What an excellent photograph of Bishop Katharine. It's one of the best that I've seen.
From Episcopal Life:
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has described the decision by Lambeth Palace to remove Episcopalians serving on international ecumenical dialogues as "unfortunate ... It misrepresents who the Anglican Communion is."
Jefferts Schori's comments were made during a June 8 press conference at the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod 2010 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
....
"I don't think it helps dialogue to remove some people from the conversation," she said shortly after addressing General Synod. "We have a variety of opinions on these issues of human sexuality across the communion ... For the archbishop of Canterbury to say to the Methodists or the Lutheran [World] Federation that we only have one position is inaccurate. We have a variety of understandings and no, we don't have consensus on hot button issues at the moment."
....
Jefferts Schori said Williams' letter "really jumped" the process around the proposed Anglican Covenant, because it "imposed a number of the sanctions that were envisaged in the fourth section." The covenant is being viewed as way of addressing tensions in the communion over the issue of human sexuality.
Asked whether Williams has adequately addressed the issue of cross-border interventions, Jefferts Schori said, "I don't think he understands how difficult and how painful and destructive it's been both in the church in Canada and for us in the U.S. ... when bishops come from overseas and say, 'Well, we'll take care of you, you don't have to pay attention to your bishop.'" Such actions "destroys pastoral relationships," noted Jefferts Schori. "It's like an affair in a marriage," she said. "It destroys trust."
She added that it's "a very ancient teaching of the church that bishops are supposed to stay home and tend to the flock to which he was originally assigned."
....
Part of the church's mission is to gay and lesbian people, she added. "Where's the good news in this for them?"
Another deals with addressing human suffering, she said. "Suicide rates among gay and lesbian teenagers are much, much higher than the national average in Canada and the U.S. How do we address that? That's an aspect in these Marks of Mission."
The five marks of mission:
To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom;
To teach, baptize and nurture new believers;
To respond to human need by loving service;
To seek to transform unjust structures of society;
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
More good words from our PB. What is the Archbishop of Canterbury thinking? The Anglican Communion does not speak with one voice. Will all the members of the committees from the other denominations simply forget the existence of the Episcopal Church? The cleansing from the committee of the members of TEC looks more appalling, high-handed, and duplicitous every minute that goes by.
I suppose that if the ABC was not shamed by excluding Bishop Gene Robinson from Lambeth, he won't embarrass himself by his latest exclusions.
H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead for the link.
I suppose that if the ABC was not shamed by excluding Bishop Gene Robinson from Lambeth, he won't embarrass himself by his latest exclusions.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
I think the Archbishop of Canterbury has very sick resentments...so disturbed they are interfering with his use of common good sense...I believe we are seeing some very deeply seeded emotional and spiritual flaws--the kind that harm other people--harm other people physically and spiritually. +Rowan is running out of control...it´s hard to understand who/what he is defending...I think it has to do with the attempted outcasting of LGBT Anglicans/others, our friends and families, it may be about facing taboos he can´t deal with...Í keep wondering if he´s a member of Washington D.C.´s ¨family¨...the smell of secrets, politics and deceit is in the air.
ReplyDeleteLord, have mercy
Leo, you're right that something strange is going on with the ABC, but there are those in and out of the Church of England, even some in our own church, who egg him on in his weirdness. He has a particular animus toward TEC, and Mark Harris posted an interesting theory.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not strange...nor do I hold with your comment Leo, other than to say that these things are true of all of us to some greater or lesser extent.
ReplyDeleteI haven't fully thought about his personal motivators for what's going on, but there are things in there about, Englishness and the done thing, organisational behaviour and the seal of office, the established nature of the church, and what these do to integrity/hypocrisy and the nature and theology of sacrifice.
I am inspired however Leo to give it some more thought and maybe I'll post on it in the future.
The Jeffrey John business showed where this guy was headed, for sure. Tho' I'll still take my chances with him rather than with Sentamu.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Virginia Supreme Court ruling on the Truro/Falls Church property thefts is due out before the end of the week.
This (hat tip Episcopal Café) suggests she'll get to tell 'em on home turf this coming Sunday.
ReplyDeleteTheMe
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a lot of Englishness about this, but it doesn't quite explain the support of flat earth theology and the one sided criticism. A true English sense of fair play would at least deal with border crossing as evenly as with TECs perceived misdeeds.
And nothing in English tradition and culture should have stopped him from speaking about, for example, against the Malawi judgement.
If you do emphasise organisational behaviour, it should cut both ways.
TheMe, Rowan seems to have a particular animus for the Episcopal Church that I don't understand. All TEC ever seems to get from him are snubs and scoldings.
ReplyDeleteAnd many of us don't understand his flip on acceptance and welcoming of faithful gay couples into ministry. How does Rowan live with the split? Hypocrisy is better? Persecuting gays is not a serious an offense? The business with Jeffery John was Rowan's first misstep, and he seems never to have recovered.
Lapin, thanks for the tip about the PB's visit to Southwark Cathedral. She will also be a guest at General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The churches of the Anglican Communion have long agreed that the ABC, through the ACO, has the authority to appoint Anglican members to ceertain ecumenical bodies. We granted this because we assumed that the ABC would use his authority in a wise and responsible manner. Now, however, his use of authority has become unwise and irresponsible, and I suggest that we renegotiate the agreement.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a hard time getting worked up over the ABC's latest move against the Episcopal Church. Instead of trying to read his mind (he made clear his priorities when he sold out Jeffrey John), perhaps we should go out there and promote our vision of church as something other than an exclusive club of the saved for members only to the rest of the world. Maybe the best response to the Archbishop would not be a boycott, but opening an Episcopal Church down the street from Lambeth Palace.
ReplyDeleteWe should take our cue from our Presiding Bishop and hold our ground.
Ormonde, I agree. It's time to renegotiate the agreement. What Rowan is doing makes no sense at all. How can you have true representation at a gathering if you exclude representatives.
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, I doubt that TEC will ever set up a church down the street from Lambeth or anywhere else in England. I agree that we waste time trying to figure out what Rowan is up to. Whatever his motivations, we see his actions, and that is enough.
No point in opening an Episcopal church down the street from Lambeth, Counterlight. Lambeth is in the diocese of Southwark. Plenty of accepting, open churches there and throughout the London metropolis. "It's the hypocrisy!"
ReplyDeleteAs Episcopalians and Anglican we never been (EVER!) a church that like the Roman Catholic Church works from the top down. That the ABC sees himself as that kind of leader shows how out of it he is!
ReplyDeleteHe kissed JP II's ring when he visited the Vatican early in his archepiscopate, an act for which he should have been promptly defrocked.
ReplyDelete[Probably High Treason under some 16th c statute, still on the books. Hanging, disembowelling and all that]
I liked the Anglican Journal's coverage of this story -- particularly because of the title it used: "Talk to the Hand." LOL!
ReplyDeleteIt's the hypocrisy - white-washed tombs, blind guides. Jesus left no doubt about what he thought of hypocrites. The scale of the hypocrisy in the Church of England is breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteAnd TEC will never accept a Rome-like type of governance, with power concentrated at the top - not ever.
Lisa, I don't see the "Talk to the Hand" piece at your link.
ReplyDeleteOops! Sorry. :(
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to make it work as a direct link. But if you go to the Anglican Journal, the "More News" in the right sidebar has it listed ... for now, at least. It was posted June 8.
Of course, my delight was mostly in the title of the story -- not that the story differs much from the ENS version.
Lapin
ReplyDeleteBut it's not about going to a local accepting church. It really is becoming about being able to belong to a church that is honest and open and welcoming fullstop.
I'm losing my respect for a lot of those quietly open and welcoming CoE priests and bishops whose collective silence has gotten us into this mess in the first place.
Erika, as I said in a comment to my later post on Inclusive Church's letter to Bp. Katharine:
ReplyDeleteI have a vision of a grand coming out day in England of all gay clergy, partnered and unpartnered, along with their numerous straight supporters in numbers that would stun Rowan into reality.
Mimi
ReplyDeletethe vision is good, but it has to be really really large.
I a want a coming out especially of all the silent priests who secretly conduct same sex blessings, of all the bishops who secretly support their gay priests, of all those who don't support homosexuality but who hate the witchhunt and the centralisation of the Anglican Communion.
I want too much... but it's a nice dream!
Erika, I don't expect that my dream will come true, but it is a nice dream. :-( It's the silence of so many in the Church of England that permits Rowan to play his game of pretend.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we stopped commemorating the AofC here in the US, and instead started commemorating the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, along with our Presiding Bishop, maybe that would get Rowan's attention?
ReplyDeletejust a thought...
a Scottish-American
Rowan seems to have a particular animus for the Episcopal Church that I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteIt reads to me as deep unease precisely because TEC is out of his control, and is moreover forging ahead with reforms that I actually suspect he secretly wishes (or once wished) that he had the force of character and freedom to proceed with himself, only he doesn't, because he is frightened and intimidated by the homophobes, so he envies the TEC. That's my guess.
Scottish-American, thank you for your thought. I did as you suggested a few days ago. Here's the link.
ReplyDeleteI've always been grateful to the Scottish Episcopal Church for consecrating our first bishop, Samuel Seabury, and I greatly admire the present Primus, David Chillingworth.
PS I think both Erika and Mimi's dreams will come about, but over time.
ReplyDeleteAnd an end to the silence of those who agree would be nice, and not before time.
Cathy, I expect it's time to move on from trying to understand Rowan.
ReplyDeleteI think both Erika and Mimi's dreams will come about, but over time.
To which I answer with Shakespeare's words:
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
Lisa, I covered the story, but from another source. The title at the Anglican Journal is wonderful.
ReplyDelete"¨...the smell of secrets, politics and deceit is in the air."
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've thought this too, Leonardo. I've wondered if maybe he has been threatened in some ghastly, heinous fashion.