Jonathan Hagger on
Facebook:
Following
the Holy Spirit's destruction of his personal tower of primatial
babble, Archbishop Ozymandias should resign today, and stand down today.
He has wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds (probably millions)
flying theologians and bishops round the world, arranging conferences
etc., etc. which, as Jesus Christ said, should have gone to the feeding
of the poor or the spreading of the Gospel.
But
there is another reason why he should stand down now. He has spent the
last six or so years acting as if the Covenant was already in place. He
sacked theologians from communion think tanks, he banned a duly elected
(under the guidance of the Holy Spirit which has been proved
conclusively by time) bishop from attending the Lambeth Conference. He
has flown all over the world bossing other provinces around. He has been
a despot.
And his church has overwhelmingly told him (and their
friends throughout the world) that this is not the style of church and
church leadership that it wants or considers in keeping with its
catholic/protestant identity. Therefore, his church has told him that
everything he has done over the last six years has been bogus. Can he
carry on with such a complete lack of confidence in him as shown by
those he is supposed to SERVE? Well, if he was a politician he would be
out. As he is a Christian bishop and we are Christians, we will pretend
this covenant thing didn't happen and let him enjoy his hobnobbing with
the Queen this year.
Rowan Williams was not a good archbishop.
He was a lousy archbishop. Possibly the worst archbishop this country
has known since archbishops of Canterbury stopped launching bloody
crusades against other countries (which I believe was at the end of the
14th. Century).
Now I didn't write the words above; I merely copied and pasted, so don't blame me. I don't even know enough about the history of the Church of England to vouch for the final paragraph. See?
Jonathan (aka MadPriest) blogs at
Of Course, I Could Be Wrong....
Ann, despite my humorous disclaimer, I confess that the sentiments expressed pretty much match mine. What a waste of time, effort, and money to foist on the Communion an execrably written and poorly cobbled together POS that should never have seen the light of day.
ReplyDeleteDouble yep!
Delete¨...execrably written and poorly cobbled together POS that should never have seen the light of day.¨ GM (I love it when you get fiesty)
ReplyDeleteDon´t forget the boys in the band who whipped together this song and dance...that would be the duo, Archbishop Drexel, of LGBT blood drenched Jamaica/West Indies, Gomez and his buddy Bishop (now) Gregory Cameron (who apprently has received his reward already/already)...I think they owe the Very Reverend Jeffery John an apology (or kind deeds would be nice).
Len, Rowan should have offered a public apology to Jeffrey John and pleaded with him to resume his position as the nominee for the post of bishop of Reading, or he should have resigned then and there.
ReplyDeleteAs for his placing himself in thrall to the likes of Gomez and the others whose purpose in life seemed to be to get the gays, I just don't understand it at all. Nor will I ever comprehend his locking Bp Gene out of Lambeth.
I think MP is overlooking some pretty dreadful ABCs. ABCs dragged their feet on the abolition of slavery, opposed religious freedoms for non-Anglicans (such as Catholic emancipation in the 1830s in England), etc.
ReplyDeleteErp, as I said, I'm not qualified... :-)
ReplyDeleteI think MP is also forgetting that retired ABCs (at least since they started retiring instead of dying in office [or sometimes murdered, lynched, or executed]) are made peers and end up in the House of Lords (again). My guess is that Rowan Williams retires as ABC on Dec. 31, 2012 and wakes up on Jan 1, 2013 to find he is a Lord (and still with a vote in the House of Lords until the next reform). So will he end up like Lord Carey or Lord Harries?
ReplyDeleteThere is also the matter of who comes after?
There is also the matter of who comes after?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is that, which is the reason I didn't call for his resignation until after he resigned.
'There is also the matter of who comes after?'
ReplyDeleteTrue, but whatever the outcome of the nominations committee, it will be one more chance for Holy Spirit to haul us out of the shadow of the crypto-Vatican the Covenant proposed and closer to being the Body of Christ. So at the very least, one can be........immensely hopeful!
Except I don't believe in the Holy Spirit. The British (Anglican or not) get an unelected leader of the established church and an unelected member of the House of Lords chosen by a small conclave of Anglicans and approved by the current Prime Minister and the Queen (though the latter is pro forma).
ReplyDeleteNow to really leave it up to the Holy Spirit, one should probably cast lots (see Acts 1). Collect all the eligible bishops in a large field, divide into two groups, cast lots for which group, divide it and repeat until down to one person. A dove landing on any person there (even a non-bishop) is an automatic sign (see Pope Fabian) and such person should be made ABC (after necessary preliminaries such as baptism, confirmation, or ordination).
Well, I believe that if we are in a relationship with God that God interacts with us. That's not to say that God will choose the next ABC. God can only do what is possible, and humans have free will, but perhaps our prayers are efficacious in thin places in a particular situation where the God's Spirit moves in a particular way to further a particular outcome.
ReplyDeleteChoosing the ABC by acclamation is surely traditional, and casting lots is indeed biblical, and we may well do worse than choosing the ABC by either means.
My apologies for being a bit snappish in my last comment. BTW it seems the Coptic Christians narrow the field to three and then have a child blindly draw the name of the new Patriarch.
ReplyDeleteErp, that works for me. ;-)
ReplyDelete