Bishop Alan Wilson said...Bishop Alan's suggestion for a simple and straightforward way for the Church of England to include women in the order of bishops seems so eminently sensible to me. The CofE is not my church, and perhaps I should not even express an opinion, but the process at General Synod is painful to observe.
I don't know why the English always have to find a more complicated and painful way of doing simple things. It's clear as a pikestaff from everywhere else in the world that the kindest, as well as the least histrionic way to do this is just to do it. As John Harvey Jones used to say, you can only get shot once. Then sit down with everyone it impacts and go to the greatest lengths possible, with great kindness, to help them in any way that's possible. This is all the more so in England because the variety among the tiny company of people impacted negatively is immense - for some episcopacy is actually of little to no account, to others it's the core of their ecclesiology, for some it's about preaching, for others the Eucharist. Listen carefully to the real issue and then respond kindly to real issues as they arise. That way everybody ends up in the best possible place.
Alan is area Bishop of Buckingham in the Anglican Diocese of Oxfordshire.
It seems to me that The ¨Archbishops¨, especially the Dr. Williams, takes sadistic pleasure in making every turn for justice and equality (amongst heterosexual women and LGBT people at all levels of Churchlife) difficult, muddled, overstretched and downright painful...this guy, the ABC, seems to dwell in the land of making common sense seem like heathen thinking...it´s a matter of ¨seeming¨ things are different than they really are in order to avoid painful reality! Intellectual projecting vs. REAL life Experience...female bishops or LGBT Bishop or any qualified Bishop isn´t about saving pain to the whiners, it´s about making more pain to abused! (just to be certain)! This stuff is manufactured and it´s torture and Rowan Williams (and his sidekick at York) do it on purpose to show us all how brilliant/noble they (think) they are!
ReplyDeleteLen, I can't agree that Rowan is sadistic. He's muddled because he seems to see Through the Looking Glass and is trying to 'believe six impossible things breakfast'. If not six, then at least two.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the stamina, watch the video or read the transcript of his speech during the debate at General Synod. He says he wants clarity, but I can't find clarity in the speech.
Mimi, did you see The Pluralist's modest proposal of a solution? Looks interesting, if only for the English!! I did watch the ABC's speech about the proposed amendment. He did say early on, that it might not be clear!
ReplyDeleteDarn! I meant to say 'believe six impossible things BEFORE breakfast'.
ReplyDeletesusan s., I read Pluralist's proposal, and it sounds as good as the ABC's.
So then, if Rowan prefaces his words with a disclaimer about a lack of clarity, then he's off the hook. Or is he? It's all so confusing!
I wonder if Jonathan will have anything to say.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rowan's attempt at humor came off as rather weak, given that it was the lead in to his totally unclear statement.
Why should anyone bear with Rowan's obfuscation, which is all too real, and not simply on the level of a joke?
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