Ashes of murdered student to be interred in Washington Cathedral
THE ashes of a student at the University of Wyoming, Matthew Shepard, whose murder in 1988, aged 21, sparked national protests in the United States against anti-gay hate crime, and resulted in the introduction of legislation, are to be interred in Washington National Cathedral after a public service next Friday. The Dean, the Very Revd Randolph Marshall Hollerith, said that the student’s murder should “serve as an ongoing call to the nation to reject anti-LGBTQ bigotry”. The service will be led by the Bishop of Washington, the Rt Revd Mariann Edgar Budde, and the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, the Rt Revd Gene Robinson (News, 12 November 2010). Mr Shepard’s mother, Judy Shepard, who became a LGBT-rights campaigner, said that the cathedral was “an ideal choice, as Matt loved the Episcopal Church. . . It’s reassuring to know he now will rest in a sacred spot where folks can come to reflect on creating a safer, kinder world.”
Archbishop of Canterbury to inaugurate Province of Chile
THE Archbishop of Canterbury is to inaugurate the Province of Chile, in Santiago on 4 November. The Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) agreed last month that the diocese, currently part of the Anglican Church of South America, should be a Province in its own right (News, 14 September). The decision, confirmed by two-thirds assent of the Primates, came after a fact-finding mission by a working group (News 24 August), which found that the diocese “clearly takes very seriously the need to develop church leaders with strong biblical and theological knowledge”. The Bishop of Chile, the Rt Revd Héctor (Tito) Zavala Muñoz, will become the Province’s Primate. Archbishop Welby said: “It has been inspiring to see the flourishing of the Church in Chile under the leadership of Bishop Tito Zavala, in particular its commitment to evangelism, growth through church-planting, and discipleship of young people.”
REUTERSChurch and State: the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko passes in front of the clergy during a liturgy in Kiev in thanksgiving for the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, to grant autocephaly, or ecclesiastical self-governance, to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, previously under the Moscow Patriarchate (News, 21 September). The Russian Orthodox Church has cut ties with Patriarch Bartholomew
Detention of ethnic minorities in China condemned
THE detention of more than one million Uyghurs and other recognised ethnic-minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in China, is a “shocking violation of international law” which must be halted by the government, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has declared in a new report. It estimates, from interviews and data from witnesses and relatives of victims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, that as many as three million people may have been detained in political re-education camps without charge in the republic in the past two years. Reasons include using WhatsApp, having relatives abroad, accessing religious materials online, and taking part in religious worship or activities. Detainees had reportedly been forced, against their beliefs, to eat pork or drink alcohol. CSW’s chief executive, Mervyn Thomas, urged the international community to use every opportunity to condemn China’s use of these camps, and to press for the release of detainees “immediately and without condition”.
ANGLICAN MEDIA MELBOURNEEpiscopal siblings: the Rt Revd Lindsay Urwin OGS with his sister, the Rt Revd Kate Prowd, at her consecration last weekend to serve as one of the four assistant bishops in the diocese of Melbourne. They are thought to be the first brother and sister to be bishops in the Anglican Communion. Bishop Urwin spent most of his ministry in England, and was Bishop of Horsham, in Chichester diocese. He returned to Australia in 2015 to be Vicar of Christ Church, Brunswick
Transatlantic interfaith group launched
THE inaugural meeting of the Network of Inter Faith European and North American Concerns (NIFENAC) was chaired by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, last month. NIFENAC is one of the new global networks established as part of the Anglican Inter Faith Commission. The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, was among those who attended the meeting.