Anglican Communion News Office:
The Secretary General, Canon Kenneth Kearon, has announced the appointment of Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan as Director for Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office. The post is a new one in the Communion, and arose after some restructuring following the election of Canon Gregory Cameron, formally Director of Ecumenical Affairs and Deputy Secretary General, as Bishop of St Asaph in the Church in Wales.
We (the collective "we" of the Holy Office of the Laity, also a new structure) can only hope that this new structure, headed by Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan, is not the cousin of the Holy Office of the Inquisition* of the Roman Catholic Church. Already we don't like the title of the new structure. And a woman as the Director? Not another Maggie Thatcher, please, Alyson!
Adrian at Pluralist Speaks has a first-person account from a pseudonymous (of necessity!) archdeacon's meeting with the new director of UFO. Here's a snippet:
Director: Yes. As part of my office I now use a new piece of software as contracted by the Primates. The program is orthodox.exe, and it takes the names of any Anglican clergy person worldwide and does an immediate search of all links and connections, including for example your entries on any social networking sites. The software examines phrases of words and compares them with an orthodoxy meter, and results below a generous 50% are notified in my email inbox.
Take great care with your sermons, clergy and bishops! The days of internet spying technology have arrived.
Read the rest of the interview over there. If we didn't have Pluralist in Anglican Blogland, we'd need to invent him.
*Name updated to The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to appear less threatening.
May I save them time and expense and just submit my name now?
ReplyDeleteWe (the collective we) say a wholehearted, "Yes!" Get it over with. Paul, We'd guess that you'll skip the gray list and go directly to black.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this? A spoof?
ReplyDeleteGöran, it depends. To what do you refer? The Holy Office of the Laity is quite real. We just set it up. We felt that we needed our own inquisitorial group to protect the interests of lay folks. And yes, it is a spoof.
ReplyDeleteAs to Pluralist's post, what can I say? You should ask him.
FWIW, Mimi, our Stand Firm buddies are pretty unhappy about her. One comment posted there reads "I knew Alyson very very slightly when she was at seminary and I was an undergraduate in political science at the s[a]me institution (hence we attended the same chapel services). I will restrict myself to saying that the appointment is not good news to anyone expecting a favourable attitude towards orthodoxy from or at the Anglican Communion Office."
ReplyDeleteDon't you think the title "Communion Director for UFO" fits nicely with this Looking Glass World?
ps another Welsh connection. A resurgent Taffia?
ReplyDeleteI was always competitive. If I can't get a black belt I can get on the black list.
ReplyDeleteLapin, if the SF folks are unhappy about her appointment, then I am happy, without knowing anything about her. I hope she does a great job.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the new office in the AC reminded me of a combination of Rome's Holy Office and The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and, of course, the acronym will be fun.
Did you see the comments to my post some months ago on a statement by Bp. Gregory Cameron? Either he or an impersonator left comments. I'm inclined to believe that it really was the bishop. It was during the Primates meeting in Jamaica, and I had a visitor from Jamaica each time that he left a comment.
Well, I happen to know Alyson myself (I was a member of the Faith, Worship, and Ministry Committee for three years and worked with her) and I don't think you have anything to worry about.
ReplyDeleteTo know someone "very, very slightly" gives one license to say anything about the person...
ReplyDeleteSort of like Fox commentators making remarks about Britian's NHS, eh?
Did they know what they were doing when they name it UFO? I just read the link, and it dawned on me...
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, Pluralist speaks!
ReplyDeleteTim, I'm glad to hear that.
ReplyDeleteSusan, it was the name of the new restructured office that got my mind and Adrian's running in the same direction, except he's much more clever, and he took note of the UFO acronym, which I had missed. In this case it really is best to read the link.