Presiding Episcopal Bishop Katharine Jefferts in Birmingham to help consecrate suffragan bishop for Alabama

From the Birmingham News [boldface mine]:

. . . [Presiding Bishop Katharine] Jefferts Schori will be one of five bishops expected to lay hands on the Rev. John McKee Sloan during a consecration service today at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of the Advent. Sloan will become suffragan, or assistant, bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama during the service. . .

Jefferts Schori also discussed continuing dissent in the Anglican Communion - the more than 70 million Christians worldwide affiliated with the Church of England - over the issue of accepting openly gay bishops. Schori voted in favor of approving New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson as the denomination's first openly gay bishop in 2003.

So far, Episcopal Church relationships with other branches of Anglicans still have a lot of vitality, she said. . .

"I think we continue to muddle along with enthusiasm," Jefferts Schori said. "You can't say it's not enthusiastic. I look at the shift in terms of relationships across the communion in the last 10 or 15 years and I'm enormously heartened by that. Far more dioceses and congregations in this church have partnerships with the communion than was true a number of years ago, and in that sense the Anglican Communion on the ground is alive and real and growing in vitality because people are engaged in mission work together in the broadest sense.

"Yes, there is some conflict in the highest governing levels in the Anglican Communion," she said. "The reality is that mission work is growing and increasing.". . .

Sloan, known throughout the diocese by his nickname "Kee," said he hopes that as suffragan bishop he can help the church become more inclusive. The Diocese of Alabama includes more than 30,000 Episcopalians across the north-central part of the state.

"We have a lot of work to do, every church does," Sloan said. "We celebrate a lot of good ministries going on. We hope to be more hospitable to the multicultural nature of the population of Alabama and reach out for other sources of people. The Episcopal Church has always been a completely welcoming and inclusive church for all people, of all sorts.". . .

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Christchurch Anglican in Montgomery dedicates property

From Anglican Mainstream:

The growing 600-member Christchurch in Montgomery, Ala., dedicated 15 scenic acres in the city’s fastest-growing section of town on Sunday September 16. On hand to dedicate the debt-free $1.3 million property were Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, head of the Anglican Church of Uganda; Bishop John Guernsey, recently ordained by the Church of Uganda to serve its American parishes; and the Anglican Communion Network’s Southeast Convocation Dean, Jim McCaslin.

The two-year-old Christchurch, a parish in the world-wide Anglican Communion, began with approximately 400 members in April of 2005 after a group of parishioners established the church and the Reverend John-Michael van Dyke and the Rev. Robert L. DeMoss II answered calls to become the rector and associate rector, respectively.

The parish has grown to approximately 600 members. It is one of more than 900 parishes in the new American-based Anglican Communion Network and one of approximately 200 churches in this country that are temporarily under the spiritual and administrative care of international archbishops while work progresses toward an independent North American province. Meanwhile, Christchurch operates temporarily under the jurisdiction of one of the foremost international leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Archbishop Orombi, and the Bishop of the Sebei Diocese, Church of Uganda, the Rt. Rev. Augustine Salimo. . .

. . . During the short growth period, Christchurch has sent four mission teams to Uganda, supported mission outreach for Hurricane Katrina in Waveland, Miss., and its active youth group has completed several mission trips including a recent one to help roof homes of the less fortunate in Savannah, Ga.

The church also operates “Chi Rho Kids,” a domestic mission ministry providing pre-school and parent enrichment education during the academic year to economically-challenged children and their families. Chi Rho Kids is currently housed at Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Christchurch spearheaded the founding of Paseo among southeastern Anglican parishes. The Christian movement offers a method by which one’s spirituality can develop, grow and be shared. It is very similar to other Christian denomination weekends such as Cursillo, the Methodist Walk to Emmaus, the Lutheran Via de Cristo, etc. . .

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