They say when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. True enough when it comes to the worldwide Anglican Communion, because the Episcopal Church’s theological woes are at swine flu proportions and our top story this week is a stirring response.

1. The launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans UK is part of what the London Times called “The battle for the soul of Anglicanism” or what our own Archbishop called part of the “battle for the soul of Britain”. I watched the proceedings on Anglican TV and what struck me was the breadth of representation (from orthodox Anglo-Catholic to evangelical) and how united they were about the seriousness of the issues at stake. It is both a blessing and a curse that Australians know little of the wider crisis within Anglicanism. 

2. As a timely real-life illustration of the problems which led to FCA UK, the Episcopal Church general convention got underway this week in California. First, blogger Matt Kennedy was banned, presumably for his orthodox views. Then, the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, told the gathering “The overarching connection in all of these crises has to do with the great Western heresy - that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.” In one line, 2,000 years of orthodox Christian belief is dismissed as heresy by the leader of the Anglican Church in America. Believe me, GAFCON and the FCA looks like under-reaction in the face of statements like that.

3. Worshiping the King of Pop. I don’t intend to add too much to the media frenzy at the death of Michael Jackson, but that opinion piece on getreligion.org resonated with me and may with you as well. It sums up the problem many of us have with celebrity funerals: “The funeral is a time to talk about what God has done in Christ for the deceased "” not how awesome and Messiah-like the deceased was”.

4.This piece on news.com.au has gone under the radar this week. It is a projection by research company Ibisworld on society in 20 years time, including projections on denominations and the growth of ‘no religion’. Interestingly it predicts an increase in numbers of Anglicans and says “The growth in Anglicanism is expected to be driven by immigration from African countries”.

5. Finally this week, I take issue with an SMH story on weddings which says couples are opting for civil weddings because church weddings are too expensive. They cite the example of a couple who “baulked at paying $18,000 for a traditional church wedding”. What? The other reason given was “Nor did they want to attend marriage lessons or church services, as required by many parishes”. Expense aside, I have no doubt many couples may baulk at marriage preparation but sooner or later our society is going to figure out that marriages last longer with a good start and meaningful promises to each other.

With such stories about, it would be great if Christians took the opportunity to write to the papers and express an opinion. Like the issues in the wider Anglican Communion, people will assume you agree unless someone stands up and says something!