Although some synod members consider the moves as being controversial and threatening to the fundamentals of the Church of England, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York both backed the proposals for an Anglican-Methodist reunion.

The move was backed by 290 synod members, with 59 voting against it and 24 abstaining.

If the Methodist Church agrees, priests and presbyters will be able to minister in other's churches. The opportunity to reunite will be considered at the Methodist Conference later this year.

If approved, the new relationship of the two churches "being in communion" could end a 200 year-old schism between them.

The Bishop of Coventry says the proposals "work towards healing a tragic division in the Church of England that John Wesley fought hard to avoid and brought such anguish to his brother - a tear in the fabric of our church".

He says the next phase of unification will help end "the scandal of the body of Christ being divided".

Rev Gareth Powell, who is the secretary of the Methodist Conference, said both churches "have an all too easy acceptance of the scandal of disunity.

"Complacency in the face of our disunity hinders not only mission, but impairs our witness to Christ, our ability to live in the image of God, and be effective channels of the Holy Spirit".

Two matters are of particular concern in relation to reuniting the two churches.

One is whether Methodist presbyters would have to be re-ordained to provide a unified and public catholic witness. The synod report proposes the Anglican Church recognise Methodist ministers' holy orders.

The other issue is about how churches should be led.

Anglican churches operate under an episcopal model with bishops seen as following on from the apostles, as the Church's leaders. As bishops consecrate more bishops and ordain new clergy, the "apostolic succession" continues.

Methodists do not accept the idea of "apostolic succession" in the Anglican sense.

If the churches were to reunite, an Anglican bishop would take part in ordaining new Methodist ministers, enabling them to enter the "apostolic succession".

The Methodist Conference says it is willing to receive the episcopate as long as partner churches acknowledge that the Methodist Church "has been and is part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church", Ruth Gee, former president of the Methodist conference says.

Source:

• The Tablet
• Christian Today
• Image: Church Times

Fr Raniero Cantalamessa also told an Anglican synod in London that what is needed in relations between churches is a "qualitative leap forward".

Fr Cantalamessa, who has been Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980, was preaching at a service at the Church of England's Tenth General Synod, held in Westminster Abbey.

Addressing Queen Elizabeth II and the whole synod, he said the focus today must be on the person of Jesus the Lord, crucified and risen, not on this or that doctrine.

Fr Cantalamessa added: "This does not mean ignoring the great theological and spiritual enrichment that came from the Reformation or desiring to go back to the time before it.

"It means instead allowing all of Christianity to benefit from its achievements, once they are freed from certain distortions due to the heated atmosphere of the time and of later controversies."

Reflecting on the preparations for the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation, Fr Cantalamessa said, "it is vital for the whole Church that this opportunity is not wasted by people remaining prisoners of the past, trying to establish each other's rights and wrongs".

He added: "Rather, let us take a qualitative leap forward, like what happens when the sluice gates of a river or a canal enable ships to continue to navigate at a higher water level."

Fr Cantalamessa said that "we need to start again with the person of Jesus, humbly helping our contemporaries to experience a personal encounter with him."

He added: "Christ is the light of the world, the one who gives meaning and hope to every human life - and the majority of people around us live and die as if he had never existed!

"How can we be unconcerned, and each remain ‘in the comfort of our own panelled houses'?

"We should never allow a moral issue like that of sexuality divide us more than love for Jesus Christ unites us."

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Full text of Fr Cantalamessa's address
• Image: Anglican News

The church's General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of the change, by 262 votes to 5, with six abstentions.

Church officials said the reform will bring ecclesiastical law into line with the 1961 Suicide Act in the United Kingdom, which decriminalised suicide.

The change is also meant to signal the Church's compassion for the vulnerable.

Synod members heard that many clergy do give burial services to suicides and had done so for years despite the letter of Church law.

The law effectively prohibited a service to those "of sound mind" who take their own life.

The Book of Common Prayer, dating from the 16 century, stated that the funeral service may not be used "for any that die unbaptised, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves".

Suicides were often buried outside a consecrated churchyard or on the north side of the church, without the benefit of the Prayer Book burial service.

Synod member Rev. Michael Parsons said that up until 1882 a suicide could only be buried in a churchyard between 9pm and midnight and "without rite".

Rev. Parsons said the new law will be seen as a very positive pastoral step.

He added in a paper for the synod that the Church law "may lie behind a widespread public perception that suicide is the unforgiveable sin and hence the Church will disapprove".

"There are public memories of real or imagined Church hostility.

"Yet pastoral practice has for many years been much more sympathetic and the vast majority of clergy today would wish to minister to the family in every way possible."

He noted that it was odd that the Church would bury murderers, child abusers, gangsters and rapists, but not suicides.

Senior clergy and officials will now consider how to change the rules.

They will also consider whether to allow full funerals for people who have not been baptised.

Sources

• Daily Mail
• Gloucester Citizen
• Image: BBC

The General Synod of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 76-24 on June 19 in favour of the move.

It also approved new language in its constitution, changing references to "a man and a woman" to "two persons".

Majority approval among regional presbyteries is needed to ratify the new language, but this is expected to happen.

The PCUSA is the sixth largest Protestant denomination in the United States with 1.8 million members.

But it has lost 37 per cent of its membership since 1992, as conservative members have objected to growing liberalism in the church and have left to form new congregations.

The gay marriage vote came after an emotional, but polite debate.

Opponents said the motion conflicted with Scripture and would cause Presbyterian churches abroad to break relations with the PCUSA.

Gay rights activists within the church rejoiced at their victory, which came after years of narrow defeats at the general synod.

"This vote is an answer to many prayers for the church to recognize love between committed same-sex couples," said Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians.

The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee decried the synod results as an "abomination".

"The General Assembly has committed an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God's clear commands and the denominational ordination vows of each concurring commissioner," the committee said in a statement.

The committee urged congregations to launch a financial boycott in protest.

Of the mainline Protestant denominations in the US, only the United Church of Christ has supported same-sex marriage outright.

The Episcopal Church has approved a prayer service for blessing same-sex unions.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has eliminated barriers for gay clergy, but allows regional and local church officials to decide their own policies on ordination.

The largest mainline group, the United Methodist Church, bars ordaining people in same-sex relationships.

However, church members have been debating whether to split over their different views of the Bible and marriage.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• USA Today
• Image: Raw Story

Following a meeting to consider the rejection of women bishops at the recent general synod, they "acknowledged the profound and widespread sense of anger, grief and disappointment felt by so many" and expressed their commitment to put fresh proposals before the general synod next July.

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After hours of debate, the proposal for women bishops won the required two-thirds majority from the general synod's house of bishops and house of clergy, but was four votes short of the required margin in the house of laity.

The outgoing archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams, admitted his dismay and "deep personal sadness" and said the Anglican Church had "lost credibility". His successor, Bishop Justin Welby, who will take up the office at the end of the year, said the vote marked a "very grim day" in the history of the Anglican Communion.

The result was greeted with emotion, with some supporters in tears.

Women bishops already serve the Anglican Church in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, but the issue has divided the Anglican Communion for years and member churches in many developing countries oppose any female clergy and are working together to oppose any change.

In New Zealand, the Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, Bishop Victoria Matthews, described the decision as a "product of fear".

"I have to admit I was gutted by the announcement," she said. "I would describe it as more than disappointing. As someone who is a woman in leadership and someone who dearly loves the Anglican Communion, it was quite depressing."

More than 100 members spoke during six hours of discussion in the synod. The discussion focused on ways to designate alternative male bishops to work with traditionalist parishes that might reject the authority of a woman bishop named to head their diocese.

But one lay member, Jane Patterson, urged the synod not to "bow to cultural pressure", warning that more priests would defect to the Roman Catholic Church, where there are no female clergy, if the law were passed.

Sources:

Reuters

BBC

Image: National Post