anglicans spilt, oh no?

I would like if the Anglican Church split into homophobic and non-homophobic wings, if the homophobes can't be persuaded of the sinfulness of their ways.

I may be mistaken but it was for ordaining a bishop that they took exception too.

wrong, and kind of a nasty smear.

my parents go to the largest Episcopalian church in their diocese, whose delegates voted for Robinson's ordination. So shut the fuck up, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about (non-shocker).

xpost - Dadaismus, go fucking TALK to members of the church, please. Not everything in the world is as clear-cut as what newspapers might have you believe.

In the UK, bishops are appointed, not elected. Senior bishops are appointed by both the government and the church - to choose an Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prime Minister selects between two candidates put forward by the church. There is certainly a feeling in the evangelical wing of the church (who were very pleased by the appointment of Archbishop Carey) that Rowan Williams was deliberately selected by a government who wanted to liberalise the church.

Well, Rowan Williams himself is a liberal, and a supporter of homosexual priests. In the UK liberal anglicanism is doing fine

The fact that the US and the UK churches are so in favour of homosexual clergy and bishops is a sign of just how liberal those churches are

There was a great degree of controversy recently in the Church of England when a celibate gay man was appointed Suffragan Bishop of Reading, and was eventually forced to decline the appointment by Dr Williams, as a sop to the evangelical wing. Although the official C of E position is that it is only the act of gay sex which is a sin, this affair shows that this isn't what the evangelicals believe: they will not accept anyone who will admit to homosexual feelings even if that person never has sex.

The evangelical wing of the Church of England is, even if it is a minority, much more vocal than the liberal majority. It's also the only part of the church which is working hard to attract new members (with initiatives like the Alpha Course, which is heavily advertised on billboards country-wide). Some leaders of Reform - the largest formal evangelical group within the Church Of England - have gone so far as to say that they would not allow the Archbishop of Canterbury to preach in their parishes, because they believe his views are dangerously heretical.

The next big turning point in the Church of England may well be the appointment of the next Archbishop of York, who is also Primate of England. The incumbent, Dr David Hope (who was outed many years ago by Peter Tatchell but has refused to officially state his sexuality), is a liberal bishop who has retired to go back to being a parish priest.

tell me more about york, Caitlin.

I have said pretty much all I know about York. You might want to try The Guardian's religion section.

Can i put the anglican church on my death pool ?

Vatican welcomes Anglicans into Catholic Church

* Story Highlights
* Vatican opens door to disillusioned Anglicans wanting to join Catholic Church
* Married priests and bishops to be allowed to "enter into full visible communion"
* Vatican says "hundreds" of Anglicans have expressed interest in joining
* Anglicans can retain their rites while recognizing the pope as their leader

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The Vatican said Tuesday it has worked out a way for groups of Anglicans who are dissatisfied with their faith to join the Catholic Church.

The process will enable groups of Anglicans to become Catholic and recognize the pope as their leader, yet have parishes that retain Anglican rites, Vatican officials said. The move comes some 450 years after King Henry VIII broke from Rome and created the Church of England, forerunner of the Anglican Communion.

The parishes would be led by former Anglican clergy -- including those who are married -- who would be ordained as Catholic priests, said the Rev. James Massa, ecumenical director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"This sets up a process for whole groups of Anglicans -- clergy and laity -- to enter in to the Catholic Church while retaining their forms of worship and other Anglican traditions," Massa said.

The number of Anglicans wishing to join the Catholic Church has increased in recent years as the Anglican Church has welcomed the ordination of women and openly gay clergy and blessed homosexual partnerships, said Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Their talks with the Vatican recently began speeding up, Vatican officials said, leading to Tuesday's announcement.

"The Catholic Church is responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion," Levada said.

Levada said "hundreds" of Anglicans around the world have expressed their desire to join the Catholic Church. Among them are 50 Anglican bishops, said Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

While married Anglican priests may be ordained as Catholic priests, the same does not apply to married Anglican bishops, Levada said.

"We've been praying for this unity for 40 years and we've not anticipated it happening now," Di Noia said. "The Holy Spirit is at work here."

One interested group is the Traditional Anglican Communion, an association of churches that is separate from the Anglican Communion and has hundreds of thousands of members worldwide. The TAC in 2007 petitioned the Vatican for unity with the Catholic Church with the stipulation that the group retain its Anglican rites.

The TAC's primate, Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia, said in a statement Tuesday that the Vatican's announcement "more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition two years ago."

That is because the Vatican's move involves not only the TAC but other Anglican groups that want to unite with the Catholic Church, said the Right Rev. Daren K. Williams, bishop ordinary of the western diocese of the Anglican Church of America, which is part of the TAC.

The Vatican has yet to release all details of the offer, and the TAC's leaders will meet and discuss how to respond when it does, Williams said. But Williams said he believes much of TAC will respond favorably.

Williams, who also is rector of All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley, California, said his parishioners have generally been "very warmly receiving" Tuesday's announcement.

"It is encouraging for them to know their worship experience wouldn't be turned upside down by the Roman Catholic Church," Williams said. "The person in the pew should see very little difference in the way we pray. We might be asked to pray aloud for any pope who happens to be in office, in addition to praying for our primate.

"Really, there'd be very little other difference."

The parishes retaining the Anglican rites would answer not to Catholic bishops but to regional or nationwide "personal ordinariates" who would report to the pope, Massa said. Those officials often will be former Anglican clergy, Vatican officials said.

The Church of England said the move ends a "period of uncertainty" for Anglican groups who wanted more unity with the Catholic Church.

Both groups have a "substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality" and will continue to hold official dialogues, the archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster said in a joint statement.

"Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church," Levada said. "At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey."

Preserving Anglican traditions, such as mass rites, adds to the diversity of the Catholic Church, he said.

"The unity of the church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows," he said. "Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle articulated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: 'There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.' "