c. 2008 Religion News Service

Conservative Anglican primates back new province

(RNS) Five Anglican archbishops have backed the introduction of a new Anglican province in North America, a significant, though unsurprising boost for the

conservative-led initiative.

“We fully support this development with our prayer and blessing,” said the archbishops, who are called primates because they lead regional branches of the

worldwide Anglican Communion. “It demonstrates the determination of these faithful Christians to remain authentic Anglicans.”

Last Wednesday (Dec. 3), a group of conservative dissidents announced that they were starting a branch of the Anglican Communion called the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The group claims 100,000 members, including most of four dioceses that have split with the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the communion, in the last year.

The new province faces several obstacles before it is officially admitted to the Anglican Communion, however, including the approval of two-thirds of the

communion’s 38 primates.

Released on Dec. 6, the primates’ statement was signed by: Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Archbishop Emmanuel

Kolini of Rwanda, Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone (South America), and Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.

All of the archbishops are members of the Global Anglican Future Conference, a conservative group that disparages the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of

Canada as preaching the “false gospel” of gay rights.

Last July, GAFCON, as the group is known, met in Jerusalem and encouraged North American conservatives to create the new province.

In recent years, both the U.S. and Canadian churches have separately moved leftward on sexual orientation issues, including the election of a gay man as

bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 and the approval of same-sex blessings in some dioceses.

The conservatives’ statement was released after the five primates met on Friday with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who is spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans.

Williams has not commented publicly on ACNA. A spokesman has said it will “take years” for ACNA to gain approval as a province.

The GAFCON primates said: “A new province will draw together in unity many of those who wish to remain faithful to the teaching of God’s word, and also create the highest level of fellowship possible with the wider Anglican Communion.”

_ Daniel Burke

Interim Russian Orthodox leader chosen after Alexy’s death

(RNS) Metropolitan Kirill, the Russian Orthodox leader of the provinces of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, has been chosen as the interim leader of the Russian

Orthodox Church, following the death Friday (Dec. 5) of Patriarch Alexy II.

Kirill, 62, was chosen by secret ballot by the Holy Synod, a ruling group of 12 senior clergy who met Saturday outside Moscow, Reuters reported.

He is considered to be a reformer in his approach to relations with the Russian government and the Roman Catholic Church. He leads the church’s external

relations department and has appeared often on television representing the church.

The next patriarch must be chosen within six months and Kirill is viewed as one of four candidates in the running, the news agency reported.

As Alexy lay in state on Sunday in the gold-domed Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Kirill conducted a two-hour service at his coffin. Alexy’s

funeral is scheduled for Tuesday.

The patriarch, who died of heart failure at age 79, was elected in 1990 and helped his church revive after it had been repressed under communism.

President Bush offered condolences to members of the church and the Russian people.

“The president’s heart is with the community of Russian believers as they continue to rebuild the rich spiritual traditions of Russia,” said White House

Press Secretary Dana Perino.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Louisiana Episcopal bishop announces retirement

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Louisiana Episcopal Bishop Charles Jenkins announced his retirement Thursday, noting health and other issues.

“I am of the mind that a healthy bishop, fully engaged with the needs of the diocese and one who has the confidence of the clergy of the diocese, will better lead us through this challenge and into the future,” he said.

Jenkins said it’s better if he takes a rest away from the stress and strains of the episcopate.

“My struggle with health issues since Katrina has not been a secret,” Jenkins wrote in a widely distributed letter, alluding to the hurricane that rocked New Orleans in 2005.

“My PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) was exaggerated by the experiences of the mandatory evacuation in Hurricane Gustav. The symptoms that accompany the PTSD now seem deeper and more frequent.”

Jenkins said he considered other alternatives to retirement, such as a medical leave or a sabbatical. But “there is no assurance that I would be back to lead the diocese,” he said. And he said he was not willing to ask the diocese to take such a risk.

Under his leadership, the diocese taught itself how to build low-cost housing by inventing its Jericho Road Housing Initiative, which has built homes in Central City.

At the request of residents who had been helped by Episcopal volunteers, the diocese planted a small new church in the Lower 9th Ward, the overwhelmingly black, Protestant neighborhood least likely to host an Episcopal presence before

the storm.

In the letter announcing his retirement, he notes that in such ministries he finds “energy, excitement and satisfaction.”

“I pray that God will enable me to continue to give myself to the work of a newly constituted Episcopal Community Services in Louisiana,” he wrote. “I hope by God’s grace that I will be able to devote even more time and energy to the social ministry in Louisiana.”

Courtney Cowart, who was hired by Jenkins to reshape the Louisiana diocese’s relief ministry, said, “I understand his decision.” Cowart added that the

process to find the 11th bishop for the diocese will be a lengthy one.

“I have great confidence,” she said, “that the important work of the diocese post-Katrina will be sustained.”

Jenkins said he will remain bishop of the diocese until Dec. 31, 2009, and “I shall do all in my power to see that we stay on this path to biblical justice . . .”

_ Leslie Williams

Quote of the Day: Secretary of Commerce nominee Bill Richardson

(RNS) “My mother used to insist that I go to confession almost every day when I was a kid. I’d say, `This is absurd! Let’s do it every three days. Give me time to sin!”’

_ Richardson was quoted by Esquire Magazine.

DSB/CSW END RNS