In response to House and Senate leaders' release of a final farm bill package May 8, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori released the following statement urging congressional defeat, or presidential veto, of the legislation more >>

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is responding to Cyclone Nargis and providing churches and individuals with an opportunity to help those affected by the deadly disaster more >>

Bibliophiles, rejoice. Pack up your reading specs, and your largest, sturdiest tote bags, and head for St. Charles, Illinois, the last week in May. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has written to the Anglican church in Burma following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in the area of the Irrawaddy River Delta. In the letter to Archbishop Stephen Than Myint Oo, Dr Williams assures the church of the prayers of the Anglican Communion and commends the rescue operation now underway more >>

USPG: Anglicans in World Mission, has been heartened by the response to the call to prayer issued for (27th April 2008) by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The Rt Revd Michael Doe, General Secretary of USPG today said: “USPG: Anglicans in World Mission, as the principal Anglican agency working in the Dioceses of Zimbabwe, has been overwhelmed by the response individuals, parishes and Dioceses are making to the call to prayer. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has described his private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI yesterday in the Vatican as ‘friendly and informal’. They spent almost half an hour in the Pope’s study discussing matters of common interest. more >>

From April 28 to May 1, 2008, some 90 members of the Church of Melanesia met for a four-day provincial consultation in Honiara, Solomon Islands on "Healing Past Hurts: A way forward for the Church of Melanesia in the ministry of Reconciliation and Peace-building". more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to convene the 7th Building Bridges Seminar in Rome next week. This is a unique annual series which brings together a range of internationally recognised Christian and Muslim scholars for an intensive study of relevant Biblical and Qur'anic texts. more >>

The Archbishop of Burundi, the Most Revd Bernard Ntahoturi, was sad to announce the death on 26th April 2008 of the Most Revd Samuel Ndayisenga, and, with the whole of the Anglican Church of Burundi, extended sympathy to his wife and family. more >>

The Church of the Province of West Africa (Anglican Communion) meeting in Douala, Cameroon, on the 11th day of April, in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Eight, having considered very carefully, among other pressing and very important issues, the current general state of the Anglican Commuion in the light of same – sex relationship receiving official recognition and approval by some dioceses and provinces, an issue which is seriously threatening the unity of the Communion, do hereby make the following statement: more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams gave a lecture yesterday at the London School of Economics entitled 'Religious Faith and Human Rights'. Dr Williams sets out a fresh and original vision of how religious tradition – Christianity in particular – can help ground human rights thinking in ways that protect human life from violence, abuse or inequality. more >>

The Rt Revd Dehqani Tafti Hassan Barnaba, Bishop in Iran 1961-1990 and Confessor of the Faith, on 29th April 2008 died peacefully at home in Oakham - England, surrounded by his loving wife and daughters. more >>

The House of Bishops is to discuss the report of the Legislative Drafting Group considering proposals to allow for women bishops at its next meeting in May. The report of the group, chaired by the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester, has been published today and will be debated by General Synod in July (the report can be read in full at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/womenbishopsreport more >>

The Most Reverend Dr Philip Freier, Archbishop of Melbourne is an ad clerum announced: It is with much pleasure that I announce that the Revd Canon Barbara Darling has been appointed as the next Assistant Bishop for the Diocese of Melbourne. Her initial role will be that of Bishop for Diocesan Ministries. She will bring a wealth of experience from her years of ministry, both lay and clerical. Barbara is currently the Vicar of St James’ Dandenong; she is an Examining Chaplain, the Senior Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral and currently the chair of the Dean Search Committee. more >>

“Zimbabwe is staring into the abyss. Violence is growing and the people are suffering greatly as a result. It is now vital that we all do what we can to calm the situation. more >>

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued a joint statement this morning concerning the deteriorating situation of ordinary people in Zimbabwe calling for “a civil society movement that both gives voice to those who demand an end to the mayhem that grows out of injustice, poverty, exclusion and violence”. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury today set out his hopes for this year’s Lambeth Conference in a video message addressed to Bishops and Dioceses across the worldwide communion...“What I would really most like to see in this years Lambeth Conference is the sense that this is essentially a spiritual encounter. A time when people are encountering God as they encounter one another, a time when people will feel that their life of prayer and witness is being deepened and their resources are being stretched. more >>

The plight of the people of Zimbabwe is heart-breaking. Already bruised, broken and crushed by oppression and economic hardship before the elections, they are now even more divided, despondent and, in many cases, hopeless than they were before. At a time of growing global hunger more >>

Amid joyful celebration and colourful ceremony, the Most Revd Daniel Deng Bul was enthroned April 20 as the fourth primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) at All Saints Cathedral in Juba. The four-hour liturgy punctuated with cheers, applause, Dinka calls, and hymns of praise in English and Arabic was attended by bishops, priests and laity from the 24 ECS dioceses more >>

A new database recording stained glass windows in Church of Ireland churches will be launched at the Irish Architectural Archive at 6.00pm on Monday 28th April. Named Gloine (glass), the new database will allow users to search for windows by church or architect's name, geographical location, names of stained glass artists and studios, dates, religious subject-matter and other categories besides. more >>

A desperate cry from the hearts of Zimbabwe screams across the world. It calls upon all Christians of every denomination in every nation to focus their prayers, in churches, halls, homes or elsewhere, on Sunday 27th April, 2008 on the critical situation in Zimbabwe, a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury will tonight give a lecture in which he acknowledges the rise in interest in spirituality, particularly in the Western World, but underlines the crucial role traditional religious allegiance continues to play in a genuinely plural society. more >>

Anglican leader Dr. Luís César Pereira to be honoured by civic and ecumenical officials Aos Órgãos de Comunicação Social more >>

While worldwide attention is focused on discord and divisions within the Anglican Communion, Anglican women and girls are uniting to make their voices heard on issues of poverty and women’s empowerment, express the power and depth of their faith, and to reveal their connections across cultural and economic differences, by contributing to a new book of women’s prayers. more >>

The Lambeth Conference, will be held in Canterbury, England from 20 July to 4 August, 2008. The application form is now available for those seeking media accreditation. It is our understanding that there will be limited accommodation available through the University of Kent. There will be a professionally maintained press centre on the campus. more >>

Considering colonial legacies associated with the history of Anglican churches and analyzing the future of the postcolonial Church will be the focus of a May 1-2 conference hosted by the University of Manchester's Lincoln Theological Institute in England. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has invited BibleLands, a UK non-governmental provider of financial support to the Holy Land, to host a conference at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday 16th April. more >>

The Archbishop of Perth, The Most Reverend Roger Herft, this morning announced the appointment of Australia’s first woman bishop. Archbishop Herft’s full statement on the appointment of Kay Goldsworthy as Australia's first woman Bishop is also available more >>

The Archbishop of York is set to take the ultimate “leap of faith” to raise money for the families of soldiers killed or injured in Afghanistan. Dr John Sentamu will hurl himself from a plane at 12,500ft with the Parachute Regiment Red Devils display team from RAF Langer near Nottingham in six weeks time on 27 May 2008. more >>

A statement issued by Brazilian Bishop's House was delivered to all the Anglican Communion on the recent unauthorized visit within the Brazilian Province broking definetively the bounds between the two Provinces: more >>

The latest issue of AWNN is now online. The theme of the current edition digests the recent Joint Standing Committee Meeting of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council (JSC), held at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) in London more >>

In response to reports of violence and threats towards Christians involved in the debate on human sexuality, the Archbishop of Canterbury has given the following statement: “The threats recently made against the leaders of Changing Attitudes are disgraceful. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday welcomed the members of the Good Childhood Inquiry panel to Lambeth Palace for a discussion about the emerging themes of the Inquiry's work. more >>

In a public lecture at Cardiff Law School tonight (Wednesday 9 April 2008), the Chair of Tomorrow's Wales, Dr Barry Morgan Archbishop of Wales, will outline the movement's vision for the future of devolution and its views on the work of the All-Wales Convention. more >>

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a letter to the House of Representatives on April 2 calling for passage of the U.S. Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act, which has been approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee and is awaiting consideration by the full House. The full text of the letter follows. more >>

A Bill to ordain women as bishops was narrowly defeated by members of the Church in Wales today. The Bill failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority in one of the three “houses” of the Governing Body which is meeting at the University of Wales, Lampeter. While it was unanimously supported by the House of Bishops and passed by the House of Laity, it was three votes short of the majority in the House of Clergy. more >>

Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia. May the power that raised Christ from the grave continue to empower and inspire our witness for Him as we daily identify with His death and resurrection in our lives. more >>

The EU Budget, in not matching up to the EU’s’ objectives, fails to provide sufficiently for the European Common Good, concludes the Church of England House of Bishops’ Europe Panel in a submission to the European Commission’s Budget Review exercise calling for a greener Budget. more >>

Politics, the environment and inter-faith relations are serious issues in today’s Wales which should concern all Christians, the Archbishop of Wales said today (Wed, April 2). In his address to members of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, Dr Barry Morgan said Christians had a vital contribution to make to the life of the nation beyond religious matters. more >>

In a four-hour liturgy, amidst clouds of incense, sprinkling of baptismal water, anointing, seven processions and a colourful array of copes and mitres, the Most Revd Thabo Cecil Makgoba, 47, was installed as the 12th Archbishop of Cape Town on 30 March more >>

Let us pray: Loving Lord, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and those who are near: grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you more >>

Two topics followed closely by AUNO Geneva were high on the agenda of the concluding part of the UN Human Rights Council’s 6th session in December; namely, the situation in Darfur and interreligious issues. As well as extending the mandates of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan and on the freedom of religion or belief, five other mandates were extended (health, internally displaced people, housing and terrorism). In terms of expert groups, the group on Darfur was terminated, while a new group on the rights of indigenous peoples was created. more >>

'The last enemy to be overcome is death' (I Cor 15.26) Your hair and your nails may keep growing for a while after you die; but nothing else does. Death is when growing stops - the routine ways in which your body repairs itself and grows fresh tissue, and the ways in which the mind and heart stop developing. We know the suffering that is caused when the mind and heart have already apparently stopped responding even before physical death - the agonizing spectacle of vegetative states or dementia. more >>

No Easter, no faith. The apostle Paul puts it this way: "And if Christ has not been raised from the dead, our preaching is useless and so is your faith ... If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all people. more >>

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Your Easter celebration undoubtedly has included lots of physical signs of new life -- eggs, flowers, new green growth. As the Easter season continues, consider how your daily living can be an act of greater life for other creatures. How can you enact the new life we know in Jesus the Christ? In other words, how can you be the sacrament, the outward and visible sign, of the grace that you know in the resurrected Christ? How can your living let others live more abundantly? more >>

"Fairtrade gives new life to poor communities" Someone asked me recently, "You may talk all you like about the resurrection of Jesus, but who is resurrection for?" The simple answer is that resurrection is for all, from the poorest to the wealthy, for the secure and insecure, for the sick and healthy, those who live long and those whose lives are tragically cut short. more >>

The Easter story is still relevant today, Melbourne’s Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier says, and he is more than happy to use today’s new media to talk about it. Dr Freier has used the popular video website YouTube to deliver this year’s traditional Easter Message from the Anglican Church in Melbourne. more >>

The Lenten Season and the Celebration of Easter Strengthens our Faith in Jesus, our Lord and Saviour . St Paul in his letter to the Philippians inform us of who Christ is for us (Phil 2:6-11) more >>

The Most Reverend Alan Harper - The Archbishop of Armagh Those of us who live in Northern Ireland approach the season of Easter having passed through the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement of 1998. Although the complete outworking of that agreement is not yet achieved, the progress that we have seen in the establishment of durable community structures and renewed opportunities for community harmony seem little short of miraculous. more >>

1. The Synod of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia, meeting in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 27 - 28 February 2008 more >>

"In the evening of the first day of the week, Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, "Peace be with you" and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord and again he said to them "Peace be with you." more >>

Church leaders and other Christians from across the city will be offering to polish peoples’ shoes free of charge in a modern re-enactment of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, paid tribute to Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, whose death was announced last week. more >>

A Canadian Bishop who is part of a high-level advisory group to the worldwide Anglican Communion has been elected Bishop of Christchurch. The Rt Revd Victoria Matthews is currently bishop-in-residence at Wycliffe College in Toronto. She was Bishop of Edmonton for 10 years from 1997 to late last year, and Suffragan (Assistant) Bishop of Toronto from 1994-97. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has expressed his deep shock and sorrow at the appalling murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul   more >>

[ACNS Special Report] Anglicans/Episcopalians around the world will join with other Christians in observing the most solemn time in the church’s calendar, Holy Week, beginning Sunday, 16 March. The week marks the last days in the life of Christ and celebrates his glorious resurrection in the Easter Triduum (Three Days). more >>

The House of Bishops, during its business session on Wednesday afternoon, March 12, issued a statement concerning the House's morning actions of consenting to the deposition of John-David Schofield and William Cox. more >>

A significant number of women gathered from across the Anglican Communion to provide input to the annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, meet with other NGOs, and meet amongst themselves. What better occasion than to join our concerns for improving the lives of women and children more >>

From the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem The Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, has sent us the following information for ACNS more >>

The Rt Revd James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, spoke during the report stage of the Climate Change Bill yesterday (11 March), in support of a new government amendment to ensure that the membership of the new committee on climate change would have expertise on international matters, as well as domestic ones. more >>

An emergency fund has been set up to support the work of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe as it re-establishes its mission and ministry following changes in the leadership of Harare Diocese. more >>

The third Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission has published its final report Communion, Conflict and Hope: the Kuala Lumpur Report. Since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Anglicans have had reason to focus attention on the nature of their Communion and on questions about how the Church’s unity can be sustained during times of intense disagreement. more >>

The Most Revd John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin As the Anglican Communion has developed into a worldwide communion of Churches, it has embraced a rich variety of cultures, languages and local identity. Each Church has usually expressed, as a vital part of that identity, its communion with either the Church of England or the See of Canterbury. This communion has been given visible expression since the nineteenth century by the Lambeth Conference of Bishops, called by the Archbishop of Canterbury. more >>

As the Government publishes its amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to abolish the blasphemy laws, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, have made public their response to the Government's consultation. In their response the Archbishops make clear their affirmation of the central place of Christianity in British public life and call on the government to explain precisely what the removal of the blasphemy laws does and does not mean for those living out their religious faith in society. more >>

Church leaders in Kenya have welcomed the announcement of a power-sharing agreement between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga as an important step to ending a two-month political crisis in the east African country. more >>

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says that although he is saddened by the unnecessary decision made by a small number of parishes to leave the Anglican Church of Canada, the Canadian Church as a whole remains vibrant and united in its witness to the Gospel message. more >>

On Friday, 29 February, in the presence of members of the Primates and Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) Joint Standing Committee, Saint Andrew’s Chapel at the Anglican Communion Secretariat, Westbourne Park, London, will be designated a “Cross of Nails Centre” by the Dean of Coventry. more >>

Opening Eucharist sets tone for UNCSW gathering In a lively homily, the Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam, bishop suffragan of New York, told Anglican women from around the Communion gathered at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City to "stand up straight for Christ." more >>

MU Australia (part of the Worldwide Mothers’ Union) is hosting a unique meeting in Toowoomba from 2nd – 7th March to be attended by members from all over the world. The meeting, the first of six due to be held outside the UK over the next 3 years, will provide opportunities for 95 Mothers’ Union leaders from countries as diverse as New Zealand, West Indies, India, Canada, USA, Korea, Britain/Ireland, Melanesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, to meet together to share experiences, to celebrate diversity of cultures, to strengthen relationships, identify common goals and to plan a cohesive future for the international charity work. more >>

Bishop Masimando Katanda and his wife Naomi, from the Anglican Diocese of Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) visited Victoria in early December as guests of CMS. They talked to Beryl Rule about the work the Church is doing there to repair the ravages of the 1998-2003 civil war. more >>

A gradual reduction in post-election violence has been observed across the country in the past week. The US Secretary of State Ms Condoleezza Rice arrived in the country on Monday 18th February. After separate meetings with President Kibaki, Mr. Raila Odinga and Kofi Annan, She said that President Kibaki and Mr. Raila Odinga must come together and there is need to have a power sharing arrangement for the country to move forward. She however, cleared the air over the involvement of the US and the international community in the political crisis in the country stating that they were not dictating the type of coalition government that would end the stalemate. more >>

At the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Professor Gerald West (University KwaZulu-Natal, Southern Africa) has convened an international group to prepare Bible studies for the Lambeth Conference. Members of the group came from DR Congo, USA, UK, Tanzania, and India. more >>

Letter announcing the Boycott by Five Anglican Primates of the 2008 Lambeth Conference Which path will we walk? Who will hear us? How will we bear witness? These days I wonder which path we will walk. At the last meeting of Anglican primates, in Tanzania, 12 primates besides me were participating at the gathering for the first time. It was an experience of patience and hope: patience, because nothing happens when we want it to and, hope, because the new primates, including one woman, indicated the possibility of taking new paths. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York will be making a joint visit to Cambridge on 20 -22 February 2008. During the visit Dr Williams and Dr Sentamu will visit the Oakington Immigration Detention Centre and the Emmaus Community at Landbeach. more >>

A CORRECTION on the Church of Uganda position regarding the Anglican Communion and the Lambeth Conference “The Church of Uganda is not seceding from the Anglican Communion,” said Revd Canon Aaron Mwesigye, church spokesperson. “Some press stories have misrepresented our position.”  more >>

Lambeth Palace Library – the historic library and record office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, founded in 1610 – has acquired a document intimately involved with one of Britain’s most dramatic historical events, after benefactors of the Library donated funds to keep a copy of the warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in the U.K. more >>

Issued by  the Provincial Assembly Standing Committee on Lambeth Conference 2008 more >>

The Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) has elected the Rt Revd Daniel Deng Bul of the Diocese of Renk to serve as its next Primate. Bishop Deng will succeed Archbishop Joseph Marona, who retired on December 31st 2007 after serving eight years as Sudan's Primate. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury announced the formation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG), as proposed in his Advent Letter. The WCG will address outstanding questions arising from the Windsor Report and the various formal responses from provinces and instruments of the Anglican Communion.  more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury has hosted a study day with Chinese and British academics to consider the topic of "Religion and the Public Square”. The study day, chaired by the Archbishop on Friday 8 February, brought together eleven academics from China and Britain, a combination of theologians, historians, sociologists and anthropologists. The discussion considered the ways that religion interacts with society both in China and Western Europe, and what role religion has to play in issues such as social cohesion in these different contexts. more >>

'The prevailing attitude...was one of heavy disagreement with a number of things which the (speaker) had not said'. Ronald Knox's description of discussion at a student society in the nineteen thirties has a certain familiarity after the last few days; but given that public comment and criticism has been cast in such highly-coloured terms more >>

There has been a strong reaction in the media and elsewhere to the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks of yesterday on civil and religious law. The full text of the Archbishop's lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice 'Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective', can be viewed on the Archbishop's website, here: Archbishop's Lecture - Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective The transcript of his interview on yesterday's World at One programme can also be viewed online, here: BBC Interview - Radio 4 World at One. The Archbishop made no proposals for sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law. more >>

The Archbishop of York is to visit Kenya to offer prayers and solidarity for the people caught up in the current troubles. After a long telephone conversation with the Most Revd. Benjamin Nzimbi, Archbishop of Kenya, both Archbishops agreed that the visit to Kenya during this time to join in prayers for peace and reconciliation in the predominantly Christian country would be invaluable. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will tonight give the first lecture in a series of discussions ‘Islam in English Law’, part of the Temple Festival 2008. In his lecture entitled ‘Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective’, being given at the Royal Courts of Justice, Dr Williams will look at what space can be allowed alongside the secular law of the land for the legal provisions of faith groups, noting that “the issues that arise around what level of public or legal recognition, if any, might be allowed to the legal provisions of a religious group, are not peculiar to Islam: while the law of the Church of England is the law of the land, its daily operation is in the hands of authorities to whom considerable independence is granted." The issue also arises in relation to Orthodox Judaism. more >>

This short treatise is the culmination of work in which NIFCON has been engaged over the last four years. The discernment of a distinctively Anglican theology of inter faith relations is set against the backdrop of and builds on similar work in other Christian traditions   more >>

Concerns have been raised by some Melbourne Anglicans over a submission made to the Victorian Law Reform Commission on reform of the state's abortion laws. A think tank of eight women, by invitation from Archbishop Freier, made the submission in December. The group said that while abortion was a serious moral issue, it accepted that it was not a criminal matter, and that legislation was only a partial response to the issue. more >>

The Canadian federal government has issued the Anglican Church of Canada a cheque for $9.7 million to refund a portion of the church’s contribution to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Fund, which had been set up in 2003 under an old native schools agreement. more >>

Buckingham Palace has announced that the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, is to distribute the Royal Maundy in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh, on Thursday 20 March. This is the first time the Office for the Royal Maundy is being held outside England and Wales. In fact, only once was it held in Wales, in St David’s Cathedral in 1982. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury has called upon the government to look critically at the use of strip-searching and prison segregation units for children in the criminal justice system. Asking a question in the House of Lords, the Archbishop invited the government to agree that different standards in how society treats its children and how it treats those children that are in prison were "indefensible". more >>

The Covenant Design Group (CDG) held its second meeting at the Anglican Communion Offices, St. Andrew’s House, London, UK, between Monday, 28th January, and Saturday, 2nd February, 2008, under the chairmanship of the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies. more >>

The season of Lent begins (February 6) and Anglicans and Christians of many traditions will gather for worship to mark the most solemn season of the church year, looking toward the Passion of Our Lord, Holy Week and culminating in Easter. Easter comes extraordinarily early this year, 23 March. more >>

(ACNS) A new occasional newsletter, easy to download, is now on the Anglican Communion website. Anglican World News and Notes will focus on particular themes and events within the Anglican Communion and the work of the secretariat in London more >>

A delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches and the World Council of Churches headed by His Excellency former President Joachim Chisano of Mozambique arrived in Burundi on 29th January 2008 for a 3-day visit at the invitation of the National Council of Churches of Burundi. more >>

The Anglican Covenant Design Group, chaired by the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, is currently meeting at the Anglican Communion Office in London. Provinces represented on the Covenant Design Group are: Ireland, Wales, Southeast Asia, Indian Ocean, USA, Canada, West Africa, West Indies as well as Anglican Communion and Lambeth Palace staff. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gave the James Callaghan Memorial lecture yesterday entitled “Religious Hatred and Religious Offence”. In his lecture Dr Williams outlines the problems with the present blasphemy laws, and also looks at the problems that society could face without any protection from religious offence. more >>

After five days spent celebrating the week of prayer for Christian Unity In addition to praying, preaching and presiding with Christian Communities in Rome from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal and Methodist backgrounds, Archbishop Sentamu was also able to meet Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Walter Kasper – the Vatican’s head of inter-church relations, Archbishop Pius Ncube, the former Archbishop of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, in addition to meeting British Ambassadors to the Vatican and Italy. more >>

At Brecon Cathedral – 3rd of February   Archbishop Rowan Williams will preach at a special service of Choral Evensong at which the Cathedral's director of music and the assistant organist will be admitted to office and new treble choristers received into full membership of the choir. more >>

A lot of what gets said about Europe these days suggests that we are better at saying what it isn't than what it is. We say 'Europe' when we mean 'not Britain' or 'not America', sometimes 'not the Islamic world' or even 'not the developing world.' But we need from time to time to try and rescue a positive definition of some sor; which means a bit of historyand a bit of philosophy. more >>

Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe hosted a January 20 discussion on France Culture radio about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the plight of Iraqi Christians. more >>

One and a half million people imprisoned and without proper food or medicine. 800,000 without electricity supply; this is illegal collective punishment, an immoral act in violation of the basic human and natural laws as well as International Law. It cannot be tolerated anymore. The siege over Gaza should end now. more >>

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, have launched new websites to help project the Archbishops’ beliefs, activities and personalities to a wider audience, with the aim of creating sites that utilise the best in web technology and design. more >>

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams today launched the official programme for Lambeth Conference 2008 Equipping Bishops for Mission at Lambeth Palace. Joining Dr Williams on the panel were Archbishop Ellison Pogo (Archbishop of Melanesia and Chairman of the Design Group) and Archbishop Ian Ernest (Archbishop of the Province of the Indian Ocean). more >>

Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, has called for Australian support for people affected by political unrest in Kenya this month. Dr Freier cancelled a planned January visit to Anglican community development partners in Kenya after claims of election rigging by the country’s major opposition party sparked violent protests in one of Africa’s most stable countries. more >>