Saturday, November 04, 2006

Saturday late afternoon posts

A roundup of links re: Bishop Schori’s investiture

November 4th, 2006 posted by admin at 6:00 pm

Updated 6:00 Eastern with two new ENS articles, and Integrity Press Release

We’ll be updating this thread periodically tonight as we come across stories or blog entries. When Kendall gets back online we’ll let him choose what to post as separate entries

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Sermon and Investiture Webcast
Bishop Schori’s investiture sermon and reader comments

Open Discussion thread during Webcast

NEW!*** For those of you who could not watch the live webcast, videos of the service are HERE (under the Features listing) ***

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Media Articles:
Associated Press [Rachel Zoll]: Episcopalians install female leader [related comment thread]

St. Petersburg Times: Reconciliation is Her Byword.
[related comment thread]

The Living Church: Historic Investiture of New Presiding Bishop

ENS [Mary Frances Schjonberg] Amid prayer and ’shalom,’ Katharine Jefferts Schori invested as Episcopal Church’s 26th Presiding Bishop

Lots of pictures from ENS here.

ENS [Matthew Davies]: International guests bring global context to Jefferts Schori’s investiture

ENS [Daphne Mack]: Thousands line up outside Cathedral poised to observe history in the making

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Other Statements, Blog entries

Integrity Press Release: Integrity Has High Expectations for New Primate [related comment thread]

Bloggers who attended the investiture:
Jim Naughton, Baby Blue, Uncle Dino

A Statement Just Released by Ted Haggard’s Former Parish

November 4th, 2006 posted by kendall at 5:24 pm

Read it all (hat tip: Matt Kennedy).

Here’s the text since we know some folks don’t have Adobe Reader for PDF files:

Dear New Lifers and friends of New Life Church,

This is the press release from the Board of Overseers that will be released to the media this afternoon. We want you to know first what the actions of the overseers are going to be.

Please continue to pray for Pastor Ted and his family and let’s all continue to stand strong together for the kingdom of God. We will get through this together. Remember, New Life Church has never been a man, or a building or anything else–we are a family.

Pastor Ross

November 4, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Life Church
Colorado Springs, Colorado

We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard’s public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.

The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has “demonstrated immoral conduct” whether we must “remove the pastor from his position or to discipline him in any way they deem necessary.”

In consultation with leading evangelicals and experts familiar with the type of behavior Pastor Haggard has demonstrated, we have decided that the most positive and productive direction for our church is his dismissal and removal.

In addition, the Overseers will continue to explore the depth of Pastor Haggard’s offense so that a plan of healing and restoration can begin. Pastor Haggard and his wife have been informed of this decision. They have agreed as well that he should be dismissed and that a new pastor for New Life Church should be selected according to the rules of replacement in the bylaws.

That process will begin immediately in hopes that a new pastor can be confirmed by the end of the year 2006. In the interim, Ross Parsley will function as the leader of the church with full support of the Overseers. A letter of explanation and apology by Pastor Haggard as well as a word of encouragement from Gayle Haggard will be read in the 9:00 and 11:00 service of New Life Church.

INTEGRITY HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW PRIMATE, AMONG THEM THE REPEAL OF BO33

November 4th, 2006 posted by admin at 5:22 pm

Source: Integrity Press Release

INTEGRITY HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW PRIMATE, AMONG THEM THE REPEAL OF BO33

November 4, 2006, Washington, DC—“The election of the first primate in the history of the Anglican Communion is, indeed, part of ‘the year of the Lord’s favor,’” said Integrity President Rev. Susan Russell, echoing Bishop Schori’s Gospel text at her historic investiture today. “We support her wholeheartedly! We also believe that same gospel text demands revisiting BO33—the controversial resolution passed at the church’s General Convention last June, which institutionalized de facto discrimination against gay and lesbian candidates for the episcopate.”

Russell also announced that Integrity USA has allocated a gift of $7500 to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation in solidarity with Bishop Schori’s support of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. “This is the vital work of the Gospel and Integrity will partner with our new Presiding Bishop in furthering this important work and finding new ways to work together in the future. At the same time, we remind the Presiding Bishop of the commitment she made last summer in Columbus—both to the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies—that the divisive, discriminatory resolution BO33 must be, in her own words, ‘revisited in the very near future.’ The future is now.”

“The future,” said Russell, “began at today’s investiture. We expect Bishop Schori will acknowledge the wave of BO33 dissents which are being passed at diocesan conventions across the church—so far by California, El Camino Real, Michigan, Northern Michigan, Olympia, Rochester and Utah—with more pending. A ‘mind of the church’ is emerging that unity at the price of injustice is unacceptable. BO33 simply hasn’t worked. We expect BO33’s failure will be at the top of the Presiding Bishop’s to-do list.”

Russell noted that the investiture service was “streamed” all over the world. “The good news of the Episcopal Church is not only alive but thriving. That is why the hopes of Integrity’s membership—and all who believe that God’s love is limitless—are so high on this great day.”

Minister Admits Buying Drug but Denies Tryst

November 4th, 2006 posted by kendall at 5:20 pm

After denying that he had ever met a gay escort who claimed to have had a three-year sexual relationship with him, the Rev. Ted Haggard admitted yesterday that he had summoned the escort to give him a massage in a Denver hotel room and bought methamphetamine from him.

But Mr. Haggard, one of the nation’s leading evangelical ministers, maintained that the two men never had sex and that he threw out the drugs without using them.

“I never kept it very long because it was wrong,” Mr. Haggard said, smiling grimly and submitting to questions from a television reporter as he pulled out of his driveway yesterday, his wife, Gayle, silent in the passenger seat. “I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it.”

Mr. Haggard’s explanation came two days after the male escort, Michael Jones, stepped forward to claim that Mr. Haggard was a monthly client for the last three years. On Thursday, Mr. Haggard had resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and stepped down as pastor of his 14,000-member Colorado Springs megachurch, pending an independent investigation of the accusations.

The escort failed a lie detector test on Friday that he had volunteered to take, but the man who administered the test said the results might have been skewed because Mr. Jones had slept little and was suffering from a migraine. Mr. Jones insisted he was telling the truth and said he would take another lie detector test.

Mr. Haggard’s difficulties are bound to echo beyond his own church, especially on the eve of the midterm elections. He is at the center of several intersecting evangelical power circles and has ties to the Bush administration.

Read the whole article.

Anglican Mainstream Statement about what Transpired in New Zealand

November 4th, 2006 posted by kendall at 5:05 pm

From there:

“Today is a sad day for the Anglican Communion. Despite well-founded objections and protests the Bishop of Dunedin has knowingly and deliberately ordained a man in a committed same-sex relationship as a deacon into the Anglican Church of Aotearoa on Saturday November 4 in contravention of the constitution of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa.

We call on the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa to disassociate themselves from this precipitate action outside the Windsor Process which has specifically called for a moratorium on all such breaches of the agreed teaching and discipline of the Anglican Communion. By their silence the other Bishops and Archbishops of the Church in New Zealand are failing in their duty to guard the faith and drive away error. If they are giving their support to the Dunedin ordination, they would appear to be wanting to take their church out of the global Anglican Communion in the same way as the leadership of ECUSA is doing.

We express our strong support for the witness of the Latimer Fellowship and Anglican Mainstream New Zealand to the concern for obeying God’s will for the health and wholeness of human society and for the good ordering of his people in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and hope others will do the same.”

Dr Philip Giddings Convenor, Anglican Mainstream
Canon Dr Chris Sugden, Executive Secretary

New Life Church E-Mail on Ted Haggard

November 4th, 2006 posted by kendall at 5:01 pm

From here:

The following is an e-mail obtained by NPR that was sent to members of the New Life Church by Acting Senior Pastor Ross Parsley.

Dear New Lifers and friends of New Life Church,

Many of you have expressed concern about today’s news regarding our pastor. Thank you all for your prayers and support, and for your concern for our church family.

As you’ve likely heard by now, Pastor Ted has voluntarily placed himself on administrative leave as New Life’s senior pastor to allow our external board of overseers to work effectively. Below is the statement that we released to the media on Thursday afternoon.

Since that time, the board of overseers has met with Pastor Ted. It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true. He has willingly and humbly submitted to the authority of the board of overseers, and will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation.

I am serving as the acting senior pastor of New Life Church. I met with the pastoral staff and elders Thursday night, and I assure you that the leadership team is strong and united. We remain resolute in our commitment to serving New Life Church and the people of our community.

Please continue to keep Ted and Gayle and their family in your prayers.

I love serving God with you all,

Ross Parsley

November 2, 2006

No matter what one thinks about this mess (and there is still much we do not know), I sincerely hope some will pause and pray for the leadership of New Life Church. They have a big challenge ahead–KSH.

Pope to meet Archbishop of Canterbury

November 4th, 2006 posted by kendall at 4:48 pm

Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the worldwide head of the Anglican communion, will meet with Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) in a private audience on November 23.

The Anglican leader will be making his first official visit to the Vatican since the election of Benedict XVI in April 2005. Archbishop Williams met with Pope John Paul II (bio - news) at the Vatican in October 2003.

The November 23 date of the papal audience carries special significance, because it marks the 40th anniversary of the day when Pope Paul VI greeted Archbishop Michael Ramsey, in the first meeting between the Roman Pontiff and the Archbishop of Canterbury since the Reformation.

Read it all.

Update: there is an AP article there.

ENS: Episcopal Majority meets, affirms reconciliation

November 4th, 2006 posted by admin at 3:49 pm

By Pat McCaughan
Friday, November 03, 2006

[Episcopal News Service] Getting organized and “waging reconciliation” was on the agenda as the newly created Episcopal Majority met for the first time November 3 to become advocates for a moderate voice within the Anglican Communion.

“We need to wage reconciliation, to constantly work for dialogue and conversation, reaching out and touching others who are different than us,” Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles told the gathering during a keynote address frequently interrupted by appreciative applause.

Bruno quoted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, on the eve of her investiture: “At our meeting at Kanuga, Katharine told a story about how whales come to the breeding ground, singing one song, but they go away singing a new and different song because they’ve listened and heard what each other sang.”

The national gathering was planned to coincide with Jefferts Schori’s November 4 investiture. She did not attend the gathering “but sent us her blessing and said we have her support and that this is an important meeting,” the Rev. David Fly, an event organizer from Missouri, told the audience.

Fly said he and others organized the Episcopal Majority to give voice to the “broad middle majority” of Episcopalians who agree with the church and the direction it has taken regarding issues of human sexuality as well as Jefferts Schori’s election as primate.

About 150 participants from 46 dioceses, including several network dioceses, attended workshops on the Anglican covenant, how to communicate with one another, how to be a reconciling force amid the changing landscape of the Anglican Communion, and legal issues arising from the conflict within the church.

The group also elected the steering committee as a board of directors for a one-year period and authorized them to seek nonprofit status. Members of the steering committee, in addition to Fly, are: the Rev. William R. Coats, Diocese of Newark; the Hon. Robert P. Smith, Diocese of Florida; Lisa Fox, Diocese of Missouri; the Rev. Canon Mark Harris, Diocese of Delaware; Judy Wright Mathews, Diocese of Florida; the Very Rev. Thomas Woodward, Diocese of the Rio Grande; the Rev. Dr. George C. Bedell, Diocese of Florida; and the Rev. Dr. Richard Tombaugh, Diocese of Connecticut.

The Rev. Meg Ingalls, rector of Holy Trinity Church in Fruitland Park, Florida, was among several people who attended from dioceses affiliated with the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes.

“I came to see whether or not there was hope for the church,” said Ingalls, who is from the Diocese of Central Florida, which has asked the Archbishop of Canterbury for alternative primatial oversight.

But she added: “there is hope for tomorrow, I believe there’s hope. And in the meantime, we continue to work, we continue to love, we continue to reach out to send people to seminaries, to make sure we continue to uphold our dioceses as much as possible, even from a peripheral space, and hope for tomorrow.”

Participants at a workshop about the Anglican Covenant sent a variety of possible strategies to the steering committee. The committee will meet on the morning of November 4 to begin to plot a future course. Among those suggestions were ways to reach out to those in network dioceses, and to other like-minded churches throughout the Anglican Communion, such as churches in Ireland, England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. The group also discussed a letter writing campaign to the Archbishop of Canterbury and attending the November 27 Inclusive Anglicans gathering in England and possibly to make pilgrimages to Nigeria and other nations, for one-on-one people contact.

The Rev. Christopher Worthley, of the Diocese of Washington, D.C., said citing the Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral’s assertion, that “Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation,” might be a starting place for a new conversation.

“The Episcopal Church hasn’t violated that and everyone agrees to it,” he said.

Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who attended the meeting, said “we don’t want a covenant that tries to be a set of international canon law and is basically a format whereby we can punish any errant constituent church.”

Fly said General Convention fueled the idea for the group, then the gathering and said “our experience in the last four months has been a mountaintop experience.

“I feel God has led us to the mountaintop and allowed us to look over and see other side, and what I see is hope. What I have heard tonight and all day long is hope and I just want to celebrate that. We have something we’ve just begun, but it will be powerful in this church of ours.”

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Here are several additional links to texts and materials about the Episcopal Majority group’s meeting in Washington this weekend.

From the Episcopal Majority Group’s blog:
* David Fly Introduces Remaining Faithful Gathering
* Waging Reconciliation, one of the talks presented by Christopher Wilkins, a Via Media Facilitator.

From the reasserting blog Episcopal Majority (focusing on scrutinizing Episcopal majority’s membership and goals)
* Organization aims to thwart Windsor Report

Jim Naughton of the Diocese of Washington has a preliminary report and a lot of links here.

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