The Archbishop of Canterbury has rarely been more impressive than in a speech he delivered in Rome just before his meeting with the Pope and just after the Roman Catholic Church had issued its astonishing offer of a home for Anglican Catholics unable to accept women bishops and other innovations. He spoke in characteristically human and erudite fashion of why there could be no going back on the ordination of women.

Just a few days later, he failed to condemn openly the new law to be enacted in Uganda that will condemn a large number of homosexuals to death. Yet when it came to the election as a bishop of a monogamous woman who has been in the same relationship for 21 years he was quick to judge. The problem was that this woman’s relationship is with another woman.

Read it all.

The Anglican Church has been divided on openly homosexual clergy, with some saying Canon Glasspool’s election makes a schism inevitable.

”I think this will confirm the view of people who say the communion is already broken, let’s face up to the facts, let’s not pretend,” said the Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth.

”There is deep division here on profound principle, about which I can see no middle ground.”

Read it all.

On Monday, Archbishop Luke Orombi’s assistant for International Relations, Ms Alison Barfoot, described as “funny and unbiblical” the choice of Ms Glasspool.

“We believe the Bible condemns homosexual behaviour as immoral. So how can a homosexual be a bishop?” she said. “This decision of the Episcopal Church in America [the equivalent Anglican Church there] will only bring more problems and divisions.”

Canon Glasspool appeared unfazed by the criticisms, telling The Times newspaper of London in comments published on Monday: “Any group of people who have been oppressed because of any one isolated aspect of their persons yearns for justice and equal rights.”

Read it all.

In my view, the election of Rev. Glasspool will fuel these power struggles:

1. Between Episcopal pragmatic traditionalists and the left wing on whether her election should be affirmed by the national church. (A majority of US dioceses must approve of this move and are likely to grant approval in this case.)

2. Between Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori regarding the future relationship between the American church and global Anglicanism. (Conservatives will now press more aggressively for ABC Williams to recognize the Anglican Church of North America. Church of England conservatives are also putting great pressure of Williams to hold the line.)

3. Among conservatives who remain inside the American church and the growing number of breakaway leaders. (There are still a sizable number of conservative/evangelical pastors and other leaders inside TEC — mostly in suburban areas. These conservatives face the dilemma of what to do beyond verbal criticism of this action in Los Angeles.)

Read it all.

…[Archbishop Rowan Williams] does not have authority over other Anglican provinces and, even if he did, it is too late for him to get tough with them. Everyone respects him, but nobody listens to him. While Glasspool’s election needs approval from a majority of dioceses before the consecration can proceed, her victory shows how committed the Episcopalians are to same-sex relationships, in spite of vociferous opposition.

The conservatives are also pressing ahead with their vision of what an Anglican church should look like.

However one feels about the direction or values of either, neither can be faulted for their consistency, integrity and principles. If only the same could be said for the archbishop.

Read it all.

Rowan Williams bought himself time for a while in his attempt to hold the Anglican Communion together in its row over gay bishops. But yesterday it looked like that time is running out.

He had appealed to the liberal church in the United States to impose a moratorium on electing any more gay bishops after the divisive election of Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003. But the ceasefire between liberals and evangelicals has effectively been ended by the election of a bishop who has committed a double sin in the eyes of conservatives: Canon Mary Glasspool is a woman priest and has openly been a lesbian for 21 years.

Dr Williams is clinging to one final hope. Her selection has still to be ratified by the national church before she is ordained next May. In theory her appointment could be rejected. But it is a forlorn expectation. The mood in the US church is that it is time to reject conservative intolerance and affirm that homosexuals are as loved by God as heterosexuals. The conservative group Reform yesterday said that a schism is now “absolutely inevitable”. What has irritated liberals is the speed with which Dr Williams has issued his statement requesting “a period of gracious restraint” which is church-speak for urging the ceasefire to continue.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury today called on American Anglicans to block the appointment of a lesbian bishop.

Dr Rowan Williams warned that the selection of a new homosexual bishop could push the divided Anglicans over the edge into full-blown schism.

The Archbishop spoke out after leaders of the Church of England’s sister church in Los Angeles chose 55-year-old Reverend Mary Glasspool as an assistant bishop.

He said the choice raised ‘serious questions’ and warned it was a threat to the ‘bonds’ that tie 77million Anglicans together.

Read it all.

A diocese in Los Angeles has elected only the second openly gay bishop in the Anglican Church, reigniting an issue that has caused deep division.

Listen to it all (MP3).

The Morning Report show link is here in case it is needed.

Williams’ message appeared to target U.S. bishops, the group over which he may have the greatest sway as the confirmation process begins. He maintained that bishops within the wider communion had “collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint” was necessary “if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold.”

Conservative Episcopalians said they were surprised by the unusually blunt language from a religious leader known for carefully parsing his words and layering his arguments, particularly around the explosive issue of homosexual bishops and same-sex marriage blessings, another subject that has set off theological fireworks in the church.

“For a man who prides himself on nuance and understatement, it’s a remarkably swift and vigorous response,” said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. “I didn’t expect him to respond this strongly or this quickly. I think Los Angeles underestimated the significance of what they were doing in the international context.”

The bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, argued that the U.S. church has the autonomy and authority to confirm Glasspool regardless of Williams’ displeasure.

Read it all.

“The election (yet to be confirmed) of a partnered lesbian as Bishop in the Episcopal Church (TEC) is sad but not surprising.

Confirmation of this election will make clear beyond any doubt whatsoever that the TEC leadership has chosen to walk in a way which is contrary to scripture and will continue to do so.

This settled path that the TEC chooses is contrary to the expressed will of the majority of the Anglican Communion.

Further, it confirms the rightness of GAFCON in producing the Jerusalem Declaration and establishing the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA).

The aim of the FCA is to recognise and give fellowship to those who wish to remain faithful to God’s revealed word and also to defend and promote biblical teaching throughout the Communion.

It is all the more urgent that those who share the aims of the FCA should associate themselves with the movement and express their disapproval of actions which are contrary to scripture and contrary to historic Anglicanism.

Further, this gives the Archbishop of Canterbury every reason to act decisively and dissociate from the Episcopal Church and to recognise the Anglican Church of North America.”

From here:

The people of the Diocese of Los Angeles have elected two extraordinarily gifted priests to serve them as Suffragan Bishops. They have chosen the two people who, in their minds, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are best suited for this ministry, and one of them happens to be a lesbian. But let us be clear: it is Mary Glasspool’s experience, skills and faith which will make her a good bishop, and are the reason for her election. Rightly so, the people of Los Angeles have not let current arguments over homosexuality or threats to “unity” impair their choosing the best persons for these ministries.

This is the inclusive Church we declared at this summer’s General Convention we would be, following God’s call to us as best we can discern it, and we are now living into that calling. I am delighted over the elections of Diane Bruce and Mary Glasspool and, upon consent by the wider church, look forward to welcoming them both into the House of Bishops.

The Episcopal Church in the US has elected its first openly lesbian woman to serve as a bishop in the diocese of Los Angeles, instantly sparking fresh tumult in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, warned that the Church would now face “very serious questions” over the decision, which will see Canon Mary Glasspool, 55, elevated to serve as an assistant bishop. Canon Glasspool, who has openly been in a relationship with her female partner, Becki Sander, for 21 years, was chosen at the Church’s annual convention in Los Angeles.

Read it all.

[Mary] Glasspool, canon to the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, was elected bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on Saturday. The Annapolis resident is to be installed in May, pending the consent of the bishops and standing committees of the 108 other Episcopal dioceses of the United States.

In a release, Bishop of Los Angeles J. Jon Bruno said the denial of consent “would be a violation of the canons of this church. At our last General Convention, we said we are nondiscriminatory.”

Bruno, whom Glasspool would assist as bishop suffragan, acknowledged rumors of a concerted effort not to give consent over her sexuality. Glasspool has been in a committed relationship with her partner for two decades.

“I would remind the Episcopal church and the House of Bishops they need to be conscientious about respecting the canons of the church and the baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being,” Bruno said. “To not consent in this country out of fear of the reaction elsewhere in the Anglican Communion is to capitulate to titular heads.”

Read it all.

This speaks volumes, but not in the way its author intends.

What the American Episcopal direction really means is that we’re moving towards a schism that looks like the Mercedes-Benz logo. In one segment we have the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions; in another, the conservative and orthodox Anglicans and, in the third, those who push the Reformist tradition alongside Bishops Glasspool and Robinson.

To those who say this last category is taking the Church to hell in a handcart, or possibly a handbag, I would say this: when Anglicans started to ordain women priests in the Nineties, female bishops became a logical and rational extension of that Reformist tradition. As for lesbians, the Bible has even less to say about them than it does about homosexuals. It may very well be that Queen Victoria, for whom lesbianism is said to have been removed from the Labouchere Amendment in 1865 when homosexual acts were outlawed because she simply didn’t believe they existed, was being more obedient than she knew to her scripture study.

But, ultimately, what Bishop Glasspool shows us is a God who is infinitely more interested in love than in sex. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth for his human creatures.

Read it all.

To try to hold the communion together, the Episcopal Church agreed to stop ordaining gay bishops. But at its national convention last summer, the church voted to reverse that ban, leading to Canon Glasspool’s election.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the world-wide Anglican communion, issued a statement saying Canon Glasspool’s election “raises very serious questions” about the Episcopal Church’s role in the Anglican Communion. He called on American Episcopalians to refrain from provocative acts. Maintaining a “period of gracious restraint,” he said, is vital “if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold.”

His concern was echoed by Father John Spencer, vicar general of a diocese in Quincy, Ill., that refuses to recognize the authority of the U.S. Episcopal Church because of its stance on issues such as the ordination of gays. That diocese is one of several in the U.S. that have broken away from the national Episcopal church and aligned instead with more conservative Anglican provinces overseas.

Father Spencer said the American Episcopal leadership seems bent on making political statements “rather than pursuing Christian unity with the rest of the church.”

Read it all.

[Kendall] Harmon, who is a spokesman for Charleston, South Carolina, Bishop Edward Salmon Jr., told The Charlotte Observer that the diocese will call its own special convention to decide its next step. “You’re already beginning to see what the dramatic realignment will look like,” he said.

Many of Harmon’s colleagues agreed. David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as comparing Robinson’s confirmation to domestic abuse. “We have been beaten up in the Episcopal Church for a long time,” he said. “We’re not leaving the Anglican Communion but the Episcopal Church now has.”

Anderson’s group has scheduled a meeting of “Anglican mainstream parishes” (i.e. orthodox leaders) in early October in Plano, Texas, saying it is “committed to remaining part of the Anglican Communion and will find a way for mainstream Anglicans in the Episcopal Church to stay in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Read the whole thing.

The Archbishop of Canterbury warned yesterday that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ election of a lesbian and former Philadelphia priest as a bishop threatens to further divide the worldwide Anglican community.

On Saturday, the diocese’s annual convention by a narrow margin chose the Rev. Mary Glasspool, 55, as its next suffragen, or assistant, bishop. If approved by the Episcopal House of Bishops, Glasspool would be the denomination’s first openly gay female prelate.

Glasspool, who was assistant to the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill from 1981 to 1984, lives in an open relationship with her long-term partner, Becki Sander. Glasspool is currently on the staff of the Diocese of Maryland, where she is Canon to the Bishops.

Read it all.

The spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion issued an unusually sharp and swift rebuke to Episcopal Church leaders over the election of an openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

In a terse statement, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams delivered a warning to bishops, clergy and lay representatives of the U.S. church about the confirmation of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, a lesbian who has been in a partnered relationship for two decades.

Glasspool must still gain a majority of votes from bishops and standing committees of clergy and lay leaders in the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide communion. That voting process will unfold over the next four months as U.S. leaders consider Glasspool and another priest, the Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, who was picked for a second “suffragan,” or assistant bishop post in Los Angeles.

Read it all.

LA diocesan bishop J. Jon Bruno has, however, stated, “to not consent in this country out of fear of the reaction elsewhere in the Anglican Communion is to capitulate to titular heads”.

Notice the politicised language and assumptions. Nationalism – “in this country” – has no place in the Christian conception of koinonia. Lambeth, the other Instruments of Communion, and Anglicans across the globe are not “titular heads” – this is not how Anglicans refer to their pastors or brothers and sisters. Bruno’s invocation of the spirit of 1776 signifies something of the cultural conformity in parts of TEC far more significant than differences over same-sex relationships.

Perhaps Los Angeles should be thanked. The diocese has now forced TEC to reflect on whether koinonia or independence are of greater significance.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his concern at the election of the second openly gay bishop in the Anglican Church.

Rowan Williams said the move raised “very serious questions” for both the Episcopal Church in the US and the Anglican Communion as a whole.

But he noted that the election of the Reverend Mary Glasspool in the diocese of Los Angeles had yet to be confirmed.

Read the whole thing.

“We celebrate the election today of the Rev. Mary Glasspool as Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles. During her twenty-eight years as a priest, Bishop-elect Glasspool has served rich parishes and poor ones, cities and suburbs, and people from all walks of life. For the last eight years, she has been canon to the bishops in the Diocese of Maryland. Elected by the people of Los Angeles from a strong field of well-qualified nominees, Mary will be an excellent suffragan bishop for her new diocese and for the wider church.

“At General Convention earlier this year, the Episcopal Church affirmed that God calls partnered gay and lesbian people to all orders of ministry in the Episcopal Church. God has clearly been calling Mary to challenging and important ministries over and over during the course of her career. While there may be a temptation in some quarters to use Mary’s election to foment further controversy in the Anglican Communion, those of us who know her understand that this is simply the next chapter in a lifetime of service to her church. We are grateful to her and to her partner, Becki Sander, for answering a new call in Los Angeles.

“As Christians, we know that we can only fulfill the promise of our baptismal vows when all of our brothers and sisters in Christ can fulfill theirs. Today the people of Los Angeles and Mary Glasspool have made it more possible for all Episcopalians to be the people God is calling us to be.”

Riverside, CA–“Integrity salutes the election of the Reverend Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as a bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and as the second openly gay partnered bishop in the Episcopal Church.” said Integrity President David Norgard. “Bishop-elect Glasspool brings to the diocese her experience of building strong congregations by providing pastoral care, vocational guidance, and support to clergy and their families. She brings to the House of Bishops her commitment to social justice. And she will bring to the Anglican Communion an incarnational witness to the Episcopal Church’s commitment to fully include all of the baptized into the Body of Christ. ”

“It takes both a courageous candidate and a courageous community to fully embrace inclusion and to be prepared for the public attention this historic opportunity offers the Episcopal Church and the United States of America at this time,” said Norgard. “Today’s election means the Episcopal Church has taken another step toward the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments becoming a reality in the Episcopal Church–not just a resolution of General Convention.
“As Episcopalians, we are proud of the historic links between the founders of our church and the uniquely American democratic process that influences our church polity. We are very different from the Church of England and the Church of Rome, and we rejoice that lay members are valued for their significant role in the choosing of our leadership, and empowered to stand as radical witnesses that can heal past discrimination and prejudice.

“Integrity now calls upon Standing Committees and Bishops with jurisdiction to claim that proud history and consent to today’s election. For now, we pause to rejoice in this election. This is a big day for California, for their bishop-elect and, for the whole Church.”

We are saddened but not surprised by this announcement from TEC. Unless their diocesan bishops and their standing committees decline to endorse the election, it will confirm that TEC have no intention of respecting the mind of the Communion and halting their current trajectory. That is why tens of thousands of Anglicans, in order to witness to the Communion’s common basis of faith, and particularly biblical teaching on Christian marriage, have had to leave TEC and form the Anglican Church of North America. For any who doubted whether that action was justified TEC’s latest announcement, made in full knowledge of its negative effect on the Communion’s Covenant process, will confirm that TEC, rather than wanting to remain within the Communion’s bonds of affection, is determined to walk away and follow its own path.

Dr Philip Giddings (Convenor)

Canon Chris Sugden (Secretary)

Anglican Mainstream

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elected a partnered lesbian as Bishop Suffragan today and demonstrated The Episcopal Church’s further departure from biblical Christianity.

“Unfortunately, this election provides further clarity to the rest of the Anglican Communion,” said Bishop David Anderson, president and CEO of the American Anglican Council. “Should the rest of The Episcopal Church consent to this election, there can be no more pretending that The Episcopal Church holds to Anglican Communion doctrine and 2,000 years of biblically based Christian teachings. Not only have they elected another non-celibate homosexual bishop, but they repeatedly defy the moratorium on same-sex blessings called for by the Windsor Report.”

“The General Convention’s decision to approve the appointment of Gene Robinson will inevitably have a significant impact on the Anglican Communion throughout the world and it is too early to say what the result of that will be.
It is my hope that the church in America and the rest of the Anglican Communion will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response. I have said before that we need as a church to be very careful about making decisions for our own part of the world which constrain the church elsewhere.
It will be vital to ensure that the concerns and needs of those across the Communion who are gravely concerned at this development can be heard, understood and taken into account.”
August 6th 2003
—————————————
Archbishop to convene primates meeting

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion this autumn. The meeting will take place in London in mid-October and it is expected that invitations will be sent out in the next week.

Dr Williams said that the effects of recent developments at the ECUSA General Convention were being felt throughout the Communion and there was a need for the Primates to meet to consider them.

“I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences. I hope that in our deliberations we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us.

“I hope we can use the time between now and then to reflect, to pray, to consult and to take counsel.”
August 8, 2003
———————————————-

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued a statement following the consecration of Canon Gene Robinson as bishop coadjutor of New Hampshire. The text is below.

“It was recognised fully at last month’s meeting of Anglican leaders that the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop in New Hampshire would have very serious consequences for the cohesion of the Anglican Communion. That meeting requested the setting up of a Commission which would examine these consequences in depth. Last week the membership of that group was announced and I look forward to being in close touch with it as its work develops. [See ACNS3652]

“The meeting also encouraged me to be in discussion with the leaders of the provinces concerned about provisions made for those alienated by decisions which appear to go against Catholic order or biblical teaching. Such discussion has already begun.

“The divisions that are arising are a matter of deep regret; they will be all too visible in the fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson’s ministry as a bishop to be accepted in every province in the communion.

“It is clear that those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the non-western world have to be confronted with honesty.

“The autonomy of Anglican provinces is an important principle. But precisely because we rely on relations more than rules, consultation and interdependence are essential for our health. “The Primates meeting last month expressed its desire to continue as ‘a communion where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us’. We need now to work very hard to giving new substance to this, and to pray for wisdom, patience and courage as we move forward.”

November 3, 2003

NPR: So the bottom line is it fair to say that at least the door has been opened for gay and lesbian bishops in addition to Bishop Robinson.

KJS: The door has been open for many years.

NPR: So if an openly gay or lesbian person were to make it through to the stage where he or she could be consecrated bishop you would go ahead with that.

KJS: It is my duty, my canonical duty as Presiding Bishop, to take order for the consecration of a bishop whose election has been affirmed by the consent process.

NPR: The Archbishop of Canterbury said that we need to have a real thorough exploration of all of this and we need to have a wider consent within the communion in order to go ahead with either the consecration of gay bishops or blessings of gay unions. He said that does not exist in the communion right now. How do you feel about that?

KJS: The conversations been going on in The Episcopal Church for 45 years. The reality is that same-sex unions are blessed in many churches of the Anglican Communion. Not just in the United States or Canada, but in the Church of England. Not officially but that is reality.

NPR: Do you think there is scriptural basis for what the convention did and what is it.

KJS: The scriptural basis for what the convention affirmed about our discernment process is that each human being is made in the image of God.

Read it all (I posted the audio link a while back).

“I can’t say it surprises me,” said the Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, bishop of the South Carolina diocese, which has begun withdrawing from some of the national church’s councils to protest the policies on gays. He said the split in the church is likely to endure:

“Is there anything that can be done to bridge it? No one has come up with it yet.”

—From one version of an LA Times story

Included are comments from Bishop Gordon Mursell; and Christopher Landau, religious correspondent for the BBC, as well as Christina Rees, and Chris Sugden.

Listen to it carefully and listen to it all (slightly over 12 minutes).

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles just elected someone whose homosexual behavior goes completely against the Bible. They are doing a disservice to people of faith everywhere.

Read it all.