Latest Anglican News                                     Volume 1, Number 9, 19 September 2007

What will happen?  What will The Episcopal Church (TEC) House of Bishops (HoB) say in response to the Dar es Salaam Communiqué by the September 30 deadline?  We’ll all know in a few days as this key meeting in New Orleans begins tomorrow.  Will it change its direction?  What will the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) in the early part of this meeting add to the mix?  Will it abandon its new age, liberal theology?  It is not expected to do so and there is some speculation that it will take a very defiant stance.  What will happen?

The big news this past week was the announcement by the leaders of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Diocese of Quincy that they intend to change their constitution and canons at their annual diocesan conventions later this year.  They want to be able to cut their ties to TEC if, to remain traditional and orthodox, they determine it is necessary.  Of course, the timing of their announcements is intended to make it clear that they will not countenance any more delays or slow rolling by TEC.  Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has said, "A last minute reversal by the House of Bishops...seems most unlikely."

Following the recent consecration of new U.S. resident bishops by the Anglican churches of Kenya and Uganda and the announcement that the Anglican Church of Rwanda will consecrate three additional bishops to work here in AMiA later this year, the Anglican Church of Nigeria announced this week that they will ordain four new suffragan bishops for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) later this year.

With reference to the rash of new bishop ordinations, one blogger said: “Everybody needs to STOP, take a breath, and reexamine this whole thing. This is like a runaway train!”  Newly ordained Kenyan Bishop Bill Atwood, a long time friend of CHC, countered this type of concern with these words, “I don't know how one could ask for more coordination than was exhibited in the period leading up to the Nairobi and Uganda consecrations. In addition to the Archbishops that attended, there were others who were in complete support but could not get there. On a given Sunday there are about 52 million Anglicans in church. The leaders of 40 million of them were present, or in a couple of cases officially represented, in Nairobi and many went on to Uganda.  Before the announcement was made in June by Kenya about the consecrations, Archbishop Nzimbi consulted with key Global South Primates and would not have proceeded without their agreement. Archbishop Orombi also coordinated for months with other Primates before proceeding. Two of the first calls I made were to +Chuck Murphy and +Martyn Minns to invite them to participate (which they did). I plan on working with them. Our competition is the devil, not each other.  For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear there is a new spirit of collaboration. The Global South Primates have modeled unity and mandated unity. It is now up to us to manifest unity in North America.”

 The ever controversial retired TEC Bishop John Shelby Spong has written a blistering, and sometimes nasty letter to the ABC Rowan Williams, condemning him of all sorts of mismanagement and wavering in the performance of his exalted position.  It is a four page rant, and from the liberal side, a bit of a surprise.  He closes the letter with this statement, “You were appointed to lead, Rowan, not to capitulate to the hysterical anger of those who are locked in the past. For the sake of God and this Church, the time has come for you to do so. I hope you still have that capability.  One commentator has said, “…this old man is…still filled with hate and venom…  His earthly reward has been wealth; what his eternal reward or punishment will be we'll have to leave, as he would say, to the Great Spirit.”  Another blogger opined, “A heretic is more dangerous than a cobra, one can only take your earthly life, the other can lead you away from eternal life.”  If you want to read this missile let me know and I will email it to you.

TEC House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson came to the Diocese of Ft. Worth on September 8.  She assured some 250 Episcopalians from Ft. Worth and Dallas that they will be supported by the leadership of the wider church "so that you may answer God's call to mission."  The sponsor of the meeting was a Fort Worth group belonging to Via Media USA, an alliance of Episcopal laity and clergy formed in 2004 to offer a counterpoint to efforts to "realign" the Episcopal Church along more conservative lines. Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker, who had been invited to the meeting and declined, issued a statement describing Anderson's visit as "political manipulation" which "exacerbates an already tense, adversarial relationship that has developed between national leaders and diocesan officials." He accused her of advocating a "rather one-sided view of the controversies that have overtaken the Episcopal Church in recent decades."  Iker said, “rather than working with me and other diocesan officials… (Anderson has)…chosen to go around us in a blatant attempt to work with the revisionist opposition known as the Via Media."  The following day, September 9, Anderson delivered the Sunday morning sermon at the Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, our neighbor on Hillcrest Road.

A little humor from Mark Twain, "When you fail to read the newspaper you are uninformed.  When you read the newspaper you are misinformed."  How could he have been a subscriber to the Dallas Morning News way back then?

A reminder of the key dates coming up in the next weeks:

          TEC HoB Meetings September 20-25, in New Orleans, including meeting with    
          the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Joint Standing Committee of the  
          Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council

          Meeting of Common Cause Bishops in the USA September 25-28, in Pittsburgh

          Deadline set by the Primates’ Tanzanian Communique for the response from
          TEC September 30

          And a new one: Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), the
          Primates of the African provinces of the Anglican Communion - October 2-5

Be sure to read next week’s report.  What will happen? 

Rudy Schenken, REC Lay Representative to Common Cause Partners