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.

25 May 2008: Alarmist reaction to women bishops in England
The Sunday Telegraph (London) reports that 'The church of England faces a mass exodus of priests and worshippers after plans were approved to allow women to become bishops without protection for traditionalists.' We much prefer Dave Walker's simpler summary of the situation.

25 May 2008: Kenya bishops called cowards
The Sunday Nation (Nairobi) published an opinion piece by former cabinet minister Charles Njonjo entitled 'Failing to attend the Lambeth Conference is cowardly'.

24 May 2008: New bishop for Texas
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Revd C Andrew Doyle was elected as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

24 May 2008: More redundant buildings
The Telegraph (London) warns that many landmark Anglican and Roman Catholic buildings (including St Peter in Brighton) will be made redundant, and has an online petition to Save our Churches. If there's any consolation, the Church of England is growing elsewhere — in France.

23 May 2008: First woman bishop for Australia
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports on the consecration of the Australia's first female bishop, the Rt Revd Kay Goldsworthy. The Age (Melbourne) notes that she is unlikely to visit Sydney anytime soon. The Sydney Morning Herald filed this report.

23 May 2008: Church and State in Zimbabwe
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Anglican Bishop of Harare has issued a statement condemning the brutality of the local police who have repeatedly persecuted and assaulted Anglicans in an attempt to stop them from attending Sunday church services.

21 May 2008: Actual advertisements in US Episcopal Church
The US Episcopal News Service released a print and video advertising campaign encouraging people to slice carrots. To our ears, hardened by decades of exposure to commercial and public broadcast television, the voice in the video (just reading word for word from the print advert!) does not sound like a professional announcer and in fact seems to have a very slight speech defect. It's a start, for sure.

21 May 2008: Anglican Churches in the Americas plan February mission gathering
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the first large-scale gathering in the Anglican Churches of the Americas will be a February 2009 conference on 'mutual responsibility and mission'.

20 May 2008: ABC awards Lambeth Degrees
The Archbishop of Canterbury announced that ten people will receive Lambeth Degrees this July. We are delighted to note that Church Times writer Margaret Duggan, whose work we have admired for years, is to be one of them.

19 May 2008: Land stewardship in Barbados
According to The Nation News (Barbados), the Diocese of Barbados has pledged to make its extra lands available for housing and agriculture. 

18 May 2008: 'Vinegar Bible' returning to Nova Scotia
The Toronto Star reports that a 1717 bible (which recounts the parable of the vinegar, instead of the parable of the vineyard) will be returning to Lunenburg.

17 May 2008: Church and State in Britain
The BBC reports that former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has made a direct appeal urging those holding five British hostages in Iraq to free them. The Guardian (London) reports that the British Foreign Office was alarmed by his action, and IC Wales points out that his action was in defiance of a government-ordered news blackout.

16 May 2008: Bishops still saying 'yes' to Lambeth 2008
The Church Times reports that bishops are still signing up to the Lambeth Conference, two months before it opens in July.

16 May 2008: GAFCON announces more than 1000 have signed up for its Jerusalem pilgrimage
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has announced that more than 1,000 conservative Church leaders from 17 Anglican provinces have registered for the Jerusalem pilgrimage that is part of that conference. There is no mention of how attendees' travel expenses are being funded.

16 May 2008: Church and State in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean (Harare) reports that the army and the national police are continuing to harass and attack Anglican congregations in Harare. The New York Times filed this report, and The Telegraph (London) filed this report and mentions that national police have seized control of all Anglican churches in Harare.

16 May 2008: Canadian newspaper notes a first: diocese has two women bishops in a row
The Edmonton Journal notes that the new Anglican bishop, Jane Alexander, is the first woman diocesan bishop to succeed a woman diocesan bishop. At school in England, her anti-church father did not allow her to attend religious classes. She showed him, eh?

15 May 2008: Uganda archbishop responds to US objection to 'incursion' into Georgia
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Archbishop of Uganda has responded to a May 12 letter to him from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, saying that he is visiting a congregation in Georgia because it is now part of the Church of Uganda.

12 May 2008: Archbishop of Canterbury writes to Anglican bishops
The Archbishop of Canterbury has released this letter that he has written to the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

10 May 2008: Interview with Gene Robinson
The Church Times has unlocked its interview from April 2008 with the Bishop of New Hampshire, which had previously been available only to paid subscribers.

9 May 2008: Fewer conservatives plan to boycott Lambeth
The Church Times reports that several well-known conservative bishops have announced that they will be attending the upcoming Lambeth Conference in order to have more influence on what happens there. The Diocese of Pittsburgh has issued a press release saying 'that would be us'. We note with interest that Pittsburgh has quietly changed its web presence from 'pgh.anglican.org' to 'pghanglican.org' (removing a dot), so that if they decide to break away from the Anglican communion, they can keep their name. (Unless a UDRP is successfully filed, of course.)

9 May 2008: 2 new bishops in Uganda
The New Vision (Kampala) reports that Church of Uganda House of Bishops has appointed the Revd Canon Samuel Kaziimba as Bishop of Mityana and the Revd Canon Patrick Gidudu as Bishop of Mbale.

8 May 2008: Church of Nigeria bans polygamy
The BBC reports that the primate of the Church of Nigeria has told its members to give up their extra wives. There is no mention of what will become of those wives after they are shed.

8 May 2008: Grey-haired sleuths solve a Christie mystery
The Times reports that more than 3 million pounds worth of lead was stolen from Anglican churches in Britain last year.

6 May 2008: Canadian court rules for Diocese of Niagara
The Anglican Church of Canada announced that a Superior Court judgment has ordered three parishes in the diocese of Niagara to share the use of their property with the diocese. Canada's Anglican Journal has this excellent report on the ruling and its impact. We note that the judge's ruling (paragraph 58) had little sympathy for the argument that churches' teaching or practice should not be allowed to evolve.

6 May 2008: Trevor Williams elected bishop of Limerick and Killaloe
The Church of Ireland announced the election as the new Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe of a Belfast rector who had led the Corrymeela Community, an ecumenical peace-building centre in Northern Ireland.

3 May 2008: Stephen Lane consecrated coadjutor in Maine
The Diocese of Maine reports on the consecration of the Rt Revd Stephen Lane as bishop coadjutor of that diocese. The Bangor Daily News filed this report, which has an excellent picture of him.

2 May 2008: Time for women bishops in England
The Church Times reports that 'A new report ... says that the Church of England should no longer delay to implement its decision to consecrate women as bishops.' Another article summarizes the contents of this Manchester Report. Freelance reporter Andrew Brown wrote this analysis of the situation. George Pitcher, writing for The Telegraph, sees it differently.

2 May 2008: South American archbishop licenses 30 priests in Canada
The Church Times reports that 'More than 30 clergy received licences to serve in the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) from the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone....' Ruth Gledhill of The Times (London) published this brief interview with that Presiding Bishop, Gregory Venables.

1 May 2008: Canadian archbishop announces support of breakaway parishes
The Anglican Journal (Canada) reports that the archbishop of Athabasca has announced his support of churches that have left the Anglican Church of Canada, and his criticism of bishops who have used the legal system to try to get their diocese's property back.

1 May 2008: Dave Walker to report from Lambeth
The Anglican Journal (Canada) reports that Dave Walker will be at the Lambeth conference this summer, drawing events as they happen and distributing his drawings over the usual channels.

30 April 2008: Gene Robinson told not to preach while he is in England
Thinking Anglicans reports on (and adds some excellent commentary to) the email sent to the Bishop of New Hampshire refusing to grant him the right to preach or preside at the eucharist when he is next in England, and on the various reactions thereto. The BBC reports on Bishop Robinson's criticism of Archbishop Williams and his handling of that and other situations.

29 April 2008: US primate calls South American recruiting visit an 'unwarranted invasion'
The Episcopal News Service reports that the Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church has written to the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, calling his visit an 'unwarranted invasion'.

28 April 2008: Brazilian bishops respond to Draft Covenant
Brazilian blogger and Anglican priest Francisco Silva reports that the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil generated an official response to the Anglican Covenant, which concludes that there is no need for a new covenant.

25 April 2008: Another woman bishop in Australia
The Age (Melbourne) profiles Barbara Darling, who will be consecrated as Assisting Bishop in the Diocese of Melbourne on 31 May. We are intrigued that The Age ran this story on the day after Anzac Day. When you read it, you'll see why.

25 April 2008: Bat management in the UK
The Church Times reports on the publication of a new guide on bat management, published recently by the UK government. If your church has more bats than worshippers, this guide could be for you. On the other hand, the guide says that when people and bats are in conflict, the bats must by law prevail. Though it is legal to cover your furniture to protect it from bat droppings.

25 April 2008: Hiltz asks Venables to stay away. He doesn’t
We're slightly apologetic about having cribbed the headline under which the Church Times reports that the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Revd Fred Hiltz, has protested strongly against a visit to Canada by the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Revd Greg Venables. But after seeing that headline, how could we say it any other way?

25 April 2008: Church and state in Fresno
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and The Episcopal Church (TEC) filed a complaint in Fresno County Superior Court on April 24 "to reclaim possession of the real and personal property belonging to the diocese."

24 April 2008: Church and state in Zimbabwe
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued a joint statement this morning concerning the deteriorating situation of ordinary people in Zimbabwe.

24 April 2008: Church and state in Virginia
The Diocese of Virginia has made public an Amici Curiae brief in support of its position in its legal battle with breakaway parishes. An Amici Curiae brief is an Amicus Curiae in which there is more than one Amicus.

23 April 2008: ABC lectures on YouTube
The Archbishop of Canterbury has uploaded to YouTube a 7 minute and 23 second video message about the upcoming Lambeth Conference. For those of you who have difficulty understanding his Welsh accent on your tiny little computer speakers, or if you are lulled to sleep before it's over, the US Episcopal News Service has published a transcript of what he said. The transcript may well also be on the Archbishop's shiny new website, but we couldn't find it. Ah, wait, here it is, albeit without any paragraphing.

22 April 2008: New primate enthroned in The Episcopal Church (the one in Sudan)
The Anglican Communion News Service reports on the 'joyful celebration and colourful ceremony' in Sudan by which the Most Revd Daniel Deng Bul was enthroned April 20 as the fourth primate of the Episcopal Church.

21 April 2008: Australia's independent Anglican national newspaper closes its doors
Market-Place, which for more than a decade was Australia's only national independent Anglican Newspaper, ceased publication on dead trees and has switched to an online-only format. Even though we lament the demise of its paper edition, we must confess that we live very far away from Australia and hardly ever got to read it. We're delighted to see that Market-Place will be available to us online.

20 April 2008: Bishop of New Hampshire will attend Lambeth conference
The Times (London) reports that the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, will attend the Lambeth Conference even though he has not been invited. Ah, we wish we didn't have a holiday rental during Lambeth; it will probably be fun to be a spectator.

20 April 2008: Primates on tour in USA
Katharine Jefferts Schori, Desmond Tutu, and Pope Benedict XVI are all touring the USA right now. The Pope is getting all of the headlines. He's not Anglican, so we'll let you read about him in your local newspaper.

20 April 2008: New Archbishop in Sudan
The Sudan Tribune (Juba) reports that plans for the enthornment [sic] of the Rt Revd Daniel Deng Bul as Archbishop of Sudan are on track and that the event will happen April 21. We note that the web server for the Sudan Tribune is safely located in Paris. The US Episcopal News Service offered this report of the event.

19 April 2008: Tom Wright vs GAFCON
Thinking Anglicans has gathered together all of the messy pieces of the ongoing squabble between Tom Wright (Bishop of Durham) and the organizers of the GAFCON conference. This one has more depth than the average power struggle.

18 April 2008: Society still needs religion
The Archbishop of Canterbury might not have a clue how to handle all of the power politics swirling around him, but he is still one of the great theologians and teachers of our time. His lecture at Westminster Cathedral is absolutely worth your time to read.

18 April 2008: Canadian bishops decline request for national talks
The Anglican Journal reports that bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, at their recent meeting, declined a request for national-level negotiations over church property from the Anglican Network in Canada.

15 April 2008: Anglican covenant conference elicits varied viewpoints
The US Episcopal News Service reports that several divergent viewpoints were asserted at the Anglican Covenant conference held at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York City. One keynote speaker spoke strongly in support of the covenant; another worried aloud that it serves primarily to keep privilege and power in the hands of those who already have it. Definitely worth reading carefully. The Church Times filed this brief report on the event.

12 April 2008: First woman bishop for Australia
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Ven Kay Goldsworthy, archdeacon at St George's Cathedral in Perth, will be consecrated Bishop of Perth on 22 May. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has this report with a better photograph. The Courier Mail reported the story this way.

11 April 2008: Give it for good
This being an election year in that country, the US government has announced plans to send a large number of its citizens some money as a "rebate". The government has asked people to spend the money to help bolster the economy. Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation suggests that people donate those moneys to an organization that is helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

11 April 2008: Vicar of Trumpington commanded to leave his parish
The Guardian reports that the Church of England vicar accused of spitting at a churchwarden and using the pulpit to settle personal scores was ordered by his bishop to leave his parish yesterday. Ah, the joys of parish life.

10 April 2008: Archbishop of Canterbury condemns threats and violence against gays
The BBC reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned death threats made against the leader of a group representing homosexual Anglicans in England. It also notes that 12 Church of England bishops have signed a letter addressed to traditionalist leaders asking them to moderate the language that they use to denounce homosexuals, suggesting that this language might encourage violence. The recipient of those death threats said that comments made by conservative Anglican church leaders had unintentionally encouraged death threats against him. Thinking Anglicans has the text of the letter noted by the BBC. Changing Attitude, whose members are the primary recipients of this violence, have issued this statement urging GAFCON leaders to repudiate violence.

9 April 2008: Bishops in Brazil protest unauthorized visit by Southern Cone bishop
The US Episcopal News Service reports that bishops of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil issued an open statement April 9 expressing their "strong repudiation" of a recent unauthorized visit by Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables

6 April 2008: Canadian Supreme Court judge orders diocese to allow breakaway group back in
The Canadian Press reports that a Supreme Court judge in British Columbia has ordered the Diocese of British Columbia to allow members of St Mary of the Incarnation to use the church building even though they had declared that they were no longer part of their containing diocese. The Bishop issued this response, which is actually worth reading.

5 April 2008: Virginia judge allows court case on Episcopal property dispute to proceed

The New York Times reports that 'Eleven congregations in Virginia that broke away from the Episcopal Church have won an initial round in their court fight to retain church property.' This very complex case is also reported in the Washington Post, Time, and elsewhere. The official US Episcopal Church responses are here.

2 April 2008: Church in Wales vote fails to permit women bishops
The Church in Wales reports that its Governing Body held a vote on whether or not to permit women bishops, but that the required 2/3 majority was not achieved, so there will be no change in its policy. The Church Times published this report.

2 April 2008: Call for moratorium on building new mosques in Britain
The Times (London) reports that 'A prominent evangelical member of the Church of England’s General Synod has called for a ban on the building of any more mosques in Britain.' Most UK newspapers had something to say about it.