Dr Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, has reportedly told close friends that he will step down next year as head of both the Church of England and the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

Williams, 61, will allegedly announce his stepping down after the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2012, and plans to remain in office until after the Church of England votes on the issue of consecrating women bishops, The Telegraph reported.

A spokesman from Lambeth Palace has declined to comment on the matter.

Williams, in 2003, was elected the 104^th archbishop of Canterbury, and is eligible to remain in his post until he turns 70, which would be in 2020. His early retirement is consistent with previous archbishops, including his predecessor, Lord Carey of Clifton, who also retired after holding the post for 10 years.

The timing of Williams’ retirement is also reportedly a means to enable his successor enough time to prepare for the Lambeth Conference, which gathers all Anglican bishops worldwide every 10 years. The next conference is slated for 2018.

Williams presided over one of the most difficult periods of the Anglican Church which, in 2008, struggled with arguments over homosexual clergy, the issue of women clergy, boycotts and challenges to his authority.

Amid bitter rows within the church, the Roman Catholic Church formed an Ordinariate to accommodate disillusioned Anglicans. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/10/first-anglican-defections-to-catholic-ordinariate-announced-14115/).

Succession in question

With Williams’ pending announcement, succession comes into question. There have been allegations that Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, bishop of London, has been long saying Williams should step down to give others a chance to succeed him after having held the post for 10 years.

Chartres, who is a close friend of Prince Charles, is alleged to have said it would be good for the church if Williams steps down. A source told The Telegraph, “Richard has been saying it’s time for Rowan to stand down so that Sentamu can take over, but can’t have forgotten that he’s the same age as Sentamu.”

The source further told the Telegraph, “[Chartres] would have just as good a chance of becoming archbishop given his connection with the royal family, but the only problem is his opposition to women’s ordination.”

Chartres denies ever having said that Williams should step down. In the meantime, speculation is that Ugandan-born John Sentamu, archbishop of York, will succeed Williams temporarily as caretaker.

Of late, Williams has become more vocal on political issues, including expressing his opposition to a move by the government to sell publicly-owned forests, and criticizing welfare reforms and the Coalition’s education.

The highest posts of the Church of England are, technically, appointed by the Queen. She is advised by the Crown Nominations Commission, which is comprised of some members of the General Synod, among others.

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Rev. Hugh Grimes, chaplain of Christ Church in Vienna, which enjoyed diplomatic immunity, baptized Jews in Austriain droves just before the start of World War II, and shortly after Hitler annexed the country as part of the Third Reich.

The church was built mainly for the benefit of staff of the British embassy and other expatriates. When he started to baptize Jews, the lines grew longer for the ritual which could help to save their lives.

The annexation was part of Hitler’s plan to unite all German-speaking nations. Initially, thousands lined the streets to welcome Hitler’s troops. But shortly after, Jews were beaten and tormented. Hundreds of them committed suicide.

Lucien Meysels, 86, recalling those days told BBC, “As we walked back home, suddenly the mob was coming in – a howling mob, which I’ve never seen before. Smashing shop windows, just barbaric. That moment we knew we had to get out, and had to get out fast.”

Christopher Wentworth-Stanley, a British artist based in Vienna, has been studying the work of Rev. Grimes for years. Looking through the old church ledgers, he noticed a clear pattern emerged in 1938.

Stanley told BBC News, “You can actually fit the baptisms to the chronology of what was going on in Vienna. On 23 July, the identity card was introduced with a “J” on it. On the day after that, 129 people were baptized here. The following day there were 229. I mean, the church itself only sits 125 people.”

The Baptisms were instrumental in helping thousands of Jews flee the country. Historian Giles Macdonogh told BBC, “If you had a particularly stroppy border guard, he might have said ‘You’re a Jew and not an Anglican, and no, you can’t leave the country’. But in many cases that didn’t happen. Providing you had baptismal papers that showed you were not a Jew but a Christian, you could pass into any one of those countries which did not see at that stage – like many countries – that Judaism was not a racial thing but simply a religious matter.”

The large increase in number of conversions, however, caught the attention of senior leaders of the Church of England. He was recalled in the summer of that same year, and was replaced by Rev. Fred Collard, who continued to baptize Austrian Jews as did his predecessor.

A hope of escape

Some 1,800 Jews were given these precious baptism certificates before the Church of England had to end the activity. A descendant of one of the survivors, Randy Schoenberg, lives in California.

He discovered his great uncle’s baptism certificate recently. Of Grimes, he told BBC, “He was someone with an extremely good heart who saw desperate people in need and offered them at least a hope of escape from Austria. I think he really is an unsung hero of that terrible period.”

The baptism certificate of Schoenberg’s great uncle, Egon Zeisl, will be displayed in the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum.

Others who helped Jews to escape include Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who issued Swedish passports to Hungarian Jews in the 1940s; Major Karl Plagge of the German Army who in the 1940s sheltered some 1,200 Jews in a vehicle shop; Nicholas Winton of the British Stock Exchange who in 1939 smuggled 700 children out of Czechoslovakia to help them escape concentration camps; and Oskar Schindler, German industrialist who saved 1,200 Polish Jews by hiring them and bribing Nazis.

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A historical cathedral in the UK is set to become the first in the country—and possibly the world—to install solar panels on its roof.

The Coventry Cathedral applied recently for approval of its building plans to install some $160,800.00 worth of photovoltaic panels on its rooftop, The Telegraph said.

This would, perhaps, make the historic church the first of its kind in the world to have solar panels on the rooftop. As of now, at least one church in London has solar panels on its roof, but it is not a cathedral.

A cathedral in Saskatchewan, Canada namely the Saskatoon Cathedral, has solar panels on its stained glass windows.

Coventry Cathedral has one advantage over other cathedrals in the city, because it has a flatter rooftop, which should facilitate the laying of some 178 panels occupying a space of 2,153 square feet, Edie Newsroom reported.

Jane Woodward, executive director of the cathedral told Low Carbon Economy, “[In] Coventry, many cathedrals have quite steep pitched roofs behind shady parapets whereas ours is rarely flat so we’re hoping it will be possible.”

Woodward told The Telegraph, “We are looking at putting a 50 kilowatt solar array on the roof and we hope it will significantly reduce our electricity bills.”

However, they still have some hurdles to overcome, including the solicitation of permits from the Coventry City Council and the Cathedral Fabric Commission of England, The Telegraph reported.

The present cathedral sits alongside the ruins of its original building, which was destroyed in 1940 by Luftwaffe bombs. The newer cathedral building was constructed in 1956.

The solar roof will be built by EOS which is affiliated with Alumet, a renewable energy firm in Southam, in collaboration with the Renewable Energy Technology Alliance, according to Insider Media.

Mrs Woodward told The Telegraph, “The Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury are interested in the project for the reasons of environmental stewardship and climate justice.”

Woodward told The Telegraph, “Climate change is affecting people who are in poverty the most. Issues about social justice are very important to what we stand for so this is not just an iconic thing for us.”

Solar Roof Club

According to Woodward, the project is “potentially very powerful,” The Telegraph reported, because it is also a way to encourage Christians in the city to use solar technology on the rooftops of their homes, other church buildings and church halls.

The cathedral project is expected to be finished by the end of the year, in time for the Queen’s visit in 2012, and the Olympic football games which will be held in the Ricoh arena, to be renamed the City of Coventry Stadium in line with Olympic sponsorship rules, according to Low Carbon Economy.

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Kate Middleton’s recent confirmation to the Anglican Church has raised questions and doubts about the reason why she did it.

Middleton, who will marry Prince William on April 29, was baptized into the Church of England–but she had never undergone confirmation rites until just prior to her wedding, Alexander Chancellor wrote in The Guardian.

Furthermore, Chancellor noted in The Guardian, “[N]either [Kate Middleton] nor other members of her family appear until now to have been regular churchgoers.”

Middleton was confirmed by Bishop of London Richard Chartres, in private rites that were held in St. James Palace last March 10, according to The Telegraph. Also present were Middleton’s family and Prince William, Reuters reported. Chartres will also deliver the address during the wedding ceremony.

Chartres confirmed William in March 1997 at Windsor Castle when the heir to the throne was 14 years old. At the time, this was a departure from tradition as such royal services were usually done by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Reuters said.

The timing of Middleton’s confirmation raises speculation that the 29-year-old bride-to-be only did it because of her pending wedding. Chancellor wrote in The Guardian that if Middleton were truly serious about the Church of England she would have been confirmed much earlier.

Chancellor wrote in The Guardian that Middleton attended private boarding schools such as Downe House and the posh Marlborough College, where she would likely have been given the chance to receive confirmation rites when she was still in her teens.

Sources close to Middleton told The Daily Mail that the future bride was confirmed as a result of a “personal journey,” Chancellor wrote in The Guardian. However, he also muses on the fact that without the confirmation Middleton would not have been able to receive Holy Communion during the wedding ceremony.

Furthermore, in marrying Prince William she also becomes the wife of the “future Defender of the Faith,” Chancellor wrote in The Guardian, which raises suspicion that “she did it more for convenience than from conviction.”

Not so

Others however say that it is not so. Rowan Pelling wrote in The Telegraph that she can understand why Middleton might sincerely choose to be confirmed just before her wedding, as that was her own personal experience as well.

Pelling explains in her opinion piece in The Telegraph that in her personal case, it was the desire to have a church wedding that made her think it would be hypocritical on her part to do so without being personally committed to the church.

Pelling wrote in The Telegraph, “Like Kate, I was baptized into the Church of England while I was a baby, but, although my family attended church throughout my childhood, my mother believed confirmation was a decision for the individual.”

Pelling added that in her school there was “no real pressure to join the fold.” This, she says looking back, was a better approach as “it suffers the big children, as well as the little ones, to come unto it,” she wrote in The Telegraph.

Pelling wrote in The Telegraph, “Kate may have had some of the same conversations and wobbles of conscience that troubled me 16 years ago: that solemn vows have little weight unless you trouble yourself to consider the splendid solemnity of the forces that underpin them. It seems to me that one part of becoming an adult is to take responsibility for your faith, or, indeed, your lack of  it.”

In the 16^th century, King Henry VIII broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself supreme head of The Church of England. Currently, Queen Elizabeth II holds this title, which will be passed on to William when he becomes king, Reuters reported.

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The Church of England is starting several programs in response to a finding that Christians of South Asian descent feel unwanted in mainstream UK parishes.

A conference recently discovered that south Asian Christians feel alienated in mainstream congregations, to the point that some established churches that are either language or culture specific, the Guardian said.

South Asian Woman. Credit:satsal/sxc.hu

The South Asian Forum, which was open to all Christian denominations, came together to discuss the issues affecting  South Asian Christians in the UK. It was hosted by the Evangelical Alliance, the Guardian said.

Those of South Asian descent typically have ancestors from countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Currently in Wolverhampton alone, there are 11 ethnic minority small churches. One of them uses the dhol and other traditional Indian instruments. Punjabi is spoken in the worship service, the Guardian said.

The Church of England noted that in response, a vicar in Walthamstow in east London is trying to engage Urdu-speaking members of his flock into the daily life of the larger church body, the Guardian said.

One diocese tasked a vicar, the Rev Pam Daniel, to work on drawing more ethnic minorities into the Anglican priesthood. A 2007 survey showed that only 2.2 percent of the Church of England’s 12,000 licensed clergy are of ethnic minorities, the Guardian said.

The Conference findings paralleled a recent experience in Parliament when a black woman was named chaplain to the House of Commons. Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkins, born in Jamaica, was the choice of Commons speaker John Bercow, the Daily Mail said.

However the Dean of Westminster Abbey, Rev. Dr. John Hall, chose Andrew Tremlett, 46, a canon at Bristol Cathedral. Usually the Commons Chaplain is also the rector of St. Margaret’s Church, and sub-dean of Westminster Abbey, the Daily Mail said.

The norm is for the Speaker to approve the dean’s choice, as the latter deals directly with the Queen. However Bercow instead split from the Abbey. Wilkins is now Commons Chaplain and Tremlett is charged with the Abbey and St. Margaret’s. He will have an apartment in the Abbey Cloisters—a privilege normally for the Commons chaplain, the Daily Mail said.

A campaign is ongoing to pressure the Church of England to permit women bishops and to help ethnic minorities get higher public posts. Wilkins is perceived to be the first Church of England bishop if the ban on women is lifted, the Daily Mail said.

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The former head of the Thinktank Christian Research said recently that church attendance among black communities continues to rise, while mainstream church attendance has hit an all time low in the UK.

Peter Brierley, former head of Christian Research, said that should the trend continue, by 2015 about 25 percent of churchgoers in England will be from non-white communities, according to Christian Today.

The Pentecostal movement in the UK has seen marked growth, and it continues to see increasing numbers of church attendees.

Black Christians keep faith alive in UK.

Meanwhile the mainstream Anglican, Catholic and Church of England are experiencing sharp decline, according to Bishop Llewellyn Graham of the Church of God, according to Black Mental Health UK.

Brierley attributed the growth in numbers of the black community churches to the fact that neighbors invite friends to their church, and the preaching is relevant and delivered with energy, BMH UK said.

Work leaders in black churches take the effort to recognize the needs of people from their communities–whether they are young people, the socially excluded or those with mental health needs, BMH UK reported.

Because black churches meet churchgoers at their point of need, church going gains relevance in the members’ lives.  They identify with the church, and going to service becomes something they genuinely want to do.

By contrast Brierley’s research showed a sharp decline in church attendance across English counties, with only 12 counties showing a six percent church attendance of the local population, and seven counties showing a five and one half percent or less church attendance of the local population, Christian Today said.

Should the current trend continue Brierley projects that all counties across the UK will have a churchgoing population of four and a half percent or less by 2020.

The decline is blamed on less evangelism and the increasing number of deaths among the aged, who comprise much of the population who attend church.

Of particular concern is the finding that 80 percent of those 15 years old or younger are not attending church.  Also, 75 percent of those aged 15-29 years do not attend church.

Brierley said that by 2020 many of the older churchgoers will have passed away.  Fifty years ago, over half of the people living in the UK attended Church on a weekly basis, Christian Today reported.

Despite the decline in church attendance, an estimated 58 percent of the population claims they have a belief in Christianity, whereas atheists and agnostics represent 33 percent of the population.

Forty five percent of adults still attend Christmas services, and 44 percent attend church weddings, baptisms or funerals, and just 31 percent attend church on Easter or Harvest festival.

Brierley’s research also pointed to the challenges posed by the aging clergy within the main denominations.

Bishop Graham said, “Ministers tend to attract members of their age, so to attract young people you need a younger minster,” the BMH UK  reported.

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Charges were dropped recently against a Christian preacher in Cumbria, England who was arrested after he told a police officer that homosexuality was a sin, according to the BBC News.

Dale Mcalpine, 42, was charged with breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act by allegedly using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, the BBC said.

The arrest occurred while Mcalpine was preaching to shoppers in Workington, Cumbria on April 20.  He was approached by a public community support officer (PCSO), who told him he was a liaison officer for the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, the BBC reported.

“He told me he was homosexual, [so] I said ‘the Bible says homosexuality is a sin’. He said ‘I’m offended by that and I’m also the LGBT liaison officer within the police.’  I said ‘it is still a sin’,” according to BBC News.

Three uniformed police officers then appeared.  Mcalpine said, “Then they said it is against the law to say homosexuality is a sin.  I was arrested.  It’s crazy isn’t it?”  Although he was scheduled for trial this year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has now confirmed they will not be prosecuting, the BBC reported.

Veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell condemned the arrest, calling it “heavy handed” and “a step too far.”  He urged the home secretary to issue new guidelines to the police, according to EDGE.

Tatchell said, “Although I disagree with Dale McAlpine and support protests against his homophobic views, he should not have been arrested and charged,” said Tatchell. “Criminalization is a step too far. Despite my opposition to his opinions, I defend his right to freedom of expression,” EDGE reported.

Tatchell went on, “I am surprised and shocked that the CPS allowed the case to proceed at all. The Public Order Act is meant to protect people from harm. The police should concentrate on tackling serious, harmful crimes, such as racist, homophobic and sexist violence,” according to EDGE.

Of the dropped charges, Mcalpine said, “This is a victory for freedom of speech.  I hope we are not going down the road towards a police state and the thought police.” Added Mcalpine, “I can’t wait to get out on to the streets again and preach the word of God,” according to EDGE.

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Despite a judge’s ruling that declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, special observations were held across the nation and in several places in the capital city including the Pentagon, the Cannon House Office Building and the steps of the US Capitol, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Rev. Franklin Graham, who had been disinvited to the Pentagon because of comments he had made regarding the Islamic faith after 911 nonetheless prayed on a sidewalk outside the building.  Graham is honorary chairman of the private National Day of Prayer Task Force.

However, President Brack Obama, whose administration on April 22 appealed the judge’s ruling and issued a National Day of Prayer proclamation, did not hold an interfaith observance at the White House, according to the SunGazette.

On April 15, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment.  However in her decision, Crabb said ceremonies could still be held pending appeals.

In observances at Williamsport-Lycoming County, Pennsylvania keynote speaker state Superior Court Judge Cheryl Allen challenged Crabb’s argument centered on the separation of church and state, and alleged violation of the First Amendment, the SunGazette said.

Allen said, “I couldn’t find separation of church and state in the Constitution.” Regarding the First Amendment she cited the first part which says, “Congress shall make no laws establishing a religion” and said the founding fathers came to America to escape England, which had established a church and persecuted those who would not attend.  Allen then noted the second portion of the First Amendment clause which states: “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family and whose wife chairs the National Day of Prayer said the event puts a prayer covering over the nation and noted that since 1775 the first Continental Congress called for a national day of prayer.

Dobson noted that 34 out of 44 Presidents have called for a national day of prayer including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush, the New York News Today reported.

Dobson said, “How can something be unconstitutional when it was passed by both houses of Congress unanimously and signed by Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman and implemented by all those Presidents back through the years?”

Charles Haynes, a First Amendment scholar who specializes in religious liberty expects President Obama to succeed with his appeal.  He said a  judge could possibly cite a 1983 Supreme Court decision that upheld the right to legislative prayer on grounds that “the offering of prayer is a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Mississippi has become the most recent state to join 13 others in pursuing a “Personhood Amendment.”

A press release by Personhood Mississippi states they already have enough votes to put their measure on the 2011 election ballot as an Amendment to the Mississippi Constitution.

Fetal sonogram

What is a Personhood Amendment?
“Personhood” amendments are pro-life measures being proposed at state-level legislatures.

The goal is to recognize, within the states’ constitutions, that every unborn child has the same inherent rights, dignity and value as every living human from the beginning of their biological development.

Another aspect being pursued in some states is to assure dignity and human rights to every physically or mentally disabled or elderly person; to prevent the notion of involuntary euthanasia.

The “Personhood Movement” is an official nationwide pro-life movement.This  website clarifies that Personhood Amendments can also be called Human Life Amendments.

A list of participating states and where they are at in the process can be seen here at Personhood.Net – a subsidiary of the Georgia Right to Life Committee. Georgia was the first state with such a proposal in 2007. It hasn’t resulted in being placed on a voters’ ballot.

Joining those states that have already constructed or proposed Personhood Amendments between 2007 and April 2010, approximately 26 other state legislatures are taking action to draft similar wording.

Additionally, Personhood.Net carries information regarding ongoing attempts to get enough petition signatures to file a Federal Personhood Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In September 2009, The Underground reported on Florida’s “Personhood Amendment” movement .

Update: The Florida movement continues to press forward. The proposed Personhood Amendment, if enough votes are collected, would be placed on the next Florida election ballot for citizens’ votes.

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Recent experiments from Newcastle University, England, that create embryos from two mothers and one father, have brought to the fore new ethical issues from pro life advocates, the Christian Telegraph reported.

According to the Christian Telegraph, the experiment seeks to address mitochondrial disease, an inherited illness borne by the mother.

Credit:lumix2004/sxc.hu

One in 6,500 children is born in England with mitochondrial disease, which can lead to muscular weakness, dementia, deafness, blindness and heart failure among others.

The mitochondria in cells get the energy from food and convert it into a form that the cells can use.

Mitochondria have 37 DNA which function mostly in energy-related ways to the rest of the body, and help to assemble protein building blocks, according to the President’s Council on Bioethics.

In the UK experiment scientists removed all the male sperm and female material from a fertilized egg—except the damaged mitochondria.

They then inserted it into another egg which had been emptied of everything except its healthy mitochondria.

The resulting new embryo was made largely of both parents’ 23,000 genes, plus the 37 mitochondrial DNA from the donor egg.  This experiment used embryos that originally had been newly conceived for in vitro fertilization (IVF).  The embryos that were left over became the material for the experiment.

Some 80 new embryos were made by the Newcastle team.  The experiment was licensed by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HEFA), and was funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Of the 80, only eight percent or 6.4 embryos grew normally into blastocysts.  The blastocyst stage usually occurs 5 days after fertilization.

It has not yet implanted, but it has an inner cell mass which will become the fetus, and is surrounded by an outer ring that will become part of the placenta, according to the President’s Council on Bioethics.

The team that conducted the experiment believes they will have better results if they use normal embryos, and now hope to do so.  The experiment used faulty embryos which were discarded after IVF treatment and donated for research, according to Timesonline.

Opponents to the experiment have raised ethical concerns.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said the experiment kills and abuses human embryo.

SPUC communications manager Anthony Ozimic said, “Creating embryonic children in the laboratory abuses them, by subjecting them to unnatural processes.”

He also warned of possible “developmental abnormalities,” such as have resulted from IVF and cloning.

“Scientists should respect human life and pursue ethical alternatives which are much more likely to be successful in the long-term,” Ozimic said, according to the Christian Telegraph.

Dr. Donald Bruce, former director of the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland said, “If the Newcastle results are taken forward to medical application, they need to be applied under very strict controls, and only where serious disease is otherwise likely to result,” according to the BBC.

Readers of Timesonline also wrote their reactions.

Elaine Smith wrote:

“In most cases, I really do think all forms of IVF should be banned and adoption be made simpler and faster. There are 6 billion people on earth, and then these people spend all this money on having a baby that they could have spent adopting and helping some third world child.”

Barry Johnston wrote:

“I really can’t understand this. There are THOUSANDS of unwanted children in this country and beyond. Instead of spending billions trying to create a perfect child, why not give a child a near perfect life of love and acceptance?”

Ben Turner wrote:

“Coming from a person with a genetic disorder I can see how it is a gift to be born without one, especially if it is severe.”

In the UK, it is currently illegal to use this technique for fertility treatment.

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