(RNS) The election of openly gay Rev. Mary Glasspool as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles presents a stark choice to the Episcopal Church about whether to yield to demands from the Anglican Communion, or go its own way. Religion News Service file photo courtesy Diocese of Los Angeles. | Download/Purchase this photo
Second gay bishop OK’d for Episcopal Church
By Daniel Burke
(RNS) A lesbian priest has been confirmed as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, making her the Episcopal Church’s second openly gay bishop and potentially widening its breach with Anglicans overseas.
A majority of the more than 100 bishops and dioceses in the Episcopal Church ratified the December election of Bishop-elect Mary Douglas Glasspool, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced on Wednesday (March 17).
Glasspool, who was a diocesan administrator in Maryland prior to her election, will be consecrated a suffragan (assistant) bishop in Los Angeles on May 15.
“I am overjoyed—and relieved, and deeply …
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
As the world dons some green and hoists a green brew, NPR measures the impact of the growing clergy molestation scandal on the church in the Emerald Isle. Pope Benedict XVI hopes his upcoming letter on the scandal can foster "repentance, healing and renewal." A British bishop says the church's current ills are its own fault, and "deserves to be attacked and criticized." Buckingham Palace confirmed Benedict's four-day visit to England and Scotland in September.
In the pope's German homeland, Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the erupting …
RNS HAPPY BHUTAN b (RNS3-MAR11) Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index aims to preserve Bhutan's unique cultural heritage, including among children, like these boys in the town of Pheuntsholing along the Indian border. For use with RNS-HAPPY-BHUTAN, transmitted March 11, 2010. RNS photo by Vishal Arora.
(RNS4-MAR17) Episcopal Bishop Jean Zache Duracin of Haiti, seen here with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori (center), lost his home, car and office in the Jan. 12 earthquake, but remains hopeful about his country's recovery. For use with RNS-10-MINUTES, transmitted March 17, 2010. RNS photo courtesy Episcopal News Service. | Download/Purchase this photo
10 minutes with … Jean Zache Duracin
By Tracy Simmons
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (RNS) It’s been more than two months since a 7.0 earthquake demolished Haiti’s capital. The rubble’s been pushed aside to make room for roadways, but that’s about the extent of the clean up.
Destruction surrounds Episcopal Bishop Jean Zache Duracin. His wife is being treated for injuries in the U.S., the rectory he called home is a pile of shattered bricks, and his car and office are buried beneath the rubble.
Yet Duracin remains buoyant, and says members of the Haiti diocese—the Episcopal Church’s largest—remain faithful.
Some answers have been edited for …