Anglican Bishops move across to Catholic Church

Five different conservative Catholic Bishops have moved out of the Church of England and into the Catholic Church. In a statement on Monday by the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the move was confirmed and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Burnham, the Bishop of Richborough, the Rt. Rev. Keith Newton, the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt. Rev. John Broadhurst, and retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk were all officially welcomed into the Catholic fold.

In response to the statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, said he accepted the latest resignations “with regret.”

Pope Benedict XVI made it possible last year for Anglicans who were discontent with plans in the Church of England to allow the consecration of woman bishops. The Anglican clergy will be allowed to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving their Anglican traditions – including married priests. The pope issued an apostolic constitution, providing Vatican guidelines for disaffected Anglicans to enter their fold.

(Image is of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams).

Billy Graham turns 92

The world’s most famous evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham, turned 92 on Sunday. At his birthday celebrations, Graham said that despite his advanced age, he was “still looking for ways to serve the Lord.”

“I am amazed every time I think of how many years the Lord has given me on this earth,” Graham stated. “I am grateful for His blessing on our ministry for more than six decades, but wonder if there is something more He has for me to accomplish.”

Graham is currently writing a book on the aging process from his home in North Carolina.

He is also constantly sought out by Christian and political leaders. Over the last year he has been visited by President Barak Obama and Republican conservative Sarah Palin.

It is believed that Graham has spoken face-to-face with more people in more places than anyone in history, preaching to over 210 million people in over 185 countries.

High-level Christian and Muslim leaders unite to condemn attack on Baghdad church

The high-level Christian and Muslim leaders meeting in Geneva that was reported on yesterday by ‘So What’, have issued a joint statement condemning the deadly attack against the Catholic church in downtown Baghdad.

The leaders are currently attending the consultation on “Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslim Building a Common Future” said they “condemn this inhumane act that contradicts all religious teachings, and Middle Eastern culture that enabled people to coexist peacefully for many centuries.”

The World Council of Churches (which is hosting this event), Pope Benedict XVI, and Muslims in Egypt have all separately denounced the attack already, while this joint statement represents the collective voice of all participants at the consultation, including: His Royal Highness, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan; Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Al-Sharif, general secretary of the World Islamic Call Society; the World Council of Churches; and representatives of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions.

The group called on “the United Nations and its Security Council and all groups that call for just peace, and especially Iraqi officials, to intervene to put an end to all terrorist attacks aimed at degrading Iraqi people, irrespective of their religious affiliation, and defiling Christian and Islamic sacred places.”

The Islamic State of Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday at the Our Lady of Najat church that killed 58 people, including three priests.

While violence is raging in Iraq between Christians and Muslims, leaders of the two religious groups are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Ecumenical Center to work on how to live and work harmoniously together.

(Image is of participants in the Christian-Muslim consultation, taken from the WCC site).

Christians and Muslims in historic meeting to build unity

High-level Christian and Muslim leaders have gathered in Geneva for a crucial interfaith dialogue in attempts to build strong and sustainable relationships between the two groups. The meetings will also focus on how faith communities can use their common resources to transform their communities.

The four-day event is titled, “Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslims Building a Common Future,” and was inspired by the historic 2007 letter by 138 Muslim scholars called, “A Common Word.”

Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Al-Sharif, general secretary of the World Islamic Call Society, and His Royal Highness, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, the initiator of the letter, are both in attendance at the event which is being hosted at the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Center.

“The central theme of our conference affirms that dialogue is important but that we also need to address issues of common concern and act together – putting the common good at the heart of our joint initiative so as to promote ‘dialogue in action,” said the general secretary of the WCC, Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, in his welcome address on Monday.

There are four challenges facing Muslim-Christian communities Tveit identified as being crucial: how to build a wider sense of the understanding of the word “we” that focuses on everyone being part of one humanity rather than excluding people; how to build strong and sustainable relationships between Muslim and Christian leaders that prevent crises and address challenges together; how to transform communities through wise use of spiritual and religious resources; and how to build good and peaceful relationships between Christians and Muslims.

“My strong belief is that we are called together to become peacemakers, respecting the will of our Creator and our Creator’s love for the entire creation,” said the WCC head.

“It is our task to make sure that religion is not a synonym with conflict in the eyes of people, but a synonym for justice and peace.”

In a response address he delivered, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan noted that while Muslims and Christians do not share the same theology, they are “all in the same boat.” The prince, who serves as personal envoy and special adviser to King Abdullah II of Jordan, said people of faith face the same problems and opportunities. He highlighted, as in the “Common Word” document, that Christians and Muslims share the common commitment to love God and love one’s neighbor.

Prince Ghazi added “for both our religions harming religious minorities among us is evil, is absolutely forbidden and is ultimately a rejection of God’s love and a crime against God Himself.”

The prince did not hesitate to point out that while Christians are “clearly severely oppressed” by Muslims in countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan, there are places where Muslims are oppressed by Christians, such as in the Philippines. There are also places where it is not clear who is oppressing who, such as along the Muslim-Christian “fault line” in Sub-Sahara Africa.

“It should be possible in most of these cases to know and agree on what and who is wrong, and what must be said and done,” said Ghazi. “This, God willing, will be the substance of the deliberations taking place here over the next three days.”

The “Transforming Communities” consultation was joined by representatives of Christian world communions, including the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions.

A joint statement will be issued at the end of the consultation on Nov. 4.

'Cryo kids' more likely to suffer from isolation and depression

They are known as the “cryo kids” – children who were deliberately conceived through anonymously donated, cryogenically frozen sperm. Recently, a special study from the Commission on Parenthood's Future found that “cryo kids” are more likely to suffer from isolation and depression, and are roughly twice as likely as biological children to struggle with substance abuse.

Many find themselves desperate to somehow connect with their roots, and in particular, find their fathers, but these “cryo kids” whose conception fulfilled a biological desire for their mothers, now find themselves shut out from their own biological desires to know their heredity. This is because such a search is almost possible since agencies promise sperm donors complete anonymity.

"There is a whole generation of us out there now," says Kathleen LaBounty, whose parents chose artificial insemination with donor sperm when they discovered her father was infertile.

Both her parents are supportive of her quest.

"My mother saw the sperm donation as a medical treatment. She never considered the implications of how I would feel," LaBounty said from Houston, where she is a research counsellor at Baylor University in Texas.

She said she feels incomplete, curious and angry — but not angry at her parents. She's frustrated with medical and legal systems that don't support, or understand, the needs of donor children.

"I couldn't get records from the clinic where I was conceived."

She said it's unfair that decisions about information concerning her — and others conceived the same way — are made by everybody but her.

"It seems like society recognizes women's biological desires, but not ours," LaBounty said.

Vancouver adoption counsellor Lee Crawford said the preoccupation with solving the mystery is natural, and keeping information about children's biological origins away from them can be destructive. "That mystery takes up our time, we can become preoccupied, obsessed. We can't settle that internal sense of who we are."

She said it is inhumane to bar human beings from knowing their origins.

To live with the feeling of a missing link is psychologically distressing, she said.

"It transcends personality. It's a human need to know where the origins of the story are," Crawford said. "Nobody is thinking about these children that grow into teens, that grow into young adults living with that mystery."

Baghdad church attack leaves dozens of worshippers killed

In a horrific attack, over 40 Christian worshipers and seven Iraqi commandos were killed on Sunday in an attack on a Catholic church in the upscale Karrada neighbourhood in central Baghdad, reports the Washington Times.

About 20 minutes after Sunday Mass began at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, worshippers first heard shots and explosions. One of the priests, Father Wassem Sabeeh immediately began showing frightened worshippers into a fortified room in the rear of the church.

"We realized these explosions were close," said Bassam Sami, 21, one of the survivors of. "Father Wassem started pushing people inside the room."

After they had entered the church building, the silent attackers began executing people. "They were well trained," Sami said. "They didn't say anything. It was like someone had cut out their tongues."

Sabeeh, the priest, was among the first people executed after the assailants got inside. Another priest, Thaer Abdullah, was also killed.

Approximately 60 parishioners were clustered in the safe room, praying and crying, when one of the assailants threw a grenade inside, Sami said.

"There was unbelievable fear among the people," he said. "I cannot describe what we've been through."

After they realized that hostages had been executed, a team of U.S.-trained Iraqi commandos stormed into the church from all sides. At least five suicide bombers detonated explosives, killing seven of the troops.

The bloodshed that unfolded has horrified a city that has seen more than its fair share of atrocities. Many believe that al-Qaeda was responsible for the massacre, and indeed in a statement posted on the Internet early Monday, the Islamic State of Iraq, a front group for al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted responsibility for the attack.

Hilary Swank visits Prison Fellowship

Double Academy Award winner Hilary Swank recently visited the well-known Christian prison ministry, Prison Fellowship, to talk about her new movie “Conviction” and the role faith can play in fighting injustice.

“I've met 12 other exonerees since the movie has come out,” she told The Washington Post ahead of this discussion. “And all of them talk about having found faith in prison, that it was what got them through their ordeal and the circumstances.”

“I have seen how important faith can be in helping prisoners through difficult times. I wanted to share the movie with churches to remind them of the important role they play in reforming our justice system and helping prisoners and their families,” she said.

Swank executive produced and stars in “Conviction,” which is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters and the case of her brother, Kenneth Waters, who was convicted and sentenced to life in 1983 for murder. Betty Anne dedicated more that 18 years of her life in the fight to clear her brother’s name and prove his innocence. Since she did not have a high school diploma it took her that long to qualify as a lawyer.

“Conviction” exposes the flaws in the criminal justice system and the love between siblings.

Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship, who hosted Thursday’s panel discussion with Swank commented, “The issue of wrongful convictions needs the urgent attention of our communities, churches, government and policy makers.”

“For every person who has been falsely convicted,” he added, “there is a guilty person who is walking the streets of our communities as a free citizen – that is a serious threat to all of us.

“We are delighted that Ms. Swank used her talents to interpret this poignant story that so brilliantly underscores the devastation that wrongful convictions cause.”
During the discussion itself, Swank said the movie was a reminder of “how quick we are to judge.”

(Image is of Hilary Swank at the premiere of Conviction).