Well I have once again gotten behind in sharing a few of these headlines so I will again do two weeks worth and will be a bit more selective in what I include.
Let me begin by noting a couple of churches that have comments on economic issues. First, the Church of Scotland has initiatives for both local economic justice as well as for elsewhere in the world.
Church of Scotland concern over 36% Wonga profit – from The Scotsman; “Church of Scotland leaders today expressed concern over the antics of
“legal loan sharks” after pay day lender Wonga’s profits rocketed to
more than £1 million a week.” And later in the article “The Church of England is working with the Church of Scotland to
establish a churches mutual credit union as an alternative to such
firms.”Churches call on shoppers to support Bangladeshi garment workers – from Ekklesia
And comments from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana
Restructure economy – Presby Church – from GhanaWeb; “The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) has entreated government to
restructure the economy through well thought-out policies and implement
pragmatic plans and programmes for a turnaround of the economy.”
In other news from Ghana
Churches are also corrupt – Murtala Mohammed – from GhanaWeb; The Deputy Minister of Information agreed with the PCG that there was government corruption to be cleaned up, but continued that the church has some cleaning to do too as well.
And headlines coming out of the CCAP Synod Assembly meetings from both Blantyre and Livingstonia Synods regarding mixing political and religious careers:
CCAP Church ministers with political ambitions asked to step down – from The Mavari Post; Blantyre Synod
CCAP Livingstonia Synod okays clergy to join front-line politics: Offers three options – from Nyasa Times; the three options are retire, resign or take a support position in the church
In my last set of headlines I mentioned the work of the Free Church of Scotland to try to improve a local highway for the safety of the motorists. They had a meeting with Scottish politicians and there is yet no movement to do the upgrades sooner:
Clergy ‘disappointed’ after meeting Minister over dualling of A9 – from STV News
In Northern Ireland there was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the city walls of Derry. A local Presbyterian minister preached at an interdenominational service on the deeper meaning of walls in that part of the world:
‘Walls have divided city and its people‘ – from Derry Journal; “
In New Zealand a disciplinary case is making the news:
Pastor defiant in face of ban – from New Zealand Herald; “David Ock-Youn Jang was struck off the ministerial roll last Friday
after a church investigation found him guilty of sexual misconduct and abuse. But yesterday, he led a service – and says he will continue to do so with the backing of the parish council and congregation at his West Auckland church.”
Going back to Scotland the Moderator of the General Assembly got quite a discussion going concerning the place of women in the church, particularly in leadership roles. It began with an interview where she talked about the view of John Knox:
Women in charge of Kirk? Not if Knox had his way – from The Scotsman
There is a letter to the editor of the Herald Scotland defending Knox
Knox was not so monstrous – from Herald Scotland
But the Moderator continued her theme at the meeting of the Guild this past weekend:
Church of Scotland sexism ‘hindering women’ in office, moderator warns – from BBC News
In preview of Scottish Parliament hearings this week there were headlines related to the proposed Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill:
Scotland: 50,000 sign petition against redefining marriage – from The Christian Institute
Much, much more on this in the coming week.
Finally, it was announced – or at least made the media – the Rev. John L. Bell of the Iona Community will be awarded the Community of Christ International Peace Award next month.