17 August 2008: Celebrating 50 years of inclusion in Guam Episcopal church
The Pacific Daily News (Guam) reports on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of St John the Divine Episcopal Church in Upper Tumon, Guam.

17 August 2008: Freak belltower accident in Brisbane cathedral
The Australian reports that a bellringer at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane was caught in the rope and injured, necessitating a complex rescue operation.

17 August 2008: Uganda Primate says it's all caused by moral decay
The Daily Monitor (Kampala) quotes the Archbishop of Uganda as having said that moral degeneration is the cause of religious and leadership conflicts in that country. We're tempted to send him a Lambeth T-shirt, but don't know his shipping address.

15 August 2008: New English-language RC liturgy
The Church Times reports that the Vatican has approved a new translation of the most important parts of the Roman Catholic mass for use throughout the English-speaking world. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued this press release.

15 August 2008: Church of Ireland Gazette editorial on Anglican Governance
The Church of Ireland Gazette, which assures us that it is 'editorially independent of the Church of Ireland', offered this short editorial on the aftermath of Lambeth 2008.

15 August 2008: Bishop of Winchester complains that Lambeth Conference allowed too many opinions
The Church Times reports that the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester is furious that the Lambeth Conference allowed the discussion of opinions that differ from his own.

15 August 2008: Church of England urged to honour John Henry Newman by excluding women clergy
A former president of Italy has written an opinion piece for The Times (London) suggesting that the Church of England ought not dishonour John Henry Newman by consecrating women as bishops.

14 August 2008: Diocese of Quincy sends separation booklet to all members of the diocese
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the Diocese of Quincy has sent a document to all members of the diocese aimed at answering the question of whether the diocese should separate from the Episcopal Church. There is considerable disagreement among observers as to whether all of the statements made in that document are actually true. The Diocese of Quincy is so small that the postage charge for this mass mailing was probably not very great.

13 August 2008: Fort Worth priests propose aligning with Roman Catholic church
The Star Telegram (Fort Worth) reports that four Fort Worth priests are asking their local Roman Catholic Diocese’s help in aligning with the RC church. The Bishop of Fort Worth clearly has other plans, because the [Episcopal] Bishop of Forth Worth issued this statement just a few hours after the story broke.

13 August 2008: Bradford bishop not barmy
The Telegraph and Argus (Bradford, UK) reports that the Bishop of Bradford joins other notable citizens in dismissing as 'barmy' a report from the Policy Exchange that the solution for the economic woes of England's northern cities (such as Bradford) is to abandon those cities and move their populations south.

11 August 2008: Paying for the Lambeth Tea Party
The Church of England issued this press release about funding bailouts for the Lambeth Conference and Tea Party.

10 August 2008: Out of Africa: a Kenyan missionary in Manchester
The Independent on Sunday profiles Cyprian Yobera, who lives in one of the terraced houses built when Manchester was a thriving cotton town, but are now part of a patch of inner-city urban decay. He doesn't use the m-word (missionary) - or even the g-word, in his ministry of presence.

9 August 2008: No comment allowed (the SPCK affair)
Dave Walker, the Artist in Residence at the Lambeth Conference, had been chronicling the strange saga of the former SPCK bookshops, purchased by the Texan Brewer brothers, who are filing for bankruptcy in a US court. If you go to his site, you will find a notice that the post has been removed. The Suffragan Bishop of Buckingham, Alan Wilson, is one of the bloggers who tells the story of the Cease and Desist letter that led to the withdrawal of those pages. As with most blogs, it's very hard to figure out who is behind the 'SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info' blog where you can follow this story in gruesome detail should you wish. (It's Phil Groom).

8 August 2008: What happened at the Lambeth Conference? No one seems to know
The Church Times' Pat Ashworth reflects on what did or didn't happen at The Lambeth. Conference, that is. Whatever it is that happened there, the Church Times reports that bishops are saying that 'it would be foolish to let such a gift fall apart'. Thinking Anglicans has done its usual good job of gathering a very large amount of commentary on Lambeth; look here. Jim Naughton of the Diocese of Washington wrote 'What I "learnt" at Lambeth' for the Church Times; it's quite worth reading. One thing that is very clear about the Lambeth conference is that it lost money.

8 August 2008: A dangerous apology
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the backlash against Australian clergy (of many denominations) who signed a petition apologizing to gays and lesbians for past mistreatments.

6 August 2008: A no-longer-dangerous apology
The US Episcopal News Service reminds us that the US Episcopal Church will hold a 'Day of Repentance' to apologize for its participation in slavery. The venue of this Repentance service has changed since the original announcement; it will be held at the African Episcopal Church of St Thomas, in Philadelphia.

4 August 2008: Lambeth 'Holier than thou' T-shirt available
Anglicans Online has received permission to reproduce the 'Holier than thou' T-shirt mentioned in last week's News Centre that was so popular at the recent Lambeth conference. We've taken the liberty of putting that same artwork on a tote bag and some tea mugs, as T-shirts aren't for everyone. We are offering it through the Anglicans Online gift shop at Café Press.

3 August 2008: Lambeth Conference is over
The final draft of the 'Lambeth Indaba Reflections' document has been released by the Anglican Communion Office on behalf of the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference. As has the Archbishop of Canterbury's Concluding Presidential Address to the Lambeth Conference. Activist groups on all sides of The Issue have released statements. Since those statements have been released, they have presumably run off into the forest, and we shan't go chasing them. Most of the 'newsworthy' events at Lambeth 2008 have been people saying unkind things about other people, and we continue to reject all of it. If an Anglican Covenant comes out of this process (not likely anytime soon) then some people will sign it and some people will not and then, over time, what happens as a result of that will probably qualify as news. The official T-Shirt of the 2008 Lambeth Conference says 'Holier than Thou' in block letters on the front. The Church Times blog quotes Archbishop Drexel Gomez (in charge of producing the document) saying that the draft Covenant is 'future-directed'.

It seems right in reflecting on an English conference to honour the Crusades, the Hundred Years' War, and Robert the Bruce (and also to avoid having to sift through so many press releases) by looking at reports from the French, from the Scots, and from a Muslim. The best conceptual summary of Lambeth 2008 that we've seen so far was written by The Guardian's brilliant new religion writer, Riazat Butt (a Muslim).

1 August 2008: Sydney sleepovers
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has been having his clergy attend sleepover conferences in groups of 6 or 7 at his Bishopsgate home.

1 August 2008: Free Speech 1—Australian bishops intercede for jailed Papuan demonstrators
Displaying a separatist flag in Indonesia is subversion under Indonesian law. Religious Intelligence reports that when 46 Papuans were arrested (and reportedly humiliated and beaten) for expressing national aspirations, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall denounced the clampdown. The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have been assisting refugees who find their way to Port Moresby.

27 July 2008: Free Speech 2—Lord Carey defends the right to speak about the unspeakable
A judge has awarded Max Mosley 60,000 pounds (plus costs) after a British tabloid alleged he had engaged in a Nazi style orgy. The Telegraph (London) reports that former ABC Lord Carey said the ruling has created a new privacy law which will allow public figures to engage in 'unspeakable and indecent behaviour', and that the High Court decision undermines public morality.

27 July 2008: Lambeth Conference continues
We at Anglicans Online are sticking to our story that the daily and hourly minutiæ of the Lambeth Conference are neither news nor newsworthy. We smiled when we read this report in the Church Times about how frustrating it is to be a reporter there, or this lament from Jim Naughton about whether or not anything has actually happened at Lambeth so far. If you feel compelled to follow its progress and aren't willing to digest the steady stream of official press releases or read the official coverage in the Lambeth Daily, you can follow it in the British national press, or follow the US Episcopal Church's coverage, or read the Church Times Blog, or read Thinking Anglicans coverage, or read the collection of bishops' blogs gathered as the 'Lambeth Journal', or read the Episcopal Café's list of 'Bishops Blogging' or the BBC's 'Lambeth diary'. Several writers point out that Simon Sarmiento observed that at the previous Lambeth Conference, nothing of consequence happened until the end. Rather like Sumo wrestling, except that in that sport the notion of 'the end' is defined by something of consequence happening; Lambeth is on a fixed schedule.

26 July 2008: Jesus Christ — annoying for 2000 years
When New South Wales threatened to fine Sydneysiders $5500 for 'annoying' pilgrims as Pope Benedict XVI visited World Youth Day, an Anglican church placed a sign outside: 'Jesus Christ - annoying for 2000 years'.

26 July 2008: Church closure rate increases in the UK
The Telegraph (London) reports that more than 260 churches belonging to the Church of England have ceased to be used for regular worship in the past decade, of which 29 were in the last year.

24 July 2008: Bishops march
The BBC reports that 'Hundreds of bishops from across the world have marched in London to demand urgent action on global poverty.' Additional coverage in The Times (London), The Independent (London), and the US Episcopal News Service (New York). Ruth Gledhill of The Times describes the tea eaten by the bishops at Buckingham Palace after marching against poverty.

19 July 2008: Australian bishop challenges Pope's authority
The Age (Melbourne) reports that 'A senior Anglican bishop has questioned the very existence of the Papal office at a meeting with the Pope and other Christian leaders'.

18 July 2008: Rome warns Anglicans who contemplate jumping ship
The Church Times reports that the Vatican has reaffirmed their position that opposition to women bishops is not reason enough to become a Roman Catholic

17 July 2008: Marriage, Mitres and Being Myself
Jane Williams (Mrs ABC) spoke to some of the Wahs (wives and husbands) attending Lambeth about the tensions between the private lives and public duties experienced by bishops' spouses. Her book on that theme has become an unexpected best-seller. Reports in The Guardian and The Telegraph.

16 July 2008: Lambeth Conference begins
The 2008 Lambeth Conference has begun. We do not recommend trying to follow it hour-by-hour, but if you must, let us recommend the bland and regulated official news coverage in the Lambeth Daily or the British-Museum-esque coverage in Thinking Anglicans. That will surely put you to sleep, which you need. This journal from Ruth Gledhill, religion reporter for The Times (London), gives a first-hand account of the reporters' dilemma. This link collects most bishops' blogs from Lambeth in an RSS feed. Some bishops, such as +New Jersey or +Dudley, are not officially blogging and so their non-blogs are non-listed there, but worth reading nonetheless. The Church Times reports that 'The Lambeth Conference opened this week in Canterbury on a rising tide of support for the Archbishop of Canterbury.' Most of the Church Times' detailed coverage of Lambeth is restricted to subscribers until the conference is over, which is actually just fine. Waiting softens the urgency of the moment.

16 July 2008: Kenyan church on the cross
The pallid response of Kenyan churches to post-election violence reflects their dwindling moral influence, according to an article in the Standard, reported on the Religious Intelligence website. It looks back to the time when Jomo Kenyatta's description of church as the conscience of society seemed to have more credibility.

15 July 2008: A Common Word for the Common Good
An unprecedented gathering of Muslim scholars from all schools of thought have declared the common ground between Christianity and Islam. The ABC has welcomed the friendly spirit of the document, and called for further discussion to tackle the issues of religious freedom, pluralism and religiously-motivated violence.

15 July 2008: Profile of the ABC
Beset by liberals, hounded by conservatives, Rowan Williams needs a miracle to keep the church intact, suggests this article in The Guardian