wfn.org | [ELD] California Supreme Court outlaws gay marriage-except for 18,000 already-wed couples / Bulletin

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>May 26, 2009

Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - California Supreme Court outlaws gay marriage-except for
18,000 already-wed couples
* TOP STORY - Bulletin insert series on General Convention continues
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - COLORADO: Former Episcopal priest indicted on 20
felony charges
* WORLD REPORT - EUROPE: World Council head criticizes North Korea for
nuclear test
* WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Diocese of Huron moves toward same-sex blessings
* PEOPLE - Bishop Shand of Easton to chair board of trustees at VTS
* OPINION - Communion meeting faced challenges
* DAYBOOK - May 27, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Grace's Window - Entering the Seasons of Prayer

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

California Supreme Court outlaws gay marriage-except for 18,000
already-wed couples

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Reactions to the California Supreme Court's
6-1 ruling to ban same-gender marriage but uphold the existing unions
of 18,000 gay couples ran the gamut May 26, from anger and sadness to
"profound disappointment" and support across the state's Episcopal
community.

The court's decision reportedly sparked protest rallies across the
nation as well as some parts of Canada from marriage equality
supporters. They vowed to overturn the contentious Proposition 8, an
amendment to the state constitution that "only marriage between a man
and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It was approved by
52 percent of those voting last November.

"We are far from the end of this struggle," said Bishop Marc Andrus of
the Diocese of California (which only covers part of the state), where
an interfaith gathering of 300 on May 25 held a prayer vigil at San
Francisco's Grace Cathedral. "The Episcopal Church stands in
solidarity with the disenfranchised," Andrus said in a prepared
statement.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_108016_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Bulletin insert series on General Convention continues

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Life Weekly continues a series of
bulletin inserts on the history, polity and workings of General
Convention, the triennial legislative meeting of the Church, with the
second insert, for use on June 7. The insert, which is titled "The
Episcopal Church's Family Reunion," gives a brief outline of how
Convention works, and describes some of the non-legislative activities
that surround and influence the deliberations of the House of Deputies
and House of Bishops.

Bulletin inserts may be downloaded here:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

COLORADO: Former Episcopal priest indicted on 20 felony charges
Armstrong allegedly siphoned $392,000 from church funds

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] A former Episcopal priest surrendered to
authorities May 22 after a grand jury issued a 20-count felony
indictment alleging he stole $392,000 from Grace and St. Stephen's
Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado before breaking from it and
joining the Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America.

If convicted, the Rev. Donald Armstrong, 60, now rector of St.
George's Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, could spend the rest of
his life in prison. Each charge carries a four-to-12 year possible
prison sentence, with potential fines amounting to hundreds of
thousands of dollars. He was released after posting $20,000 bail,
according to authorities.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108014_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

EUROPE: World Council head criticizes North Korea for nuclear test

[Ecumenical News International, Geneva] At a time when the
international community is reviving a vision of a world free of
nuclear weapons, the latest North Korean nuclear test is a source of
profound concern, World Council of Churches General Secretary Rev.
Samuel Kobia said.

"The World Council of Churches is deeply troubled by North Korea's
nuclear test and profoundly concerned for the people of North Korea
and surrounding countries," Kobia said in a May 25 statement.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_107998_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

CANADA: Diocese of Huron moves toward same-sex blessings

>By Leigh Anne Williams

[Anglican Journal] Bishop Robert Bennett of the Diocese of Huron has
asked a committee to begin to develop liturgies for a celebratory
Eucharist and prayers for same-gender couples, but the service will
not provide a nuptial blessing. He announced the plan, which closely
resembles an approach previously chosen by bishops in the Diocese of
Toronto, at the start of the Huron diocesan synod (annual meeting)
taking place from May 24 to 26 in London, Ontario.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_107995_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

Bishop Shand of Easton to chair board of trustees at VTS

[Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA] The Rt. Rev. James
Joseph (Bud) Shand, bishop of the Diocese of Easton, Maryland, has
been elected as chair of the board of trustees of Virginia Theological
Seminary. Shand will succeed the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, bishop of
Virginia, who will step down on June 30.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_108011_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Communion meeting faced challenges

>By Katharine Jefferts Schori

[Episcopal Life] The Anglican Consultative Council met in Jamaica for
two weeks in early May. Most of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces
were represented, as well as Cuba and Spain (dioceses not belonging to
a province).

You will, by now, know of the headline-attracting decisions of this
ACC meeting, but you will undoubtedly have heard much less about
mission around the communion. I am convinced that the work of mission
is where the Anglican Communion really "lives" - where it has its
incarnate reality.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_108013_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On May 27, 2009...

* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

* Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm

* Today in History: On May 27, 1799, George Washington Doane, Bishop
of New Jersey and hymnist, was born in Trenton, New Jersey.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Grace's Window - Entering the Seasons of Prayer" from Church
Publishing, Inc., by Suzanne Guthrie, foreword by Mary C. Earle, 147
pages, paperback, c. 2008, $18

[Church Publishing, Inc.] In this popular book first published in
1996, Suzanne Guthrie teaches us about the seasons of prayer by
letting us enter her own in these forty meditations that stretch from
Advent through Pentecost. Pray as you are drawn to pray, she tells us,
not as someone has told you how to pray. Against the landscape of
northern California, the author gently leads us through the ancient
'illuminative way of prayer, learning to see the extraordinary reality
of God in the ordinary the dry grass and circling hawks, raging
firestorms in summer and the heavy winter rains.

To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit
your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org

>_____________________

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