The archbishop attended the convention for two days and specifically asked delegates not to approve either of the two measures.

Now he is suggesting in “Communion, Covenant and Our Anglican Future,” that the Anglican Communion might move to a two-tiered structure under which certain of its members, including the Episcopal Church, could not participate in certain ecumenical meetings or official gatherings.

And in a nod to breakaway groups such as the roughly 100,000 former Episcopalians who have joined the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), he wrote that if a province — such as the Episcopal Church, though he did not specify in that paragraph — decides not to adhere to Anglican mores, “any elements within it” can sign on instead, he wrote.

He also criticized the Episcopal Church’s decision to nullify the Anglican Communion’s ban on gay bishops.

“Their chosen lifestyle is not one that the Church’s teaching sanctions,” he wrote, “and thus it is hard to see how they can act in the necessarily representative role that the ordained ministry, especially the episcopate, requires.”

Read it all.

The adoption of resolutions D025 and C056 by the 76th General Convention speaks to an unhealthy degree of theological ignorance and ecclesiastical incoherence at work within the higher councils of The Episcopal Church [TEC], Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said in a statement released July 27.

While the adoption of resolutions on rites for the blessing of same-sex unions and the consecration of gay clergy to the episcopate have not created a de facto schism, they do signal TEC’s likely removal to the periphery of the life and witness of the Anglican Communion through the creation of a two-tier communion of covenanting and non-covenanting provinces, Archbishop Rowan Williams wrote.

A spokesman for the archbishop said the statement titled “Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future” had been released via the Lambeth Palace website as a “reflection” on the actions of the General Convention.

Read it all.

Williams’ article drew a mixed response in the U.S.

The Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity, the Episcopal gay advocacy group, said she was disappointed that Williams portrayed the U.S. moves toward inclusion for gays and lesbians as “solely a political or rights-based position” when the Episcopal Church has cited a theological basis. But she welcomed keeping the communion together in a way that would not classify branches as superior or inferior.

“What the archbishop is really stating is the reality: that the structures that have served the Anglican Communion historically need some work,” Russell said. “The 21st century is different than the 16th century.”

Canon Kendall Harmon, a traditionalist leader in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, said while there are positives in Williams’ latest attempt to hold the Communion together, the Anglican leader left unanswered key questions about how a two-tiered system would function.

“It’s going to increase the chaos in the province of the American church, and in the Anglican Communion,” Harmon said.

Read it all.

Williams, spiritual leader of the communion, spoke of a “two-tier” or “two-track” model — one path for those who remain part of the communion’s “covenantal structure,” and another with “fewer formal expectations” for those who value autonomy.

“It helps to be clear about these possible futures, however much we think them less than ideal, and to speak about them not in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican, whose mutual relation will certainly need working out,” Williams wrote.

Tensions between the U.S. church and global Anglicans have mounted since the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire. That led to the departure of dozens of churches and four dioceses, including one in Central California.

Read it all

Despite the warning, Episcopalians overwhelmingly voted to lift a de facto ban on consecrating other gay bishops and approved a broad local option for bishops who wish to allow gay and lesbian couples to receive nuptial blessings from the church.

Episcopal leaders later sought to cut off criticism with a letter to Williams that described the measures as simply “descriptive” of a church ministering to a culture with rapidly changing understandings of homosexuality.

Williams responded Monday with a nuanced, five-page reflection that gently chided Episcopalians for overturning centuries of Christian understanding of marriage and homosexuality without wider consensus from other Anglicans.

“The doctrine that `what affects the communion of all should be decided by all’ is a venerable principle,” Williams said.

Read it all.

Read it all.

As far as sexuality is concerned, it all came down to two major Resolutions, which are now being interpreted in a variety of ways, but which I believe signal a clear intention on the part of The Episcopal Church to move even more boldly than it has thus far in the areas of same-sex blessings and the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian persons….

Interestingly, the morning after the Bishops voted on D025 the headline on The Episcopal Life Daily was “Bishops approve opening ordination to gays.”

(The editor of the Daily was apparently called on the carpet for publishing that interpretation of D025, and that afternoon she appeared before the House of Bishops to offer her abject apology for doing so; and the headline the next day was a much-subdued “Convention passes Resolution D025.”)

“Integrity,” the gay and lesbian advocacy organization, released a statement at the end of Convention that said, “We came to this Convention committed to moving the Church beyond B033 [the 2006 Resolution] and forward on”¦the blessing of same-sex unions ”“ and we”¦have realized both of these goals.”

I want to say to you that I am deeply saddened that these two Resolutions have been passed, though I am not at all surprised.

But, please hear me clearly: neither of them will have any direct effect on the Diocese of Central Florida.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury today tried to paper over the cracks as he acknowledged the Anglican church is in schism in all but name.

Dr Rowan Williams called for a “two-track” communion where the church is divided on the issue of homosexuality.

He asked the arrangement be seen not in “apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication” but rather as “two styles of being Anglican”. Faith bloggers have labelled the opposing factions the “Anglicans” and “Anglican’ts”.

In his response to the decisions earlier this month by The Episcopal Church of the US to go ahead with gay consecrations and same-sex blessings, Dr Williams refuses to accept what many believe to be the reality of schism.

Read it all.

The thing that has troubled me most as I have reflected on the Episcopal Church’s General Convention is the number of bishops who voted against D025 (electing gay bishops), but who were deluded enough to vote for C056 (same-sex blessings).

Consider the two operative clauses that these bishops would have had to overlook or misconstrue to vote for C056:

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consulation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological, and liturgical resources and design liturgies and report to the 77th General Convention; for further action”¦

Bishops should not have been fooled by the fact that the words “ and design liturgies” were struck from the final form of this resolution.

Even if only the word “collect” had been used, it would have been sufficient to allow for the development of liturgies for same sex unions, because you can’t collect something that does not exist. But as it is, it says “collect and develop theological and liturgical resources”. How much of their own money would these gullible bishops be willing to bet that these “liturgical resources” won’t actually include some rites that can be (or have been!!!) used to bless same sex unions?

Read it all.

I honestly cannot remember a time in my life in the Episcopal Church where I have read more mistakes in less time than in the last two to three weeks. Please do not believe everything you read and make sure to fact check and research material, a point we have stressed time and again on this blog.

A case in point is this recent piece by Diana Butler Bass. I enjoyed Dr. Bass’ Standing Against the Whirlwind : Evangelical Episcopalians in Nineteenth-Century America which was well written and researched (and is quite relevant to our present time by the way), and so was baffled to see such a poorly written piece by her on Beliefnet.

The relevant section of her article for our purposes reads this way:

The Anglican Church of North America, the umbrella group for conservative Episcopalians who have left their denomination over women’s ordination and full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons, has long claimed over 100,000 members. Recently, they admitted that only 69,000 persons in 650 churches in the USA and Canada have joined their association. There are 2.2 million Episcopalians in the United States and approximately 1 million in Canada. Thus, the conservative group–the one that has garnered so much media attention in recent years is a very small percentage of the entire North American Anglican membership–some 2% of the total. And with their rigid opposition to women’s ordination, it is hard to imagine that this group will find much appeal with young North Americans.

Now for the record, I am not in ACNA. Certainly her description of the reason for the departure of ACNA is not one ACNA would agree with just for starters. It is over issues of Christology, marriage, the authority and interpretation of Scripture, the nature of the church, and the standards of Christian leadership that this controversy is fundamentally about.

According to ACNA’s own website, ACNA still claims 100, 000 members. That claim has not changed. The reference to the 69,000 number is for Average Sunday attendance: according to the ACNA site ACNA claims “average Sunday attendance of 69,197 (as of spring 2009)” [and there is a even more about ACNA numbers here]. So follow along. Dr. Bass suggests the claim of membership in ACNA has changed. It hasn’t. Then she suggests ACNA is claiming a number for membership which ACNA is claiming for average Sunday attendance. This is elementary category confusion. As anyone in parish ministry knows membership and Sunday morning attendance are very different.

Having made all these errors, Dr. Bass then compares the wrong category of numbers for ACNA and TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada:

There are 2.2 million Episcopalians in the United States and approximately 1 million in Canada. Thus, the conservative group–the one that has garnered so much media attention in recent years is a very small percentage of the entire North American Anglican membership–some 2% of the total.

Do you see how she got the 2% figure? She took the roughly 69,000 figure, which is for Average Sunday attendance, and compared it to the membership figures for TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada. But this is comparing apples to oranges. The Episcopal Church has not been using average Sunday attendance figures for all that long, but you may know that whereas in the 2004 tables TEC claimed ASA of 833,672, by the 2009 tables that number is down to 768,476.

The 1 million number Dr. Bass gives for the Anglican Church of Canada membership is way off. One of the recent numbers I found was 641,845, but of course, this is again membership not Sunday morning attendance. I would honestly be surprised if average Sunday attendance in the Anglican Church of Canada is more than 200,000 actually (many of you know I lived and worshipped in Canada for two years), but let’s use 300,000 for our purposes.

Now, if you use these figures, and compare apples to apples, the ASA of ACNA is approximately 6.5% of the ASA of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada combined, more than three times the percentage total Dr. Bass gives.

You would think given the large number of errors that I would be finished. But no. She continues:

And with their rigid opposition to women’s ordination, it is hard to imagine that this group will find much appeal with young North Americans.

Well, this would come as news to my friend Mary Hays, an ordained woman quite involved in ACNA, to pick just one example. ACNA is trying to protect two perspectives on women’s ordination, as anyone in the movement itself could have told Dr. Bass if she had asked.

What an embarrassing effort Dr. Bass has given us in this article. I sincerely hope she will improve in the future–and please, do not believe everything you read–KSH.

Read it all.

The recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim, CA, held few surprises. As we expected, actions taken by the bishops and representatives of the remaining Episcopal dioceses continue to support teaching and morality that is contrary to Christian Scriptures and practice. The convention’s actions place them further outside the norms and fellowship of the Anglican Communion. We had hoped The Episcopal Church would listen to other Anglicans, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, and turn back. They have not.

Even the claim of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori that a focus on individual salvation through a relationship with Jesus was “heresy” is not surprising, considering her past statements suggesting there are many ways to salvation apart from Jesus Christ.

What most concerns us are our friends in local churches who decided to stay in the Episcopal Church after our diocese realigned last fall. We know many of them object to the actions taken by their General Convention. We are saddened that those who tried to stand against the tide are now pushed further to the fringes of their own church. Our hope is that all faithful Anglicans in central Illinois will feel welcome in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) which our diocese helped found, and move forward together with us in local and world mission in the ACNA.

We invite all in our communities to visit our churches, learn more about the Anglican Communion, and join us in bringing the world to Christ.

The Standing Committee
The Diocese of Quincy, Anglican Province of the Southern Cone/ACNA

Yesterday, 220 years after its constitutional documents were adopted, The Episcopal Church (TEC) at its triennial assembly (the General Convention) in Anaheim arguably brought to an end its ambiguous double-life as both Anglican and Episcopalian. To put it another way, it finally conceded the logic of American denominational identity, which most of its mainline Protestant neighbors have long accepted, that it is a national church, bound by historical bonds of affection to other churches in the Anglican tradition but in no way obligated to look beyond the concerns of its members in discerning the future direction of its mission and ministry.

Read it all.

After attending the Episcopal Church’s general convention in California last week, a local delegate says she supported the decision to allow the blessings of same-sex unions, noting the inclusive atmosphere in which the decision was made.

Jennifer Adams, rector at Grace Church in Holland, said the voting body made a sincere effort to listen across lines, honor the breadth of opinions and remain unified.

“I don’t pretend that everything is done,” she said, “but the decisions allow us to move forward and beyond, and won’t allow this particular issue to have the power it does.”

Read it all.

Who are we kidding?

What an amazing concept. Something is in effect until it is not. That is exactly what the leadership and many other bishops of the Episcopal Church are saying. They, in effect, are stating that General Convention 2009 did not effect B033, which says that the Episcopal Church will abide by the moratorium on ordaining a partnered homosexual person bishop, asked of it by the Anglican Communion, while at the same time it passed resolutions which enable the ordinations of gays and lesbians to all orders of ordained ministry without obstruction. In effect, what was done was a further step in ordaining a gay or lesbian to the Episcopate of the Anglican Communion. And the only real response to the world’s analysis is, the moratorium is not over until it is over. My goodness! A response truly worthy of Yogi Berra, “It’s not over till it’s over.”

How interesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury, all the major world press, both secular and religious, bishops and priests in the Communion and at home, agree with Integrity, Inc., the gay and lesbian voice in the Episcopal Church about the meaning of the two key resolutions of B056 and B025. Some of the bishops, including the leadership of the Episcopal Church, believes everybody misinterpreted what General Convention did in these two resolutions, which not only remove all obstacles to gays, lesbians, transsexuals, bi-sexual and now transgender people to the ordination processes, it allows bishops to respond both pastorally and liturgically to gay and lesbian sexual relationships. In other words to bless noncelibate same sex relationships.

Does the Episcopal Church really expect people to think that nothing has changed, nothing moved? The train is moving forward as rapidly as it is able and to all others, who might believe differently due to theology or biology, the Episcopal Church says, give us a chance to change you, or get off the train. They are confident that everyone will fall in line eventually. But the sooner, the better.

–The Rt. Rev. James M. Adams is Bishop of Western Kansas

The Episcopal Church in the United States has done it again. Having marched out of step with the majority of the worldwide Anglican Communion, American Episcopalians have declared their intention to walk even further apart.

The world knows about the ordination of a bishop in a same-sex relationship and the ways in which that has torn the fabric of the communion, as the primates have said, at its deepest level. (This, by the way, is also a classic description of schism.) It also is widely known that people have their same-sex unions “blessed” in many parts of the Episcopal Church and such people also can be candidates for ordination.

All this continues despite the clear teaching of the 1998 Lambeth Conference that it should not.

Read it all.

The Rt. Rev. George E. Packard, Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries (Chaplaincies), is concerned about what message General Convention may have sent in approving D025.

“I voted against D025 with the reasoning that if the choice was between consoling ourselves on the one hand and not kicking sand in the face of our Anglican Communion partners on the other, I choose the latter,” he said. “There’s an anti-war play which tries to portray the damage done to war-torn society as the lead character places a box of butterflies on a table. One by one he lets them go except for the last one, which he burns with a lighted match. The point is that the invaded culture is fragile and easily harmed. It’s a horrific scene and the audience was so traumatized at the debut that the script was rewritten so that only paper butterflies would be incinerated.”

Bishop Packard added: “I maintain this consolation resolution is not the benign legislation we think it is. For my Lambeth friends, I judge it is the real thing, terribly unsettling, no paper butterflies here. Why do this if we already know the way things are among us? What is gained by stating it? There’s so much we could lose. I hope I’m wrong.”

Bishop Packard voted for C056, and was among nearly 30 bishops who volunteered to discuss their conflicting concerns outside of a plenary session.

Read it all.

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, one of the few leaders of real stature left in The Episcopal Church of the USA, plays his cards close to his chest in a recent interview with Anglican TV . After General Convention’s decisions to rescind the so-called moratoria and press ahead with same-sex blessings he indicates that his diocese will be looking in the coming months at how they are going to strategically place themselves both in The Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion.

What this really means is that conservative Episcopalians who remain in the American Church will need to find some way of distancing themselves from their own Church without placing themselves in the sort of anomalous position in which the recently formed breakaway Anglican Church in North America finds itself. The point for Bishop Mark Lawrence is that dioceses like his need to be part of the solution as far as Anglican renewal and reformation is concerned rather than outsiders to the discussion. He acknowledges though that this is going to take a long time to clear up with the Anglican Instruments of Unity meeting so infrequently. He says, “I suppose what many people are waiting for is the Archbishop of Canterbury to weigh in. Waiting … waiting …

–This article appears in the Church of England Newspaper, July 24, 2009, edition, on page 15 (emphasis mine)

Tyee Island Episcopalian Jamie Maury was “uplifted” by news from the Episcopal General Convention that the church had authorized bishops to bless same-sex unions and consider official prayers for their ceremonies.

He was disappointed to learn representatives from his diocese voted against those decisions.

“I thought it was our time, but it’s not, not in the Diocese of Georgia,” said Maury, coordinator for Episcopal gay and lesbian advocacy group Integrity Georgia.

“We’re still sitting in the back of the temple, or the back of the bus, as far as they’re concerned.”

Read it all.

[The Rt. Rev. Edward Konieczny]… said DO25 was a statement about the ordination process and that recent news headlines and broadcasts proclaiming it as an end to the moratorium are “rather inaccurate.”

“As we understand, that moratorium is in effect until such time as a vote takes place that changes that,” Konieczny said during a recent telephone interview.

“As we understand it, until such time as the House of Bishops and standing committees confirm somebody who is in an openly gay or lesbian relationship, that moratorium continues to be in effect.”

Read it all.

Back on July 16th the Presiding Bishop and Bonnie Anderson wrote Archbishop Rowan Williams about the General Convention. (An ENS article on this is here). This, however, in a flurry of confusion inside the Episcopal Church’s leadership as to exactly what had occurred, even though such confusion was not shared by the majority of the mainstream media and the Episcopal Church activists for the new theology of human sexuality, was not enough.

Can anyone name a time previously in Episcopal Church history when this has occurred? It not only looks desperate but it speaks poorly to the level of clarity in what is being done. If you need to explain your explanations, if you need to use words and then more words to explain your words, the issue of what you are actually doing and why comes even more strongly to the fore. Let your yes be yes and your no be no as a standard is being missed, and for a Christian community that is a very sad thing indeed–KSH.

As a bishop friend said to me in a personal email from Anaheim a day or two ago, the trend seems to be for TEC to become a stand-alone American denomination rather than part of the worldwide church. Clearly, the presence and advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury for a few days meant little or nothing to the majority of the House of Deputies. As the same episcopal friend also said, those who are for inclusion do not seem to realize that for a large chunk of us that means exclusion — although we certainly have no desire to be excluded from catholic Christianity through the Communion.

This whole exercise is not about sexuality or sexual behavior, but is fundamentally about what we believe the Christian faith to mean and be about. When it comes down to it, it is about our attitude toward Jesus as God’s Son, the nature of the Trinity, divine revelation, Christian obedience, and holiness of life. The cavalier attitude of the Presiding Bishop to the creeds and their recitation is evidence that she considers the likes of me as pedantic has-beens rather than those who are on the cutting edge — but the cutting edge of what?

Yet the truth really is, as you look around the world, that those who are pushing this worn out postmodern melange and calling it Christian are increasingly the has-beens. They seem to have tied themselves to the coat tails of the last dribblings of the least attractive side of the Enlightenment, and it is entirely likely that they will disappear down the drain with them. I say this as an Episcopalian who lives in England and now functions as part of the church under great pressure.

The church in England is wrestling to adapt to an altogether more secular and hostile climate than exists in most of the USA, and what is interesting, I don’t see postmodern Christianity standing up very well in such an environment. It is a limp and aging rag.

Read it all.

Repercussions from the Episcopal Church (TEC) General Convention in Anaheim, California continue to reverberate around the USA and the world. Any analysis of TEC’s actions requires a “new think” dictionary so that one can understand what they say versus what they mean. When they say “generous pastoral care” or “generous pastoral response” for example, it doesn’t necessarily mean generosity which is extended to everyone (unless we include “generous legal persecution” as an element of said generosity).

When reading material from the dominant revisionist side of TEC, constantly ask yourself what they mean by these new words and word structures that they are coining-they are almost never what the plain English meaning would suggest. Regarding the passage of D025 which affirmed the church’s intent to permit gay bishops, the TEC official news organ reported the next morning that the previous moratorium represented by B033 from 2006 was overturned. This accidental revelation of the truth by their own media was viewed with alarm by the political spinmeisters working with President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, and the article was quickly followed the next day by assurances that although the words in D025 said that all orders of ministry would be open to all people inclusive of gay, lesbian, etc., it didn’t overturn B033 which said that the church wouldn’t ordain such to the episcopate. On which day was TEC telling the truth? Then the legislation was passed which authorized marriage/same-sex union rites to be done on a local diocesan level as part of a “generous pastoral response.” All of this happens while the top leadership marginalizes the few orthodox bishops, clergy and laity left in TEC and stresses that TEC wants to be a part of the global Anglican Communion, but on their own terms.

Read it all.

In Tuesday’s paper, I had a story taking an early look at what the Episcopal dioceses in the states where same-sex marriage is legal — New England and Iowa — will do now that the Episcopal Church, at its general convention last week, granted more leeway to bishops in those dioceses. The bishops I spoke with said they are still pondering their next steps, but they are clearly looking for ways to go further than they have in the past in allowing celebrations of same-sex weddings in Episcopal churches.

Read it carefully noting the details of the communications quoted from Episcopal Bishops.

Like all people, I am susceptible to the occasional situational depression. Along life’s journey, it is inevitable that we will encounter disappointment, suffering and hardship. It is natural to be emotionally impacted by painful things. But apart from the ordinary ebbs and flows of life, I am by nature an optimist. Like the old farmer who was asked if he could explain the theology of the Book of Revelation, the simple answer God wins is a sufficiently adequate response for most of life’s persistent questions. For that reason, I certainly take church “politics” and General Convention shenanigans seriously, but I don’t think that I allow them to dwell oppressively in my heart. My friend Keith Lackey, having endured decades of watching the futility of Georgia Tech football, remarked to me not too long ago, I have reached the stage in my life where I do not allow 19 year olds to ruin my weekend. We Gamecock fans have not reached that point of maturity and spiritual growth, but I am delighted for Dr. Lackey! And if I can borrow his phraseology, I have reached the point where I will not allow General Convention to ruin my faith! I do not believe that it is simplistic to believe that God still plans great things for his church. Jesus wins and indeed has won. The Church of the Holy Communion is an exciting and vibrant place to worship, serve, and proclaim the Gospel, and it will continue to be so. You may all be comforted and assured of that.
Having stated my cheery optimism in our ultimate destination let me say just a word or two about the present situation. First, it is important to declare that our disagreements are not primarily about human sexuality. Have you watched the little television interview with Bishop Lawrence I sent via e-mail? If not, please do so. It is excellent. His diagnosis is that the Christian Church is losing the culture wars because we have often spoken against certain behaviors as if they occurred in isolation. The divorce rate among Christians is not statistically different from the divorce rate among non-Christians. The same goes for the percentage of abortions, infidelities, etc. etc. So when one group of Christians seeks “acceptance and accommodation” for their own behavior while denying such acceptance for the behavior of others, is it any wonder that our tone sounds preachy and hypocritical? On that front, we will never gain an inch of ground until we are honest about the reality of sin, our own compromises with Christian moral standards, and the grace of God alone which can heal. Then, and only then will our witness to the Biblical and theological principles that undergird our understanding of human sexuality make any sense to a hurting and broken world.

So, if sex isn’t precisely the problem, what is? The answer: Authority and Ecclesiology. What is the Church? Where does it get its authority? That is where the fault line actually is to be found. Do you remember the complaint and criticism of American foreign policy a few years ago (at the beginning of the war in Iraq)? You Americans have imposed your will without consideration of the thoughts and feelings of the rest of us! I think it is fair to say that whether one agrees or disagrees with the strategy, we would all have to admit that the perception was that Americans had acted unilaterally and with arrogance. Whether or not that is actually the case, I will leave to your private opinion and History to determine. But if you will, I would like to suggest that the same potentially problematic methodology is in play here. In politics, it was generally those with left-of center sympathies who were the loudest critics of unilateralism. But in church affairs, those with a decidedly left-of-center emphasis have employed precisely the same tactics that once outraged them”¦and may I say, with disastrous consequences.

Protestant Congregationalists can have all the diversity they please, because there is no “higher” authority than each local congregation. Catholic Christians are “Catholics” precisely because they believe in a Catholic or universal and common faith held by all people, at all times in all places. The American Church cannot have it both ways. We cannot claim to be a part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, and at the same time reject with callous impunity the feelings and sensibilities of the vast majority of the family”¦ or if we do, we should not be surprised if there are consequences.

So what next? A response from the Archbishop of Canterbury will surely follow. When? I could not say. +++Rowan, like God and St. Peter does not count slowness as some count slowness. But even the parousia is still expected.

Secondly, Bishop Lawrence will meet with the Deans and Standing Committee.
Thirdly, he will meet with all the Clergy on August 13 (even vacation will not prevent me from attending that!)
And finally, I am calling a Congregational Meeting for September 20 (after 10:30 Mass) so that we all may share our hopes, concerns and opinions.

In the meantime, we shall do as we ever do, celebrate the Holy Mysteries, preach the Word urgently, in season and out, love God with all our heart”¦ and try as very best we can, to love all our neighbors as ourselves.

With prayers, love and blessings,

–The Rev. Dow Sanderson is rector, Church of the Holy Communion, Charleston, South Carolina

Just how did this darling of mainline Protestantism reach the point where she faced an all-time low in membership and a staggering budget deficit?

Inclusivity gave way to affirmation, with an emphasis on social justice to the exclusion of evangelism. In the interest of casting a wider, more inclusive net, TEC leadership began to marginalize more moderate and conservative voices, resulting in an exodus of members and a substantial decrease in diocesan giving. Ultimately, the break with centuries of Anglican tradition, coupled with a greater emphasis on trial liturgies, brought an end to common prayer. And ironically, the departure of conservative leadership led to a perception of greater theological homogeneity within the Church.

As a result, diversity of interpretation has been replaced with theological innovation. The Anglican symphony of voices has been overshadowed as Episcopal leadership seems to speak with una voce, in a bitter lament to move beyond the paternalism of B033 and forward to equality. In fact, the passage of the moratorium in response to the Windsor Report was such strong medicine to many in the Church that, in the last three years, they have begun to whine like children confined to their rooms by their global guardians. Imperialism has reared its head, with church leadership noting their significant financial support to the wider Communion. So much for Matthew’s exhortation to give in abscondito.

Read it all.

For the above reasons and more, the two of us believed that not moving forward on the issues raised in resolutions DO25 and CO56 would have provided the church with additional space in which to abide with one another as we wrestle with the whole range of views and practices in these matters. We believe that this theological homework needs to be done at this critical time in the life of the Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church.

Declining to move forward in these matters would have also sent a strong message to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the wider Communion that we know this is a long, difficult road and that we respect our relationships with them enough to continue to offer restraint in these areas. At the same time, we acknowledge the reality that many in this church believe we have already waited long enough and the time to move forward is now. This was reflected in the debate and conversations that the most important thing at this moment was to “state clearly and honestly” where the majority of the Convention believes this church to be.

In all of this, we are hopeful that the work of the Theology Committee, given a fair hearing, will be an important contribution to our walk together, and especially as the Diocese of West Texas continues to have these conversations. As you may remember, we have a Reconciliation Commission developing a framework for discussions in these and other areas.

Clearly, we are living in a time of great change in society and in the Church. Clearly, we have gays and lesbians in the Diocese of West Texas who are hurting because of their experience in the Church, and because we have voted the way we have on these matters. Clearly, we have conservatives in West Texas who continue to be frustrated by the actions of the General Convention. Clearly, your bishops have the pastoral responsibility for all of the members of our diocese as well as a responsibility to and with the wider Church. Clearly, balancing all of this is a challenge for even the most gifted of leaders. We want to assure you all that we are committed to your service in the Name of Christ, our own clay feet notwithstanding.

Read it all.

In the early ’70s, comedian Flip Wilson created a character for his NBC television program called “Reverend Leroy” of “The Church of What’s Happenin’ Now.” Like some contemporary “reverends,” Reverend Leroy was a con artist who, among other things, once took up an offering to go to Las Vegas, explaining he had to study sin in order to effectively preach against it.

Reverend Leroy would feel right at home in the modern Episcopal Church, which recently voted at its denominational meeting in Anaheim, Calif., to end the ban on the ordination of gay bishops and permit marriage “blessings” for same-sex couples.

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This convention did recognize the changing circumstances in particular civic jurisdictions regarding “legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons.” It called for “a renewed pastoral response” but did not authorize same-sex blessings.

The House of Bishops will be in theological discussion in the coming years regarding this pastoral issue. This is not new. An initial theological study from the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops was expected for Spring 2010 anyway. Resolution C056 expects the theological conversation to be held within the wider context of the Anglican Communion. The discussions in the House of Bishops at this General Convention were honest, caring, prayerful, respectful and thoughtful. Deep listening to one another characterized our time together. This particular focus may continue to unfold in years to come just as the issue of divorce and remarriage did within the church. Changes in the culture forced theological discussion regarding divorce at the Lambeth Conferences in 1920 and 1930. Our own General Convention slightly relaxed our canons regarding divorce and remarriage within the church first in 1946 and then set out current standards in 1973. The reality of faithful homosexual Christians was, to my knowledge, first mentioned at a General Convention in 1976 and at the Lambeth Conference in 1978.

Please note that no church canons regarding marriage were changed, or even debated, at this just concluded General Convention. The conversation is continuing within our church and the Anglican Communion about the pastoral approaches and theological understandings for gay and lesbian Christian’s who are loved by God and respond to God’s call.

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