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During a visit to the London offices of USPG—an Anglican mission agency formerly known as United...
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Coming this August is an audacious and historic compilation of the sacred writings of Jews,...
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From May 31 to June 3, about 250 delegates will gather in Kingston, Ont., for a conference on...
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A few weeks ago, people around the world remembered the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the...
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In this religiously pluralistic age, “interfaith” usually entails people of good will from...
Vatican settles with Benetton over kissing ad
On May 15, the Vatican announced that it had settled a lawsuit against Italian clothing firm Benetton Group. The legal action was undertaken after Benetton’s UNHATE advertising campaign unlawfully used an image of Pope Benedict kissing Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayeb, imam of Cairo’s renowned al-Azhar Mosque and a...
Lunch program moves beyond charity to community
Toronto’s Mink Mile is an upscale shopping strip on Bloor Street that stretches west from Yonge Street to Avenue Road. To the south, lies the provincial legislature. To the west, lies the University of Toronto, The Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Conservatory of Music. To the north beckon the boutiques of...
U.S. Episcopal Church to consider coalition’s resolution
An international coalition of Anglicans hopes a model resolution to reject the Anglican Communion Covenant will be accepted by The U.S. Episcopal Church at its General Convention in Indianapolis in July. The covenant was intended to be an agreement to bind the global Anglican Communion together despite...
Anglicans build first university in the Solomon Islands
Imagine building a university from scratch. In the Solomon Islands, the Anglican Church of Melanesia has taken on the enormous project of building the John Coleridge Patteson University—the nation’s first. Construction will begin later this year and the $9.5 (CAD) million university, named after Melanesia’s...
Waiting for Godot...er, adulthood
I'm glad that Colin McComb's letter [Dress codes a good way to start] gets beyond the T-shirt discussion because it exposes a much deeper, more dangerous mindset. The author writes: "The classroom should first and foremost be a place of learning: not a forum in which to exercise one’s freedom of...
Dream of a better world for all, Tutu tells graduates
Nobel Prize Laureate and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu on May 13 urged Gonzaga University graduates in Spokane, Washington to dream of a world without war, poverty, racism and other injustices. “God says to you, ‘Please, please, please dream, please dream.’ Don’t allow yourself to be affected by the cynicism...
Greek churches "face disaster" as crisis deepens
A senior Greek Protestant has warned that minority denominations "face disaster" due to the country's worsening economic crisis. "Heavy taxation, high unemployment and all our other difficulties are fast-forwarding us to collapse," said Dimitrios Boukis, general secretary of the Greek...
Episcopal and Catholic bishops vow to help end war in Sudan
Episcopal and Catholic bishops from South Sudan have said that together they "stand committed to do all in [their] power" to realise an end to war between Sudan and South Sudan. Following a three-day meeting in Yei, South Sudan, led by Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro and Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, the...
Anglican Journal wins 13 Canadian Church Press awards
The Anglican Journal won 13 awards, including a general excellence award in the national newspaper category, at this year’s Canadian Church Press (CCP) convention. Two of the Journal’s publishing partners – Quebec Diocesan Gazette and Crosstalk – also took home honors. The CCP, which is an association of 80...
Missives of comfort and encouragement
Evelyn Chipperfield may be turning 91, but that’s not stopping her from living the Marks of Mission in the service of others. The slim, elegant west-end Toronto widow—who looks easily 15 years younger than her age—continues to reach out to others in the same way she did as a teenager, when she started writing...
Indonesian authorities restrict places of worship after protests
Indonesian authorities have closed and sealed off 17 Christian places of worship in the Aceh Singkil district in the past two weeks after Muslim protests on April 30. Agusta Mukhtar, a spokesman for the group Pro-Democracy People, said it was regrettable that local authorities had sealed off the buildings...
Obama’s affirmation of same-sex marriage strikes a chord
In politics and religion, same-sex marriage is a Rorschach inkblot test of the contemporary psyche. Some people see in it an equalizing measure reflecting the best of democratic egalitarianism and Christian inclusiveness. Others see it as the undoing of the bedrock of the family and the sared, Genesis-sanctioned...
Archbishop of Wales elected to Crown Nominations Commission
Archbishop Barry Morgan of the Church in Wales has been elected to serve on the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury, the body that will nominate the next archbishop of Canterbury. Morgan was elected by members of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, which had been asked to nominate one...
Anglican-Roman Catholic meeting ponders ecumenical dialogue
Hong Kong -- As the 4 to 10 May meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) drew to a close, participants emphasized the importance of social witness and openness in ecumenical dialogue."There seem to be many obstacles from a human point of view, and it does not seem likely to...
Mayan spirituality behind peacemaking, says Niwano prize winner
Tokyo --An award-winning human rights activist from Guatemala has said that principles of Mayan indigenous spirituality -- respecting people, nature and spiritual living -- is behind her peacemaking efforts.Rosalina Tuyuc Velasquez, a founder of the National Coordinating Organization of Widows of Guatemala...
Imus earns his retirement
On Sunday, May 6th at the Church of the Ascension in Port Perry, Ont., the Reverend John Anderson dedicated part of the service to Imus, the seeing-eye dog of Sir Sean Madsen. After years of dedicated service, Imus is going into retirement. If there is any compensation for being blind, said Madsen, it is to have...
Ashdown predicts he will be last bishop of Keewatin
Archbishop David Ashdown is to step down as archbishop of the diocese of Keewatin and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Rupert’s Land in September 2015. When he does, he fully expects it will be as the last bishop of Keewatin, he told the diocesan synod, which met March 22 to 24. Ashdown said he...
TRC to host Toronto conference
Toronto will get a chance to learn more about the legacy of the Indian residential school system and take part in a dialogue to promote healing and reconciliation this May 31 to June 2. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), along with groups like the Toronto Council Fire First Native...
Occupy Faith will trek 62 miles to Canterbury
A group of faith leaders announced on May in London's St. Paul's Cathedral that a new pilgrimage to Canterbury is planned for this summer to protest unjust economic systems in the 21st century. The organizing group, called Occupy Faith, met at St. Paul's with the permission of cathedral authorities, in contrast...
New funding formula approved
The Council of the North has unanimously approved a new formula for allocating grants from General Synod that support its member dioceses. These dioceses minister to Anglicans in Canada’s remote and isolated areas. This constitutes “a major step” forward, says its chair, Archbishop David Ashdown, who is...
Church leaders defend Philippines in dispute with China
Baguio City, Philippines –Philippine church leaders have joined efforts aimed at defending their country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, which they say are under threat by an emerging power in Asia – China. "The Philippines is a nation of Davids. But we must flex our prayer and worship...
Room for all
When I was rector of a church in Pennsylvania, a couple asked to meet with me during the week. They came to my office, sat down and got right to the point: “Would you be willing to welcome our family into your church?” I was taken aback by the question, so I said, “Come again.” They repeated, “Would you be...
Taking prayer to the streets
Last May 1, the Rev. Maggie Helwig marked the first anniversary of her ordination as deacon by taking part in an Occupy Toronto rally. Subsequently, she was charged with trespassing. Police gave the assistant curate at St. Timothy’s North Toronto a $65 ticket for trying to set up a makeshift chapel at Simcoe...
Teaching the gospel to children
This September, Sunday school teachers in the Anglican Church of Canada will have a comprehensive new online resource to teach the gospel to children. Designed in recognition of the shortage of Sunday school teachers, the curriculum takes a one-room-schoolhouse approach in which youngsters from five to 11 can be...
