Latest Anglican News                   Volume 1, Number 10                26 September 2007

 What did happen?  Not much?  Nothing definitive and final?  Why did we expect it all to come clear so quickly?  The Episcopal Church (TEC) House of Bishops (HoB) meeting is over and it is clear there will be no going back to the old days by either side.  The response was not defiant, but it seems to be more “fudging” to postpone the final fracture.  More “consultation”, more of the “listening process”.

To summarize TEC’s final statement, which was issued late yesterday afternoon, is problematical, but for the sake of brevity I will try.  You are encouraged to read the entire statement at:

www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_70457_ENG_HTM.htm

Summary of TEC statement by your commentator: 

    ~ We will exercise constraint by not consecrating homosexuals to the episcopate 
    ~ We will not authorize public rites of blessing for same-sex unions
    ~ We will set up a plan for episcopal oversight
    ~ We deplore incursions into our jurisdictions by uninvited bishops and call for them to stop.
    ~ We support Communion wide consultation in accord with our Canons
    ~ We call for increasing implementation of the listening process across the Communion and a report of progress by Lambeth 2008, next July
    ~ We support the ABC’s intent to explore ways for the Bishop of New Hampshire (V. Gene Robinson) to participate in the Lambeth Conference
     ~ We call for unequivocal and active commitment to the civil rights, safety, and dignity of gay and lesbian persons.

Are these the “unambiguous assurances” called for the Dar es Salaam Communiqué?  Few orthodox Anglicans will say so.  And the first test of “constraint” will come very soon as an acknowledged lesbian is on the short list to become the new Bishop of Chicago.  Further, though TEC commits not to “authorize public rites for same-sex unions” will they stop their many parishes from performing such unions, as they now do every day?  The attempt to provide “Episcopal oversight” to conservative parishes and parishioners living in liberal dioceses will undoubtedly not mollify the Global South and will not stop them from appointing additional "missionary" bishops to minister to American traditionalists.

There is not as much of an outpouring of “noisy” analysis of TEC HoB meeting as was expected, but some can’t resist the chance to emote.  Following are a few comments:

From an article by Jonathan Petre in today’s London Daily Telegraph, “One liberal bishop said that there was ‘no turning back of the clock’ and that ‘gays and lesbians are fully enfranchised in our life’…  (The TEC statement) will also be seized on by the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC), Dr Rowan Williams, as evidence that the American Church has sufficiently reversed its pro-gay agenda to escape punitive action.  Dr Williams is now expected to call the bluff of hardline conservatives who have threatened to boycott next year's… Lambeth Conference…if the liberal American bishops are also there.”

“I think (the HoB) had a sense of what the Communion needed to hear from them…” said Jim Naughton, Canon for Communications and Advancement of the liberal Diocese of Washington.  “We wanted to give the people working to hold the Anglican Communion (AC) together a useful tool to help them do that.  At the same time, we did not want to backtrack on our commitment to gay and lesbian Christians. It’s our sense that this resolution has accomplished that,” he continued.

A blogger said, “The fudge factory has been going full steam. Can anybody think that this will be acceptable to the Global South? I guess the ABC has already decided to set them adrift and stick by the white liberal North.”

 Another said, “It is such a blessing to be a member of an AMiA church and not have to worry about what the HOB does one way or the other…Amen”

 The Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, a conservative Episcopal strategist said, “We’ll have the chaos here increase as more individuals, parishes and dioceses begin moving.  What will happen is that we will see more of the disunity…spread to the rest of the Communion.”

From the Common Cause meeting in Pittsburgh, Bishop Martyn Minns of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the prominent conservative group supported by the Anglican Church of Nigeria, said, “They’re offering ‘busi-ness as usual’. The Communion asked them to make a change, to embrace the teaching of the Communion about homosexuality, and there’s no change at all.”

From a nameless blogger, “Episcopal bishop’s promises mean nothing, they may NOT officially authorize rites for…same sex couples, but they turn a blind eye as such blessing occur…and they impose no discipline on the (clergy) who do!!”

Is it too early to ask the question – For the sake of Christianity, why don’t the two sides, “the progressives” and “the traditionalists”, recognize they are now two different religions/denominations/churches and go peacefully their separate ways?  Such logic doesn’t seem to be in their minds for the near term.

Meanwhile the Common Cause Bishops, fifty-one in number, including Bishop Sutton, are in session in Pittsburgh through this Friday.  What will their official position be? 

As was said a week ago be sure to read next week’s report.  All the commentators and bloggers, and hopefully some of the major players will be in full voice.  What will happen? 

Rudy Schenken, REC Lay Representative to Common Cause Partners