Lambeth Palace are investigating the way the leader of The Episcopal Church was treated in Britain this week after Anglicans in the US have complained that she was forced to carry, rather than wear her mitre, at Southwark Cathedral.
From Ruth Gledhill in The Times.
So. Is Lambeth Palace investigating Lambeth Palace? Is Lambeth Palace investigating Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams?
I don't know how the chain of authority at Lambeth Palace works, but is it possible that the directives to Bishop Katharine denying her the use of the symbols of her office as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and demanding verification of her orders went out without the knowledge of the Archbishop of Canterbury? Just a thought from a former colonial (by heritage).
UPDATE: Or as Lisa at My Manner of Life puts it:
+Rowan (or someone higher than him at Lambeth Palace*) forbade +KJS to function or vest as a bishop, and that he (or someone higher than him at Lambeth Palace*) forbade her to wear the mitre that a bishop would generally wear.
Mimi, that's behind a registration firewall now; anything else of note in the article?
ReplyDeleteIT, that's all there is in the article about the investigation of Lambeth Palace. Ruth mentions the coming debate on women bishops at General Synod of the Church of England. The rest of the information has been published elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for access to The Times during its free trial period, but I won't pay when they start charging.
The British never opt for simplicity when complexity is available. View "Yes Minister" and "Yes Prime Minister" for ample examples... It's all interlocking (or not) meshes, gears, and wheels in Whitehall... and Lambeth.
ReplyDeleteTobias, I've watched the shows with great enjoyment. I suppose that my question is rhetorical, because I don't really expect an answer - at least not a better answer than you've supplied.
ReplyDeleteI didn't sign up for the free period, I don't want Rupert Murdoch having my email!
ReplyDeleteI expect Rowan under-estimated the backlash within the C of E and is now finding a way to blame it on "The Libruls".
Wade, the world has the email address on my blog. Why not Murdoch?
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced anyone knows how the chain of authority at Lambeth Palace works.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem, Cathy; they think they have authority, but they're only busy forging chains.
ReplyDeleteThe English arch-episcopate never misses an opportunity to diss the Americans, and to lose friends and alienate people in the Episcopal Church. And then they seem so genuinely surprised when the Yanks get really upset.
ReplyDeleteEvery time an English bishop visits us and lectures at us like disobedient children, I think that the English pew-sitters must have Job's patience to put up with such nonsense daily.
Counterlight, your second paragraph is a brilliant insight. I never thought of that. And I'll bet the pews are hard.
ReplyDeletePity ABCs don't have to face question time like Prime Ministers though they have the right to speak in the House of Lords.
ReplyDeleteon women priests
"I find no evidence that I acted inappropriately!"
ReplyDelete- Rowan Imperius, Rex Ecclesia
You know, I see what game has been being played by the conservatives from the start on this, but if I tell people, they won't see it themselves and dismiss me as a paranoid nutcase.
Suffice to say, everyone was had, and, shamefully, not by a very bright bunch.
The comment most revealing of Lambeth's hypocrisy in this matter was posted last night at Preludium by Ann Tottenham, retired suffragan bishop of Toronto, now assistant bishop in the Niagara diocese. She writes:
ReplyDelete"For the record, I celebrated and preached at Southwark Cathedral on November 9, 2009 with the permission of the Powers-That-Be in the C.of E. in the presence of the Diocesan Bishop and fully vested including mitre [my emphasis]. It was a public service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in the C. of E. The only restriction place on me was that I was not to "perform an episcopal function". As I was not planning either a confirmation or an ordination this was not a big deal, though the whole process was aggravating. To my mind this makes the insult offered to the Presiding Bishop even more gratuitous. +Ann""
Was it that as a Canadian bishop she is acceptably "colonial", I wonder - or maybe that as Lady Ann Tottenham, daughter of the 8th Marquess of Ely, she is seen by Rowan and his minions, as a British "establishment" figure, and therefore to be kowtowed to?
Either way, as Bishop Ann succinctly states "To my mind this makes the insult offered to the Presiding Bishop even more gratuitous".
Erp, thanks for the link. I read a bit, and I will read the rest later. Interesting.
ReplyDelete"I find no evidence that I acted inappropriately!"
Mark, exactly.
Lapin, thanks for the quote from +Ann Tottenham. I suppose the rules changed in less than a year.
Very O/T, but I just want to let y'all know that Canon Lucy Winkett (at St Paul's, London) will be installed as the new rector of St James's Piccadilly in October. Delightful news. SJP was my parish when I lived in London for a year (10 years ago). Very welcoming parish (friendly to LBGTs - we were on the route of the 1999 gay pride march and had a big banner displaying "St James Welcomes Pride." Back then I attended an evening event at St Ann's, Soho, where Lucy was a speaker (this was a discussion around the achievements on the 5th anniversary of women's ordination in England, still working toward full inclusion for the ordination of bishops). Wonderful priest. She had been treated shabbily and disrespectfully by fellow cathedral clergy when she joined the staff (some refused to receive communion from her).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thought I'd pass this on, because the current treatment of KJS shows that the CoE has a long ways to go!
Jay, thanks for the good news about Canon Lucy Winkett.
ReplyDeleteShe had been treated shabbily and disrespectfully by fellow cathedral clergy when she joined the staff (some refused to receive communion from her).
The struggle never ends, does it? And this is in the church!
To quote Steven Weinberg, "Good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things -- that takes religion."
ReplyDeleteI remind you that I addressed some of this in Rowan Williams' problem with Americans.
ReplyDeleteBut this whole thing reeks and it was clearly done too try to make it too unpleasant for KJS to come. Except she's tougher than that, and she is an American, not a Brit.
Reminds me that they pelted civil rights marchers with garbage, before they started with the firehoses.
And still we rise....
Paul (A.), about your quote: it is fitting - to our shame.
ReplyDeleteAnd still we rise....
IT, that's the key. We won't be stopped.
With respect to your linked post, I don't have your experience with British academics, but I agree that the Episcopal Church is "special" in Rowan's view and not in a good way.
"I find no evidence that I acted inappropriately!"
ReplyDeleteProbably I just haven't been paying attention ---- but can you tell me when and where he said this, Mark? (Or anyone?)
Thanks.
It was a sarcastic comment from me, Ellie - the ridiculousness of one investigating oneself for possible wrongdoing - which is why I "signed" it as I did.
ReplyDeleteHa! Thanks, Mark.
ReplyDeleteYou know, the "current unpleasantness" has honestly turned so crazy-making that it's really difficult to recognize parody anymore.
(I could easily have believed that he really said that...)
Mark, thanks. I was going to explain to Ellie, but it was best that you did the deed.
ReplyDeleteHow would a certain diocese in South Carolina treat KJS if they could? It is not only the Brits.
ReplyDeleteIn the long run a mitre is nothing, denying her the ability to wear it was purely symbolic pettiness; Jesus did not wear the robes of a priest, is he lessened in the eyes of Christians for that? She still presided, she still preached. Her message was heard and perhaps by even more people than might have.
I would even say this is a public relations victory for those in favor of equality for all humans.
Erp, you're right. ++Katharine would be treated shabbily in dioceses in the US. It's not just the Brits. I've said elsewhere that the snub is a blessing in disguise. I've also said that the kerfluffle is not about a hat. It's the lack of hospitality demonstrated by Lambeth Palace.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, what do silk vestments and mitres have to do with the Gospel?
Much of the disappointment on this side of the pond has to do with the fact that at least some of us want to think well of ++Rowan. We want to think of him as somewhat of a pastor to all of us in the Communion, but he continues to show his disdain for the Episcopal Church.
I might add that he shows disdain for LGTB persons in his own church and around the Communion, and he's not exactly sterling to the women in the CofE.
I want to echo Mimi in agreeing with Erp.
ReplyDeleteIt's important not to - as I almost had - fall into the trap of America vs. Britain and the Rest of the World. This is Rowan and his scheming.
I do wonder if the Queen and the PM are even aware of the degree of disaster Rowan is brewing? They probably don't see "church business" as that important, and are focussing on the pressing political issues. Yet, I can't help but feel this absolute failure in a relatively unimportant "world communion" and it's effect on largely-ignored churches in various countries is going to have a significant impact on the UK as a whole.
Dare we interfere, or is it just going to be seen as the US manipulating, again?
Re the Prime Minister, even though the ABC appointment is no longer handled directly through his office, I doubt, given the broadly tolerant attitude towards gays and gay rights that now exists in British society at large, that the appointment of another "homophobic" or "sexist" (in a present-day context, Rowan, has proved to be both) ABC is on the cards. The senior bishops - men in their sixties and mid-fifties - grew up in a culture that was deeply homophobic or, when it was tolerant, we now see as having been deeply patronizingly so. The general attitude of the generation following them - bishops and politicians both - is light years ahead of them. In ten years, if tolerant "Western" Anglicanism holds on that long within the Communion - and it will - Rowan Williams will seem as distant and dated a figure as his mid-century predecessor, Geoffrey Fisher now does.
ReplyDeleteConsider the recent "conversion" of the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones - or, the link being to a "Times" piece by Ruth Gledhill, consider the radical change in relationship between Ms Gledhill and Anglicanism's "lefties" over the past two or three years. Hang in there, baby.
Mark, if we interfere directly, there will be shouting about American imperialism.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do not blame the British for the missteps of the ABC or Lambeth Palace, and I believe that we must take care that we don't stray down that path.