Pennsylvania

Anglicans in Pittsburgh who broke from The Episcopal Church announced this week that they will appeal the recent ruling that strips them of their church properties.

Now called The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, the breakaway group of 51 local congregations say if the ruling is left uncontested, "the award of all diocesan assets to the minority party ... would establish a precedent that we believe the minority would use to take steps to seize all the assets of all our local parishes."

"Our decision to appeal is for the purpose of protecting the mission of our fifty-one local congregations," the diocese said in a statement Thursday. more >>

A T-shirt design that was intended to foster school spirit on the campus of Penn State University has become a center of media-brewed controversy that will likely fizzle out before ever catching fire.

The design, which was selected this year by Penn State students out of about two dozen entries, was created as part of an annual Penn State tradition, during which students don white clothing for a designated football game and fill their 107,282-seat stadium to capacity, thus “whiting out” supporters of the opposing team.

Made by Penn State senior Emily Sabolsky, this year’s winning design appeared on the official 2009 “White Out” shirts, which hit the shelves of the university’s bookstore ahead of this year’s “White Out” game against the University of Iowa. more >>

Racial barriers were broken as blacks and whites came together for worship on Sunday at a Philadelphia church that once espoused segregation.

Members of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was founded in the late 1700s by a group of blacks who walked out of St. George's Methodist Church because of segregated seating, were welcomed back for a "reunion" and integrated worship.

"You bless us in a way mere words fall short. The memory of what happened – hurt, hostility, disgrace, and disappointment – did not keep you from being here today. You grace us in coming," said the Rev. Fred Day, pastor of Historic St. George's Church, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. more >>

Pittsburgh clergy who left The Episcopal Church over its liberal direction will not be stripped of their ordinations.

In an announcement on Monday, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh said it will not take disciplinary action against the approximately 100 priests and deacons who left to join a conservative Anglican group.

"We’re doing this for pastoral reasons," said the Rev. Dr. James Simons, president of the diocesan Standing Committee, in a statement. "We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed." more >>

Ahead of the G-20 summit, faith leaders gathered in Pittsburgh Wednesday to urge world leaders to focus more on the poverty issue.

Noting that poverty is low on the summit's agenda, religious leaders said it was their responsibility to pressure leaders to address the “moral crisis.”

“As religious persons, we come at this with a conviction that at the core of human existence the creator of all has will that all should share in the bounty of his creation,” said Dr. William J. Shaw, former president of the National Baptist Convention, USA. more >>