Church within the Diocese of San Joaquin, and want them to know of my prayers and the prayers of many, many others.

I continue to consult with others involved in responding to this extracanonical action.

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

A Busy Monday in the Blogsophere

From Pierre Whalon's "Anglicans Online" essay: Alive and Well
The Anglican Communion is alive and well … and living in Rome. And in Europe. And elsewhere as well. Away, in fact, to the ends of the earth.
Read it all here

From Katie Sherrod's "Desert's Child" blog: Let The Whining Begin
One of the most elementary life lessons that parents give their children is that actions have consequences. Yes, you CAN hit your brother, but if you do, you WILL be in time out. Yes, you CAN throw food on the floor, but if you do, you WILL clean it up and mop the floor. This is a lesson that many adults in The Episcopal Church have somehow missed. Their version of this lesson is, “I get to do anything I want, make any mess I want, say anything I want, change any rules I want, ignore any vows I took, shirk any responsibilities I have, and still get to be a full member of the church with all the privileges that pertain to that membership. And I get to do this because I’m right and pure and you’re not and if you try to make me follow the rules I will scream and whine and hold my breath ‘til I turn blue.”
Read it all here

From Dylan Breuer's "Sarah Laughed" very through and interesting analysis:
increasing chaos among breakaway movements
If the subtle and not-so-subtle sniping and competition among those most vociferously proclaiming themselves the guardians of the orthodoxy and koinonia at the heart of the Windsor Report's most helpful exhortations is any indication of what the family of Anglican churches would be like if they had authority to implement their proposals without deep, lengthy, and broad consultation, I think that our current and very messy polity is the better course.
Read it all here

Finally, this lovely meditation for World AIDS Day that I just had the chance to read today ... from John Kirkley's "meditatio": The Healing of the Centurion's Boyfriend
Isn’t that ultimately the message of the Cross? How large and powerful God’s love is, willing to suffer with us, with us Centurions and our boyfriends, with us who are sick and dying, whether from AIDS or something yet to be revealed, all of us frail mortals upon whom God lavishes such devoted care. That Love will always heal us, though not always in ways that we can anticipate or control.
Read it all here.

From "The Episcopal Majority" Mailbag

The Episcopal Majority folks are sharing the response they have received from +Rowan Williams to a letter sent to the Archbishop on their behalf by TEM Steering Committee member Bill Coats. "Read all about it" on The Episcopal Majority blog ... but here's +Rowan's missive to get you started:

Dear Mr. Coats,

Thank you for your letters about various questions affecting the Episcopal Church and its future. Without going into detail, there are one or two things I ought to say for clarity's sake. I fully accept that I have no jurisdiction in the USA and I have not sought and am not seeking to impose any new structure. I share your own concern that we avoid so far as humanly possible both rhetoric and action that further fracture the Episcopal Church and other Anglican provinces. I have had informal discussions with a number of parties in TEC, of very diverse opinions, as to what future possibilities there are, but I do not appproach this with a pre-cooked agenda of my own.

The principle of a 'covenant' has been brought forward chiefly because of a widespread recognition that existing historic links and bonds are not proving effective as expressions of mutual accountability. This conclusion is sufficiently widespread to give some ground for thinking that the Quadrilateral may need some glossing or expansion. What the shape of that will be is far from clear, but the support of the Windsor commission and the Primates has to be taken seriously.

The group that will be working on this will certainly include people who hold differing perspectives on the question, whatever the views of the chair. Since nearly every primate in the Communion has some sort of 'record' on the divisive questions of the day, I simply note that it is practically impossible to find a chair unequivocally acceptable to all.Thank you for your continuing prayers for this troubled but very precious fellowship that is the Communion at present.

Yours sincerely,
+Rowan Cantaur

"Lights of Hope" for the New Year

Happy New Year! As we begin a New Church Year today -- the First Sunday of Advent -- we bring our prayers for the peace, hope, love and joy represented in the four candles on the Advent Wreath. In my diocese (Los Angeles) our bishop has called us to an Advent of Special Intentions for a just peace in Israel/Palestine. Those Special Intentions are represented in the "Lights of Hope" initiative described below. May we all be given the gift of Hope in the season of Advent as we await -- once again -- the greatest gift of all: the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

From the Bishop of Los Angeles:

I call upon the people of this diocese to enter into a holy Advent, a time of hope and expectation, and to pray for peace in the Holy Lands. Our “Lights of Hope Program,” an initiative of “Hands in Healing,” is our opportunity to pray and to provide much needed medical supplies for the Hospital Ministries in the Diocese of Jerusalem. In the words of the psalmist:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
They shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy palaces.

Let us together light candles of hope.
Let us together pray for peace.
Let us together be the people of God.

Yours in Christ,
+J. Jon Bruno
Sixth Bishop Diocesan
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

Click here to receive daily Advent prayers by email
Click here to read Daily Advent Devotional
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111th Convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Celebrates Ten New Deacons!

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A highlight of convention this year was the ordination of ten new vocational deacons -- pictured above. Of course, that wasn't the part that was in the local paper. If all you knew about the 111th Convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles was what you read in the Riverside Press-Enterprise you'd think all we did was voice protest against a discriminatory resolution passed last June at General Convention.

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Which we did.

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But we also adopted a budget for 2007, elected new members to the Standing Committee, Commission on Ministry and Corporation of the Diocese (among others).

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We marked World AIDS Day with prayers and a presentation by the Diocesan AIDS Ministry (note Quilt squares in backdrop on photo above), took up offerings for Episcopal Relief and Development and distributed "Lights of Hope" Anglican Rosaries with prayers for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.

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We celebrated our youth volunteers and prayed the necrology, celebrating those we loved and see no more. We greeted old friends and colleagues, prayed the Daily Office and sang songs and prayed at a candlelight vigil for those living with HIV/AIDS.

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We listened to Phyllis Tickle -- author, lecturer and sociologist of religion -- who offered us historical and sociological context for the challenges and opportunities facing the church in the 21st century.

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We approved resolutions on the Living Wage and Global Warming. We did some Christmas shopping in the Exhibit Hall and some networking in the hotel bar.

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We ordained ten new deacons: men and women, black and white, Anglo and Latino, gay and straight ... all committing themselves to be set apart for a ministry of servanthood -- to take the Good News of God in Christ Jesus out into the world.

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And, oh yes, we passed -- by an overwhelming margin -- a resolution voicing our protest and disagreement with B033.

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And now onto Advent -- the start of a new church year with new opportunities and new challenges: and ten brand new deacons ready to rock and roll for Jesus.

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Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Amen!

Diocese of Los Angeles Protests B033

The following resolution was passed today by the Diocese of Los Angeles meeting in convention in Riverside, CA:

Response to B033

Resolved, that the One Hundred and Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles voices protest and disagreement with Resolution B033 of the Seventy-Fifth General Convention of the Episcopal Church as inconsistent with both Title III, Canon 1, Section 2 of the Constitution and Canons for the Government of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and our baptismal covenant to love and respect the dignity of every human being; and be it further

Resolved, that the One Hundred and Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles repent of the continuing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people that B033 encourages and authorizes and reaffirms the full inclusion of all sisters and brothers in Christ, regardless of sexual orientation, into all areas of the life of the Church; and be it further

Resolved, that the One Hundred and Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles call upon the Bishops and Standing Committee of this Diocese to uphold canon law in both letter and spirit when considering consents to the consecrations of new bishops.

Kudos to proposers Bob Long and Altagracia Perez and to the Diocese of Los Angeles for continuing to stand for justice and upholding the canons!

Off to Diocesan Convention

Diocesan Convention -- December 1 & 2

I'm off to the 111th Convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Part family reunion, part legislative sessions with teaching, preaching, worship and a banquet thrown in ... after 20 years of 'em I still look forward to being part of the "councils of the church" every year when the Diocese of Los Angeles meets in convention.

This year we also ordain ten new vocational deacons and hear from Phyllis Tickle as our keynoter ... oh, and consider some resolutions including a response to B033 that "voices protest and disagreement" with its discriminatory nature.

More on the L.A. Convention on the diocesan website ... "film at eleven" as they say!