c. 2006 Religion News Service
Virginia Priest Consecrated Bishop for Nigerian Group
(RNS) Crossing geographic borders and traditional lines of authority, the Church of Nigeria consecrated a conservative American priest Sunday (Aug. 20) as bishop of a U.S.-based group.
The Rev. Martyn Minns, of Fairfax, Va., will head the Convocation for Anglicans in North America under the direction of Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. Minns is pastor of Truro Church, a flagship of the Episcopal Church’s conservative wing.
Though the U.S. group was originally founded to minister to Nigerian expatriates, it now will welcome anyone disaffected with the Episcopal Church, according to Minns.
The move by Minns and Akinola may be yet another maneuver in the battle between liberals and conservatives in the worldwide 77 million-member Anglican Communion and its American arm, the Episcopal Church. Already, a dissident conclave of conservative North American dioceses and churches has invited CANA to join their group.
The Convocation for Anglicans in North America includes about 20 churches, according to news reports, though it is not clear how many members it has. Calls to CANA’s office at Truro Church were not immediately returned.
In appointing Minns, Akinola said he intends “not to challenge or intervene in the churches of (North America) but rather to provide safe harbor for those who can no longer find their spiritual home in those churches.”
Nigeria is one of nine African provinces to declare themselves in “impaired communion” with the Episcopal Church since the election of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire.
Divisions over homosexuality and the authority of Scripture are threatening to tear apart the fragile Anglican Communion and the 2.1 million-member Episcopal Church.
Minns, 63, will continue his duties as rector of Truro Church until another rector is found, according to a church news release.
But Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia has called that situation “impossible” and has said that Minns’ consecration is “an affront to traditional Anglican provincial autonomy.”
Lee said he met with Minns Aug. 12 and the two will release a statement in late August to respond to the “various jurisdictional and pastoral challenges that are presented by this development.”
_ Daniel Burke
Update: Madonna Won’t Face Charges in Germany
(RNS) German authorities will not investigate pop star Madonna for repeating her crucifixion scene for 45,000 fans during the Sunday (Aug. 20) show in her “Confessions” tour, according to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors in Germany had threatened legal action if Madonna performed the scene in which she sings while attached to a suspended, mirrored cross, wearing a crown of thorns.
But Johannes Mocken, a spokesman for Duesseldorf prosecutors, told the AP that though the scene “might be hurtful to religious people,” it was not a criminal offense.
Mocken said the singer was protected by artistic freedom laws.
Madonna, who was raised Catholic, has drawn fire for the controversial act since she performed it Aug. 6 for 70,000 fans at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, less than a mile and a half from Vatican City.
_ Kat Glass
Companies That Produced `Clean’ Movies Close Doors
(RNS) CleanFilms and CleanFlicks, two companies that edited violence, profanity, nudity and sex scenes from DVD movies for family viewing, have closed their businesses, rather than appealing a federal judge’s July 6 ruling that they were violating copyright law, according to Baptist Press.
The Utah-based businesses had carved a niche over the past several years with Christians and conservatives concerned about movies’ content, especially for family viewing.
Both companies bought movies and then edited out objectional material before selling or renting to their customers.
“Anyone who goes to see a movie on occasion will tell you that many of today’s films contain scenes of gratuitous sex, violence, nudity and foul language that for many people (particularly families with small children) are unacceptable,” read a statement from CleanFilms’ response to the motion filed by Motion Picture Studios.
The motion from Motion Picture Studios argued that the companies’ business practices violated the Copyright Act by distributing “unauthorized content-edited versions of the Studios’ motion pictures.”
CleanFilms and CleanFlicks argued that the companies were within legal bounds because they operated on a one-to-one practice: For each DVD they rented or sold, they would keep an original version of the movie in their inventory.
Troy Romero, an attorney who represented CleanFilms and CleanFlicks, told Baptist Press that he estimated fighting Motion Picture Studios would be a four- to six-year legal battle _ too long for the small companies.
Both CleanFilms and CleanFlicks are currently offering liquidation sales through their Web sites.
_ Kat Glass
Episcopal Bishops to Meet in Effort to Bridge Differences
(RNS) The archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, has asked a small group of Episcopal bishops to gather this fall to bridge bitter divisions over homosexuality.
The summit will be the latest of many attempts to stave off schism in the Anglican Communion and its American branch, the Episcopal Church. Ordinations of gay clergy and blessings of same-sex unions lay at the root of the fissures.
The September meetings will be held in New York and will bring together six bishops from across the 2.1 million-member church’s ideological divide, including outgoing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and his successor, Katharine Jefferts Schori, who will take office in November.
In addition, the Rev. Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, will attend. The invited Episcopal leaders include Bishops Peter Lee of Virginia, John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida, Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh and Jack Iker of Fort Worth, Texas.
The summit and invitees were announced by the archbishop of Canterbury in a news release Friday (Aug. 18).
In a statement accepting the invitation, Iker said each participant had been asked to bring another bishop “to share in the deliberations.” Iker said he and Duncan will bring Bishop Ed Salmon of South Carolina and Bishop James Stanton of Dallas. All four are leaders of the U.S. church’s conservative wing.
“We are grateful to the archbishop of Canterbury for his efforts to broker a cease-fire in our current conflicts and to assist us in finding a way to work through this impasse we have reached,” Iker said.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Albert Isteero, Presbyterian minister from Egypt
(RNS) “The United States, a so-called Christian country, has a double standard. With one hand it gives bombs to Israel and with the other it gives milk and flour to those affected by the bombs. Is this Christian? Forget Christian, is this human?”
_ The Rev. Albert Isteero, editor of the Arabic-language edition of “The Upper Room” daily devotional guide and a Presbyterian clergyman from Egypt. He was quoted in an interview with United Methodist News Service during a Wednesday (Aug. 16) visit to Nashville, Tenn.
KRE/PH END RNS
