Denver police have arrested a 59-year old man for making threats against a woman and members of the staff of the Cathedral of St John in the Wilderness.

Dominique Richard (pictured above) was arrested on charges of having made menacing threats and is currently in custody in the city jail.

Mr. Richard is accused of having told the woman, whom he has known for over 25 years of threatening to shoot her and “any priest or bishop” at the cathedral who attempted to stop him. The accused is also said to have threatened to vandalize the altar.

The threats made on Tuesday evening prompted the Rt. Rev. Robert O’Neill to close the cathedral and diocesan offices pending police action.

“The Denver Police have been highly responsive to us in this matter, and we appreciate their hard work and professionalism in this case,” said Larry Hitt, chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado. “We also continue to keep all those involved with this case, including the individual who has been arrested, in our prayers.”

The Vatican has nixed a German archdiocese’s plan to allow divorced and remarried Roman Catholics to receive Communion.

In letter dated Oct 21, 2013, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller (pictured above) asked the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau to retract its pastoral guidelines that permitted priests to “respect” the wishes of divorced and remarried Catholics who chose to receive the Sacraments.

The policy laid down in the archdiocese’s new pastoral guidelines for clergy said if divorced and remarried Catholics had made a “responsible moral decision” to partake, their consciences should be respected. The guidelines also proposed a pastoral blessing for those entering into civil partnerships.

In his letter to the archdiocese, which is currently without an archbishop following the retirement of Archbishop Robert Zollitsch on 17 September 2013, Archbishop Müller said the new policy was contrary to church teaching and “would cause confusion among the faithful about the Church’s teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.”

Ceremonies to bless divorced Catholics entering into civil partnerships were also contrary to the Magisterium of the church as “celebrations of this kind were expressly prohibited by John Paul II and Benedict XVI”, Archbishop Müller wrote in his letter, published in the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on Nov 11, 2013.

He added that the adoption of any new policy during the interregnum period before the appointment of a new archbishop was contrary to church policy.

However, the Vatican ban has not been well received by the German Catholic Church. Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, Die Tagespost reported, said Archbishop Müller’s letter is not the final word on the matter.

“The prefect of the Congregation cannot end the discussion,” Cardinal Marx said. “We will see that this is discussed further, but with what result, I do not know.”  („Wir werden erleben, dass das diskutiert wird in der ganzen Breite; mit welchem Ergebnis, weiß ich nicht“.)

The Rt Rev. Robert O’Neill has closed the Cathedral of St John in the Wilderness in Denver and the diocesan offices after a security threat was made last night.

According to a press release from the diocese, a threat was received on the evening of 12 November 2013 against the cathedral in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. After reporting the incident to the police, the bishop closed the diocesan offices, which are located at the cathedral, and the cathedral proper to be closed until further notice.

Denver media outlets have confirmed with police that a threat was received, but details as to the nature of the threat have not been disclosed so far.

“Unfortunately, these situations do occasionally arise, and we feel a responsibility to take necessary measures to keep our staff and the public safe,” said Larry Hitt, Chancellor for the Diocese of Colorado. “All those involved are in our prayers, and we will work to return to business as usual as soon as possible.”

It is with deep sadness that Chester Music announces the death of Sir John Tavener. Sir John passed away peacefully at home in Child Okeford, Dorset on November 12, aged 69.

John Tavener studied at the Royal Academy of Music, coming first to public attention in 1968 when his oratorio The Whale was premiered at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta and recorded on the Apple label. In 1977 he joined the Russian Orthodox Church, and there followed a series of works which have attracted wide popular attention (for example, The Protecting Veil, The Lamb, Song of Athene and Eternity’s Sunrise) and which, inspired by the liturgical and philosophical traditions of the Eastern churches, demonstrate the characteristic style for which is has become best known. Subsequently, Tavener’s inspiration derived from a wider range of philosophical sources – most notably expressed in the monumental Veil of the Temple (2003) – but also from icons of western culture, such as Tolstoy, Mozart and most recently Beethoven. He was knighted for Services to Music in the Millenium Honours list of 2000.

Sir John leaves behind his wife, Maryanna, and three children.

James Rushton, Managing Director of Chester Music, comments:

‘John Tavener was one of the unique and most inspired voices in music of the last fifty years. His large body of work – dramatic, immediate, haunting, remaining long in the memory of all who have heard it, and always identifiably his – is one of the most significant contributions to classical music in our times. For all of those fortunate enough to have known him, John was a man of strong beliefs, huge personal warmth, loyalty and humour. He will be much missed.’

More than 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan in the central Philippines and over 600,000 have been displaced.

Relief assistance is in short supply as aid workers struggle to reach remote towns and villages still cut off from the outside since the storm made landfall on Friday. Huge waves and winds of almost 200 mph destroyed 70-80% of the structures in the storm’s path resulting in as yet untold devastation. The typhoon may have been the strongest recorded storm ever to make landfall.

Relief needs include water, food, shelter and medical care.

Please pray for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, for quick disaster response, overflowing generosity from donors around the world, and God’s mercy upon the disaster response process.

Urgent: safe drinking water is perhaps the most pressing need. Therefore, ARDF is partnering with Water Missions International to provide clean water for victims of this tragedy.

Please make a donation now to provide clean drinking water to victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Thank you for your compassionate support. We cannot respond to this disaster without you.

All gifts are used as designated.  However, in the unlikely event that a relief effort becomes over-funded, your gift will be applied to other disaster needs as they arise. 85% of funds donated to Typhoon Haiyan Disaster Relief will be used for the relief and recovery in the affected areas with 15% used for administrative costs including the credit card fees.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has announced that a church planter, with experience in Australia and overseas, is to be the next Bishop of North Sydney. 

The Rev Chris Edwards was the founding minister of Holy Trinity Adelaide Hills, in South Australia, which grew more than tenfold under his leadership. He later led St Paul’s Anglican Church, Tervuren, Belgium and was chairman of its school.

He is 52 years old.

Since returning to Australia, Mr Edwards has been the Mission Director of Anglican Retirement Villages, ARV, in Sydney.

Mr Edwards worked as a marketing executive in the finance and banking sector before studying at Moore Theological College and entering the ministry in 1994 as curate at St George’s Church, Engadine. 

The post became vacant when Dr Davies, who had been the Bishop of North Sydney since 2001, was elected Archbishop of Australia’s largest Anglican diocese in August.

The Northern Region contains 64 parishes, including some of the largest churches in Sydney and emerging multicultural ministries.  

“Chris is a proven leader, a very effective minister of God’s word, and a faithful and committed pastor. This is an exciting time for outreach in the Northern Region with the good news of Jesus.” Archbishop Davies said.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese overwhelmingly endorsed the nomination of Mr Edwards at its meeting on Monday 11th November, 2013.

The motion to confirm the appointment was moved by Dr Mark Thompson, the principal of Moore Theological College, who described Mr Edwards as “a personal friend as well as a trusted fellow-worker in the service of Christ.”

“In all the time that I have known Chris he has impressed as a man who combines great personal warmth with a determination to be shaped by the teaching of the Bible in the way he approaches everything in life, especially his Christian ministry. His ministry has been a source of great rejoicing and thanksgiving to God in Sydney, Adelaide and Belgium.” Dr Thompson told Standing Committee.

Dr Thompson spoke of the Bishop-elect’s experience, saying “He has exercised effective leadership in what is now an impressive array of situations: parishes in Sydney, Adelaide and Belgium, the Arrow Leadership program in South Australia, African Enterprise in Belgium, a British Primary School in Belgium, a mission society (RETRAK) in Belgium, and most recently the Anglican Retirement Villages in Sydney. What he has brought to each of these settings is a commitment to equipping and enabling others to join in the work of making and growing disciples of Christ.”

“Many of us here might not know him — that’s true, he has spent 17 of the last 20 years outside of this diocese — but those of us who do will be confident that he will continue the good work done by Glenn in the northern region of our diocese” he said. “He is a son of this diocese who understands us and will champion what we stand for. He values our heritage, loves our College, understands both our strengths and our weaknesses” Dr Thompson says.

Mr Edwards will be consecrated Bishop in St Andrew’s Cathedral next May.

The Cathedral Fabric Commission for England (CFCE) has declined to give its endorsement for plans for a tomb for Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. On 8 November 2013 the CFCE notified the cathedral that it would defer its decision at this time, noting the pending legal challenges to the last Plantagenet king’s reinterment in Leicester.

The last of the Plantagenet kings, Richard III (1452-1485) ruled for two years until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485.  After the battle he was interred in Grey Friars Church in in Leicester, but the location of the church and the grave were lost over time.

On 12 September 2012 archaeologists from the University of Leicester unearthed a skeleton with battle wounds and curvature of the spine while excavating a Leicester City Council parking lot, the reputed location of the lost Grey Friars Church – the reputed resting place of Richard III.

Last year the University reported that it had “exhumed one fully articulated skeleton” in what was believed to have been the Choir of Grey Friars church. The skeleton “appears to have suffered significant peri-mortem trauma to the skull which appears consistent with, although not certainly caused by, an injury received in battle. A bladed implement appears to have cleaved part of the rear of the skull,” said Richard Taylor, Director of Corporate Affairs at the University at a 12 Sept 2012 press conference, adding that a “barbed iron arrowhead was found between vertebrae of the skeleton’s upper back.”

The skeleton should signs of “severe scoliosis – which is a form of spinal curvature. This would have made his right shoulder appear visibly higher than the left shoulder. This is consistent with contemporary accounts of Richard’s appearance,” he said.

Using DNA taken from the descendants of Richard’s sister, the university determined the skeleton was Richard’s. It is “beyond reasonable doubt the individual exhumed at Grey Friars on September 12th [2012] is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England,” Dr. Richard Buckley told a 4 Feb 2013 press conference.

After scientists completed their examination, the remains were given to Leicester’s St Martin’s Cathedral for reburial and plans were prepared for a tomb in the cathedral’s chancel. However, the Plantagenet Alliance, whose members include 15 descendants of the Plantagenet family objected saying, Richard should be buried in York.

Last August a high court judge gave permission to the Plantagenet Alliance to challenge plans to rebury the king’s remains in Leicester rather than York. Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ruled: “In my judgment, it is plainly arguable that there was a duty at common law to consult widely as to how and where Richard III’s remains should appropriately be reinterred.”

“I grant permission to the claimant to bring judicial review proceedings against the secretary of state for justice and the University of Leicester on all grounds,” he held, setting a 26 November 2013 hearing date. The discovery of Richard’s remains, concluded the judge, “touches upon our history, heritage and identity”, adding: “The public interest requires that these issues are resolved.”

The Rt Hon Frank Field MP, chairman of the CFCE, last week noted: “The case at Leicester has raised national interest and excitement. However it is the job of the CFCE to look at each case on its own merits and consider the impact of proposed works on the heritage values of the building and on the primary purpose of all as centres for Christian worship and mission.”

“On this occasion we decided not to determine the case because of uncertainty over the fate of the body and the need for more information.”

“We remain committed to working with the cathedral and other interested groups to achieve the best outcomes for the cathedral and its communities,” he said.

The Very Rev David Monteith, Dean of Leicester said the cathedral “recognises the complexity of the case the Cathedral Fabric Commission for England is having to deal with and therefore understands why, at this juncture, the commission failed to reach a verdict on our comprehensively-researched proposals for a tomb for King Richard III as part of a major reordering of the cathedral.”

“We are disappointed but we appreciate that it is rare for a major application of this kind to be approved at the first discussion owing to its complex nature. It is estimated the works necessary to provide the tomb and its place of honour will take six months, so this development does appear to rule out a reinterment date before summer 2014 at the earliest.”

The dean noted that a final decision could only be made after legal challenges had been adjudicated. “We fully respect that legal process,” he said.