29 June 2008: Tutu urges African Union to intervene in Zimbabwe
Agence France Presse reports that Archbishop Tutu thinks there is 'a very good argument' for the AU to send in an international force. And the Archbishop of York calls for Britain to close its embassy in Harare. The Church Times reports that life in Zimbabwe has 'degenerated beyond description'.

28 June 2008: GAFCON ends in Jerusalem; many statements issued
The Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) has ended in Jerusalem, issuing this statement. The Jerusalem Post reported 'African Anglicans aiming to usurp UK Archbishop'. The Guardian reported 'Conservative Anglicans form global network' and then 'Conservative Anglicans form breakaway church in revolution led from the south'. The Sydney Morning Herald reported 'Anglicans' new group denounces liberalism'. The New York Times reported 'Anglicans Face Wider Split Over Policy Toward Gays'. The BBC's headline amused us: 'Anglican conservatives form group'. What manner of group? The Guardian's amazing religion reporter, Riazat Butt, has noted that white men are beginning to pull the strings, squeezing their African brothers out of the picture. If you're hungry for more detailed coverage of GAFCON, there are hundreds of articles in the world press, but be careful to understand each writer's politics before taking anything as Gospel. If you're hungry for more analysis and commentary, please wait a week to give the analysts and commentators time to understand it.

27 June 2008: Virginia trial court rules on breakaway parishes
The US Episcopal News Service reports 'Virginia court rules application of 'Division Statute' is constitutional'. It is the nature of the US legal system that this ruling is not definitive. A final decision could be several years in the future.

26 June 2008: Bishop of Pennsylvania found guilty of misconduct
The Associated Press reports that the Rt Revd Charles Bennison, Bishop of Pennsylvania, has been found guilty of engaging in conduct unbecoming of the clergy. The US Episcopal News Service filed this report, which includes links to vastly more detailed coverage should you be interested.

24 June 2008: +Akinola and +Orombi on violence against gays?
The Episcopal News Service reports that, pressed by the media at a news conference, the two primates declined to condemn violence against homosexuals. Religious Intelligence reports that a few days later, Archbishop Peter Jensen (Sydney) declared that any violence against a person is wrong, and the primates assented.

29 June 2008: Tennis star a nun
The Observer (London) reports that Andrea Jaeger, Wimbledon's youngest quarter-finalist, is now an Anglican Dominican nun and a founder of Athletes for Hope.

27 June 2008: Crimean memorial
Today's Zaman (Istanbul) tells the story of Christ Church, built to highlight tolerance of a religious minority and the Ottoman British alliance. It was closed in the 70s, but reopened in 1991 after the arrival of Sri Lankan refugees.

22 June 2008: Another Australian diocese clears the way for a woman bishop
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Diocese of Brisbane, at its Annual Synod, has cleared the way for its first woman bishop. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that Brisbane's Annual Synod 'has voted to automatically de-frock priests who are jailed for child sex offences'.

22 June 2008: Church and State in Malawi
The Nyasa [sic] Times (Malawi) reports that Malawi's High Court 'has temporarily lifted, on a technicality (due to undated papers of affidavit by the plaintiffs' Commissioner for Oaths) the injunction against the House of Bishops, brought by members of the clergy to stop the Bishops imposing their own candidate on the Diocese of Upper Shire, elections to vacant bishopric'.

20 June 2008: Church of England archbishops rebuke London priest
The Anglican Communion News Service has released the text of a terse joint statement by the archbishops of Canterbury and York on last week's blessing of vows between two clergymen in London. Church Times and BBC coverage of that statement is vastly longer than the statement itself.

20 June 2008: Summary of upcoming Church of England General Synod
The Church of England holds three General Synod meetings per year. The Anglican Communion News Service has released a briefing on what to expect at the next such meeting, from 4 to 8 July. The Church Times reports on one of the more contentious topics, that of women bishops, and also suggests that it is likely to dominate the Synod.

19 June 208: Obituary: Henry Chadwick
The Guardian published this obituary of Henry Chadwick, written by Rowan Williams. It begins with a quote: 'The Anglican church,' it was said, 'may not have a Pope, but it does have Henry Chadwick.' Obituaries also in The Times, The Telegraph, and the New York Times.

19 June 2008: GAFCON begins, moves quickly to Jerusalem
The Global Anglican Future Conference was to have begun in Jordan and then made a 'pilgrimage' to Jerusalem, but the US Episcopal News Service reports that some key participants were denied entry to Jordan so the whole affair was moved to Jerusalem. The US ENS noted 'On June 19, GAFCON's organizers released a document, "The Way, The Truth and the Life," which, according to a news release on the conference website, "sets out to define authentic Anglicanism, discuss what is at stake in the conflict, and what the future holds for orthodox Anglicans."' There is passable coverage of GAFCON in the secular press, and it seems in general that the significance of this conference is defined by its press coverage. The Telegraph, a London-based UK national newspaper usually noted for its conservative stance published this exasperated take on GAFCON and the reaction of the average resident of Angle Land to being instructed on the nature of authentic Anglicanism.

The Anglican Communion News Service appears to be on holiday, but the US Episcopal News Service (one of whose reporters is based in London) is doing a quite credible job of reporting on international Anglican news such as GAFCON. For example, the US ENS reports on the speech given by the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, to GAFCON participants.

15 June 2008: Conservative anger at same-sex exchange of vows in London
The BBC reports that traditionalists were angered at the exchange of vows in a London church by two clergymen who were already civil partners. The Press Association reported it as 'Anglican church's first gay "wedding"'. Thinking Anglicans has gathered a good bit of commentary here.

15 June 2008: Anglican Benedictine priory on the market
The property section of The Times (London) reports that the numbers at Burford Priory have dwindled, so they hope to sell up and move to a more modest home. Visit their website (designed by Perpetual Curate) for a fine image of their labyrinth on a frosty morning. We thought it would be crass for us to mention the asking price here, but come to think of it, that asking price is why this is news.

15 June 2008: Recycled water for baptisms?
The parish of St James, Toowoomba, in the Diocese of Brisbane, has embraced eco-spirituality, and has discovered that its energy-saving steps, including solar panels on the roof, pay financial benefits as well, reports the Courier-Mail (Queensland).

12 June 2008: Prime Minister apologizes for Canada's role in residential schools
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) wrote this editorial about the Canadian government's apology to aboriginals for its policy of assimilation through residential schools. That apology has been widely accepted as an important step in the process of reconciliation. The Anglican Church of Canada, which ran about 30 of those residential schools, apologized 15 years ago; this recent retrospective in the Anglican Journal gives an overview.

11 June 2008: California bishop urges all couples to seek civil union before church blessing
Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California wrote this letter to his diocese and thinks that such a policy would treat all marriages equally. The San Francisco Chronicle, newspaper in Bishop Marc's See city, wrote this expansive report on the issue. Catholic Online reported it as 'Bishop "Downgrades" Marriage'.

11 June 2008: Hugo Rifkind: Gordon Brown's moral compass is more like a dodgy satnav
In the Spectator, a self-described heathen takes a light-hearted look at the recent report produced for the Church of England. "It has got to be a tough gig, producing a report for the Church of England. Whatever the question, the answer has got to be 'the Church'."

10 June 2008: Sydney says No
The Sydney Morning Herald has published this long and detailed essay on why the Archbishop of Sydney and his flock are not going to the Lambeth Conference.

7 June 2008: Dealing with a painful past
The Vancouver Sun tells how the Kwakwaka'wakw people are dealing with the legacy of the residential school in their community. The Anglican and other churches had operated the schools for the federal government to force children to abandon their native culture.

7 June 2008: 'Moral, But No Compass'
A soon-to-be-published report commissioned by the Church of England says it feels betrayed by the Labour government's embrace of a secular agenda. Read accounts in The Times and The Telegraph. Reliable sources tell us that this account in Ekklesia is much more accurate. We're pretty sure that this BBC report actually references the same topic. It is startlingly different from newspaper reports. Maybe you should wait for the report to come out and then actually read it. Thinking Anglicans also is reporting on this.

7 June 2008: New Zealand Installs Bishop
Rt Revd David Rice was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Waiapu. Read the report from Hawke's Bay Today and a longer story, with photos, here.

6 June 2008: Envoy from Episcopal Church experiences Zimbabwe's crisis
Bishop Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts reports on the ongoing repression he saw of the Anglican church in Zimbabwe. The account in the Boston Globe includes a video clip in which he describes being locked out of church.

1 June 2008: Church of England priest to head Sydney University
The Sydney Morning Herald, seemingly a bit wary of Anglican clergy, reports that 'The most surprising thing about the choice of Michael Spence as vice-chancellor of Sydney University is not his relative youth, but that he is an ordained priest.'

1 June 2008: English Bishops alarmed about the poor quality of vicars
The Telegraph peeks into a confidential report that suggests thousands of clergy are not up to the job.

31 May 2008: New bishops consecrated
The US Diocese of Rochester (in New York) consecrated the Rt Revd Prince Singh as diocesan bishop (see this newspaper report and this press release), and the Diocese of Melbourne (in Victoria) consecrated the Rt Revd Barbara Darling as assisting bishop (see this newspaper report and this press release).

31 May 2008: Becoming a woman bishop in Australia
This isn't exactly a news story, but it's about a news story. The Age explains how Barbara Darling came to be an Australian bishop (see above).

31 May 2008: Catfight continues in England over women bishops
Thinking Anglicans has gathered lots of material about the ongoing squabble over women bishops in the Church of England, but there's no one link we can give you that will take you to collected material. To educate yourself, read 'petitions in support of women as bishops', 'petitions opposed to the "Single Clause" option', 'women as bishops: further items', and 'women bishops: more about the laity petition'. Or ignore it all and read what the New York Times has to say about the Vatican's recent reaffirmation of its policy that clergy are men. You can probably still buy Julian calendars somewhere. Try eBay.

30 May 2008: In lino veritas
We couldn't help noticing the juxtaposition of two stories on the News page of this week's online edition of the Church Times: 'Chaos warning as rumours fly after Bishops' meeting' and 'Report urges Church to face up to its bullies'.

30 May 2008: Government takeover of Anglican churches in Harare is complete
The Church Times reports that all Anglican churches in the diocese of Harare have now been barred to all except the handful of people who support the excommunicated former bishop. The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop Cape Town spoke to the Secretary General of the United Nations to express their grave concern about the increasing violence against the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe.

29 May 2008: Bishop of Rochester on being Muslim in Britain
The Telegraph reports on a recent article by the Rt Revd Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, about Christianity vs Islam in Britain, in a new conservative magazine. The Church Times' editorial cartoonist, Dave Walker, has what might be the best summary of responses.

29 May 2008: Melbourne nursing home collapse blamed on Sydney diocese
The Age (Melbourne) reports that the former manager of the failed Bridgewater nursing home in Melbourne has blamed its collapse on the Diocese of Sydney. We're dubious, but you can read it (and this background piece) and form your own conclusions.

28 May 2008: Israeli High Court rules diocese owns disputed school
The Episcopal News Service reports that the former bishop of Jerusalem failed in his attempt to claim ownership of Christ School in Nazareth.

27 May 2008: Huron approves blessings of same-sex marriages
But the bishop will follow the lead of Niagara, Montreal and Ottawa by consulting with other bishops before acting on the vote, according to the Anglican Journal.