"Seven diocesans meeting with Rowan Williams"
The headline is from a story in The Lead. At his blog, Fr. Dan Martins states that seven bishops of the Episcopal Church are presently meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The bishops are all members of the Communion Partners, and all signed the Anaheim Statement, which was read at GC09 of the Episcopal Church after the vote on C056 (on blessing faithful, same-sex unions), and which says in part:
* We reaffirm our constituent membership in the Anglican Communion, our communion with the See of Canterbury and our commitment to preserving these relationships.
* We reaffirm our commitment to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this church has received them (BCP 526, 538)
* We reaffirm our commitment to the three moratoria requested of us by the instruments of Communion.
* We reaffirm our commitment to the Anglican Communion Covenant process currently underway, with the hope of working toward its implementation across the Communion once a Covenant is completed.
Archbishop Williams, in his reflection on GC09, states the following about his two-track system idea for those provinces who sign the Covenant and those who do not:
25. It is my strong hope that all the provinces will respond favourably to the invitation to Covenant. But in the current context, the question is becoming more sharply defined of whether, if a province declines such an invitation, any elements within it will be free (granted the explicit provision that the Covenant does not purport to alter the Constitution or internal polity of any province) to adopt the Covenant as a sign of their wish to act in a certain level of mutuality with other parts of the Communion. It is important that there should be a clear answer to this question.
In my humble opinion, the ABC opened up a huge can of worms with the statement, not just for the Episcopal Church, but for other provinces in the Anglican Communion, including his own Church of England.
What promises, encouraging words, etc., etc., etc. will the seven bishops take away from their meeting with the ABC? I have no idea. I said in a similar vein in my previous post on President Obama and health care reform, perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury is operating on superior wisdom that's not obvious to me.
UPDATE: Too good to be hidden in the comments:
Lapinbizarre said...
Could it be that one of these days he'll balance his continuing meddling in the internal matters of TEC and, as an example, look into the extent of Nigerian Anglican complicity in the Yelwa massacre. While obviously this does not compare with the abomination of homosexuality - and slaughtering ones enemies is unquestionably Biblical - maybe, as a "communion" thing, it merits a little attention. Have no doubt that Akinola and his lackeys would welcome the inquiry with open arms and cooperate to the fullest.
UPDATE 2: According to Fr. Martin in the comments to his post, the seven bishops are Little, Lawrence, McPherson, Stanton, Lillibridge, Smith (N.D.), and Love.
Could it be that one of these days he'll balance his continuing meddling in the internal matters of TEC and, as an example, look into the extent of Nigerian Anglican complicity in the Yelwa massacre. While obviously this does not compare with the abomination of homosexuality - and slaughtering ones enemies is unquestionably Biblical - maybe, as a "communion" thing, it merits a little attention. Have no doubt that Akinola and his lackeys would welcome the inquiry with open arms and cooperate to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteLapin, we can but hope.
ReplyDeleteI bumped your comment up to the post in an update.
Could it be that one of these days he'll balance his continuing meddling.... No.
ReplyDeleteLook guys, he is anti-American. Time to move on. TEC can be The Episcopal Community and probably should be soonest. Yes, looks like we need to notice 7 more bishops who want to abandon the church. OK, we can do that.
FWIW
jimB
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't anyone remember the September 30, 2007 Primates' Ultimatum, issued from Tanzania, in which TEC was directed to set up a new pastoral scheme with a “primatial vicar” to make a traditionalist enclave for antigay conservatives who reject the oversight of liberal bishops.
These bullies have been stomping their sacristy-slippered feet and making ultimatums about TEC being kicked off the Anglican Island, when they're not behaving like 'Chicken Little' and predicting that the Anglican Sky is Falling.
So, now Dan Martin has "inside information" which makes him "quite certain" that the two track / two tier "Upstairs/Downstairs Maid" system will be passed so some of the Boyz in Purple won't have to get LGBT cooties all over their pristine orthodox theology.
I'll give him this: +++Himself can't seem to resist tempests in teapots.
I too would like to see some accountability for the Yelwa matter.
ReplyDeleteBe that as it may, but I must say, Fr Martins irritates the hell out of me. I won't go to his blog anymore. His passive aggressive "I've been sitting on this for sometime before I posted," translated as "I know more than you do, nyah, nyah, nyah," has been his MO for some years. He knows all the bishops and only names his own, translated as "I know more than you do, nyah, nyah, nyah."
ReplyDeleteOh wait, I said that before.
I just want to say, "Well isn't that special!"
Whoo-hoo! Good comment thread.
ReplyDeleteRowan says:
It is important that there should be a clear answer to this question.
That would be the question as to whether certain "elements" in a province can sign on to the as yet incomplete covenant, if the province does not sign on, which cannot happen in TEC until 2012. What's the rush to have an answer, and who will give the answer?
That question, of course, brings to mind whether certain "elements" in a province can sign off from the covenant if they so choose, if their province signs on.
Is it even clear whether the Church of England can sign the covenant, since they are an established church and the government is involved?
Don't quite see why Martins is acting so smugly secretive about this. Tony Clavier posted it over a week ago and Mark Harris noticed it on his blog.
ReplyDeleteI hear that Bishop Smith (ND) is one of the candidates for bishop of Louisiana. He has been visible in this diocese since Katrina and does a lot of visitations for Bishop Jenkins.
ReplyDeleteOrmonde, that news doesn't thrill me. I hope that we don't elect a bishop who will attempt to take the diocese out of the Episcopal Church, or even one with one foot in and one foot out, like Bp. Mark Lawrence.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it could get interesting. Where does the Code Napoléon stand on the hierarchical church?
ReplyDeleteLapin, please don't ask me questions about the law or interpretations of the law, because, as Manuel says, "I know notheeng!"
ReplyDelete