From Religion News Service:

Three significant branches of the Christian faith are engaged in high stakes Assemblies of their leaders. Each are wrestling with issues that involve issues of self-identification and internal policies, as well as issues that reveal how deeply the secular world is instigating evolution in churches worldwide. 

***  Pope Francis opened a highly anticipated four-day meeting on his church’s ongoing sex abuse crisis. Francis called on assembled bishops and other Catholic leaders to “hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice” and be “concrete.” 

Francis opened the conference the featured episcopal presidents of the more than 150 nations and nearly 20 clerics by distributing 21 “reflection points” for consideration by church leaders. The recommendations included preparing a handbook for local churches to follow in abuse cases, establishing protocols for handling accusations against bishops and raising the minimum age for marriage to 16. 

Abuse survivors and supporters staged a rally and march in downtown Rome included sharp responses to an admission by a German cardinal that the church has destroyed files documenting sexual abuse abuse by its priests. 

The vague disclosure on the third day of the Vatican’s summit on sex abuse, the theme of which was transparency, infuriated advocates for abuse victims.   

***United Methodist Church is meeting this weekend in St. Louis to decide on an internal rift  and possible schism on sexuality. 

The special session of the United Methodist Church General Conference runs Sunday to Tuesday in St. Louis. The session seeks to determine the official, permanent Methodist position on clergy’s sexual orientation. Currently, the denomination’s rulebook, the Book of Discipline, includes language that bars gay and lesbian members from ordination and marriage. 

Changing that language has been debated at every General Conference since 1972.  *** The Church of England’s most senior leaders are discussing the handling of Brexit at the church’s General Synod. In a special motion at synod, just weeks before the Brexit deadline, the archbishops of Canterbury and York urge politicians to do more to heal divisions in society. 

The archbishops calling for 5 days of prayer for Parliament members and the government.