Anglican Communion Institute (ACI)

Questions Facing the Episcopal Church Over Redefining Marriage

The factual question Men, women and children are distinct and united in their living forms. As a man and a woman unite in sexual intercourse, a child is conceived and then given birth. The physical elements involved in this are obvious and particular. The bond between a mother and her child is among the deepest that is experienced, and goes beyond (but includes) hormones and breast-feeding. It is shaped through a range of physical elements still not well understood.

Questions for Presiding Bishop Candidates, 2015

The following are questions we would want to see posed to and answered by the current candidates for Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. We hope that our bishops will make sure that these, or questions like them, are put forward and engaged publicly by the candidates themselves. In general, the Presiding Bishop is defined as the "chief pastor", "primate", "leader", and "spokesperson" for the national church as it is ordered by General Convention.

Excluding Your Enemy: A Comment on the Present State of Episcopal Church

We write to bring to the attention of the Bishops, Priest, Deacons and Lay Persons of The Episcopal Church (TEC) a matter of grave concern. It is a matter that, left unaddressed in the decision-making of General Convention, now threatens the integrity and public witness of everyone who calls him or herself an Episcopalian: is our church prepared to permit in its midst clergy and lay leaders who, however much they represent a minority opinion, are committed to a traditional reading of TEC's Prayer Book and Constitution?

Infant Baptism For A Modern Age

From the end of the Roman Empire into early modern times the Christian Church has, here and there, practiced forced conversions. The most frequent objects of this practice were Jews; and among them were most especially children, "converted" in the form of forced baptism. The official teachings of the church since the 5th century at least, forbade such forced baptisms, but the practice continued nonetheless. One problem that the church had to face was how to deal with the children thus baptized.

Same Sex Marriage and Infant Baptism

A controversy has erupted in the Diocese of Central Florida over an apparent request by the dean of the cathedral to postpone the infant baptism of a same sex couple.  This led to Facebook and blog postings, general outrage and immediate calls for charges under Title IV.  All this before the facts were known. Given the lack of knowledge of all the relevant facts in this instance it is not appropriate for reasonable people to comment on this particular case, let alone encourage legal proceedings founded on ignorance of the facts. We will not address this case here.

Misrepresenting ACI's Concerns About The Constitutionality of Supplemental Liturgical Material

Last week we published an analysis of proposals to have this General Convention authorize supplemental liturgies that would be neither part of the Book of Common Prayer nor a proposed revision of it. Based on the detailed text of Article X of TEC’s Constitution, we concluded that General Convention does not have this authority and that whatever authority does exist to authorize supplemental rites resides in the bishop of each diocese.

Called To Serve The Lord: An Address To Some Clergy From The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas

This is a hard time in the life of our church. It's easy to spend most of our time obsessing about all that has gone wrong. However, the subject I have been asked to address, "Called to Serve", points in a different direction. It points away from our discontent and toward a vision of a reformed and renewed church"”a church identified by a commitment to service. "Called to Serve" has branding potential for a renewed and reformed church, but the potential will not be realized unless two words are added to the proposed brand name. Let's not talk about "called to serve".

The Marriage Taskforce and the Balkan Solution

In what follows I do not intend to respond to the Taskforce on Marriage's theological papers. The papers deserve such a response, but not here. Rather, I wish to respond to the Taskforce Report on basis of its canonical proposal and its implied approach to the Church's decision-making, both of which I believe are seriously deficient and potentially harmful to our church's common life and future witness. I will argue that the Taskforce not only avoids the deep disagreement within the church over the matter of marriage, but stokes that disagreement.
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