Primates' Session with Episcopal Bishops Changed to Thursday

Steve Waring
02/13/2007

The extra-curricular session with three bishops from The Episcopal Church has been changed from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning, according to the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and moderator of the Anglican Communion Network. The change of date for the special session during the Anglican primates’ meeting was announced last week, but was not widely publicized. No further information was available at press time.

Bishop Duncan is one of three other bishops scheduled to address the primates on the state of The Episcopal Church with particular emphasis on the response to the Windsor Report made by the 75th General Convention in June 2006. The other bishops are the Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana and president of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice, and the Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting, the Presiding Bishop’s deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations.

Press access to the primates has been severely restricted since Monday. Uniformed security personnel, some equipped with police batons, cordoned off an entire wing of the White Sands Hotel and Resort on Monday. No one is allowed to enter the secure area without a red security badge issued by officials of the Anglican Consultative Council. Any time a primate leaves the secure area he or she is accompanied by either a uniformed security detail or staff members employed by the ACC.

In contrast, security for Bishop Duncan, who is staying at the nearby Beachcomber Hotel and Resort, is non-existent. Bishop Duncan’s laptop computer was stolen from his hotel room yesterday. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Pittsburgh said the incident appeared to be nothing more serious than larceny. “We’re treating it as a case of petty theft of a device with monetary value, not a conspiracy to gain access to the bishop’s data,” said Peter Frank, communications director for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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