The Christian Century

The Church of England is facing the threat of a major split and years of turmoil over a vote by the church’s General Synod to allow the consecration of women as Anglican bishops.

The Church of England says that in 2006 for the first time the number of newly ordained women exceeded that of men, but it conceded that most women did not get positions as full-time clergy.

The Roman Catholic Church will investigate a life-saving miracle attributed to the late Pope John Paul I, bringing the pontiff who served only 33 days in 1978 one step closer to possible sainthood. His papacy was one of the briefest in history, ended by an apparent heart attack.

After deciding that ordaining women bishops is theologically justifiable, the Church of England on July 10 adopted a plan to explore the practical and legislative steps to make it happen.

Key U.S. Catholic bishops told 55 Catholic Democrats in the House that there is no wiggle room in church teaching on abortion, and that they are duty-bound to work against “the destruction of unborn human life.” The statement March 10 by three top leaders of the U.S.

Lutheran World Relief has received a $640,104 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help nomadic communities in Niger avert food crises through new approaches that help bring vulnerable populations back from the brink of hunger.

The issue of homosexuality has come back to haunt the Church of England with the appointment of avowedly gay Canon Jeffrey John as dean of the diocese of St. Albans—the same priest who was forced to withdraw last year from an appointment as a bishop.

Anglicans seek pastor for a ‘Web church’

The Church of England is setting up a church on the Web and is advertising for a Web-pastor to run it. The initiative comes from the diocese of Oxford, using money given by the church commissioners to each of the Church of England’s 44 dioceses to fund pioneering projects that would support the church.

The Church of England’s governing General Synod has voiced strong support for greater acceptance of homosexuals, but the church’s official stance—of tolerating gay relationships among the laity but not among the clergy—remains unchanged.