News

Representatives of the Anglican Church have denied press reports about a reunion with the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope. The publication of the British Times newspaper distorts the true intent of a joint Anglican-Catholic document and turns years of efforts to reach understanding into a supposed sensation, according to a statement released Monday evening in London. The Times had reported Monday on alleged "radical proposals" to reunite the two churches under Roman leadership.

The paper cited the 42-page draft of a review paper prepared by the Anglican-Catholic Joint International Commission (IARCCUM).Two leading Anglican heads of the body now maintain that the document was neither finally agreed between Rome and London nor accurately reproduced.

Threat of rupture of Anglican church unity Archbishop John Bathersby and Bishop David Beetge criticize, among other things, that the Times is already speculating about possible reactions of the Catholic Church to an impending break in Anglican church unity. In this regard, both the Pontifical Council for Unity and Benedict XVI should have. Personally expressed repeatedly in public a desire that the unity of the 78 million Anglicans worldwide be preserved. In the past, liberal tendencies within the Anglican Church had repeatedly led to an exodus of priests and faithful to the Catholic Church.At present, 35 of the 38 heads of the Anglican national churches are meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in order to prevent a final break between the conservative and the liberal wings. Ies of contention include, above all, the ordination of women as bishops, the treatment of professedly homosexual priests and church ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Altar cross with a colorful rainbow © Jorg Loeffke (KNA)

Baby feet in the hands of the mother © Liudmila Fadzeyeva (shutterstock)

A little light in the dark: Japan bishops' conference releases late abuse study © Harald Oppitz (KNA)

Court: killing of male chicks is compatible with animal protection law © dpa

In the largest Lutheran church in the USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the fronts have hardened in the conflict over sexual ethics, homosexuality and biblical interpretation: Some Lutheran congregations this week founded a new church, the North American Lutheran Church.

The trigger for this split is a decision by U.S. Lutherans last August to open the way for openly lesbian and gay theologians to enter the pastorate. That made the move to a new church inevitable, said Pastor Mark Chavez, one of the coordinators of the founding assembly Thursday and Friday in Grove City, Ohio. The engine behind the new church is the Coalition for Renewal, an association of conservative Lutheran clergy and congregations. More than 1.000 worshippers expected at church plant. The North American Lutheran Church sees itself as a counterweight to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is said to be too liberal and distant from the Bible, and which emerged from the merger of three churches in 1988.

Small portion of congregations want to follow The new church embodies the "center of Lutheranism in America" and holds fast to the authority of Scripture as the "sole source and norm for faith and life," Chavez explains. Of course, the new church starts small numerically, he concedes. Even before the founding of the church, a good dozen congregations had already declared their membership. He was impressed, Chavez says, that hundreds of the 10.300 Lutheran congregations to consider leaving the "mother church". John Brooks of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said the church regrets resignations. So far, however, they have been limited. About 200 of the more than 10.000 congregations have left their home church and joined Mission for Christ Lutheran Fellowship because of the decision to open the pastorate to clergy living in same-sex partnerships, he said. Anglicans in the U.S. have also had heated controversies over their treatment of homosexual clergy.