Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Stephen Bates of the Guardian reports today on something remarkable: a “senior North American bishop” says the Episcopal Church is willing to punish African dioceses financially if it is disciplined for consecrating Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop. Patrick Mauney of the Episcopal Church Center has previously said, “The disbursements are offered without strings attached.”
The usually excellent Jonathan Petre of the Telegraph reports today that four bishops of the Episcopal Church arrived in London on Tuesday to express their anger about possible discipline of their church for approving an openly gay bishop.
I’ve sometimes covered the same events as Larry Stammer of the Los Angeles Times, and I’ve found him unfailingly soft-spoken and courteous — especially at press conferences, which so often bring out some reporters’ tendencies toward preening arguments posing as questions.
John Rather of The New York Times has written an intriguing roundup about the protracted conflict between Bishop Orris G. “Jay” Walker of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and some of his clergy. (I apologize that the story is now available only in the Times’ electronic archives.)
S.C. Gwynne of Texas Monthly has turned in a tour de force article about the current struggles of the Episcopal Church, marred only by a liturgically informed but sneering headline (“Peace be with you. And also with you. Unless you’re gay”).
In the June 28 issue of Time, David Van Biema writes four sharp mini-profiles of women in “tall-steeple” ministries. Women’s ordination remains a volatile issue in many denominations, fraught with feminists’ charges of discrimination and traditionalists’ charges of compromising the faith.
This week in religion news begins with glad tidings for Anglicans and comedy fans alike: the producers of The Simpsons have invited Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, to consider a guest appearance.
On Friday the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane welcomed retired Senator John Danforth as celebrant and homilist during the national funeral for Ronald Reagan. In this interview with Nan Cobbey of Episcopal Life, Chane discussed the elaborate advance preparations for the funeral. Some of Chane’s fellow bishops, who have shown certain imperious tendencies in recent months, would have behaved more like this.
As Terry has indicated in this space, I spent the last week in St. Catharines, Ontario, covering the Anglican Church of Canada’s 37th General Synod for Anglican Essentials Canada.
