The pontiff made an unusual assertion: that popes aren’t bound under church law to serve until they die, as many canon lawyers have said. “One can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on.” The Vatican on Sunday rushed to clarify a recent interview by Pope Benedict XVI, in which the... Continue Reading

The church filed a lawsuit in 2006 accusing county officials of religious discrimination. After the church purchased property, the county at first denied grading and building permits before changing zoning laws to prohibit the school. A Maryland county will pay a Baptist church $3.25 million and allow construction of a Christian school that government officials... Continue Reading

The current vote will be the fifth time since 1996 that the PCUSA has voted on sexual standards for ordained officers. In all four previous votes, the denomination has upheld the fidelity-chastity standard. Though many presbyteries are holding off their votes on proposed amendments to the Book of Order and Book of Confessions until next... Continue Reading

The Study Group was created by last summer’s 30th General Assembly “to meet through June 2012 to study potential changes of presbytery boundaries and/or the creation of new presbyteries.” The Study Group on Presbytery Boundaries (SGB) held its first meeting in Atlanta on November 5-6, 2010. The goals of this initial meeting were to establish... Continue Reading

The 219th General Assembly, which met in July 2010 in Minneapolis, approved an overture by San Francisco Presbytery that lifted up the policy as an example for other presbyteries to consider. Having just experienced the first application of its “gracious dismissal” policy, San Francisco Presbytery has approved a six-month suspension of its use to allow... Continue Reading

The vote of Presbyteries on the BCO 14 amendments is now at 17-16 in favor of adopting the amendments. On November 20 the following Presbyteries voted. Susquehanna Valley voted in favor: On 14-1: Yes 28; No 21; Abstain 3. On 14-2: Yes 26; No 25; Abstain 1. Philadelphia Metro West voted against: On 14-1: Yes... Continue Reading

With about 2.1 million members, the PCUSA is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S., and has already approved the agreement. The other three denominations are expected to approve it in the near future. The U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday (Nov. 16) approved a mutual agreement with four Reformed Protestant denominations to recognize each... Continue Reading

A number (of members) are former Auburn students who attended (Reformed University Fellowship) while at college. When they moved to Nashville, they went looking for a church with similar beliefs. There’s no cross or stained glass on the outside of the former warehouse on Second Avenue North in Nashville, no pithy spiritual messages on a... Continue Reading

Catholics insist on an all-male priesthood, while several parts of the Anglican Communion — including the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada — ordain women. A week and a half after losing five Anglican bishops to the Catholic Church, the leader of the worldwide Anglican... Continue Reading

Fair Oaks PC, now a congregation in the EPC in Fair Oaks, California, has reached a property settlement with the denomination nearly four years after it began the process of departing from the PCUSA. According to the Fair Oaks Web site, negotiations with the Synod of the Pacific concluded on Nov. 8 with a handshake... Continue Reading