Greg Norman, age 53, is leading by 2 strokes going into the final round. Wow–what a great story.

A very powerful story–watch it all.

he United States and Iraq have agreed to seek “a general time horizon” for deeper reductions in American combat troops in Iraq despite President Bush’s once-inflexible opposition to talking about deadlines and timetables.

Iraqi officials, in a sign of growing confidence as violence decreases, have been pressuring the United States to agree to a specific timeline to withdraw U.S. forces. The White House said today that the timeframe being discussed would not be “an arbitrary date for withdrawal.”

Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki talked about the timing issue as part of discussions over a broader security agreement to keep American troops in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31.

The White House says the two leaders, in a conversation on Thursday, agreed that the accord should include “a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals, such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.”

Read it all.

This weekend the talking starts in earnest at the Lambeth Conference, the global meeting of the Anglican church that takes place once every ten years.

This year’s event is being overshadowed by fears of a split in the church – between liberals who support the ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy, and more traditionalist leaders who say that homosexuality is fundamentally a sin.

Ed Butler examines the theological basis for the rift in the Anglican Communion.

Listen to it all (about 9 minutes).

The bishops are already involved in highly secretive meetings within Canterbury Cathedral, but yesterday The Independent spoke to a group which said “a new Pentecost” was emerging as fears of a damaging schism faded. Other sources confirmed that what was perceived as a slightly more conservative line being taken by Dr Williams with regards to women bishops and sexuality, was finding favour.

The Archbishop has made it clear to the gathering ”“ which will continue at Canterbury for the next two weeks ”“ that while he is listening to the concerns of all, he is keen to address other issues facing churches and communities around the globe.

Sources say he wants to focus the conference on issues such as the plight of persecuted minorities in Sudan.

Last night that approach appeared to be finding favour with bishops from Africa who have not joined a boycott.

Read it all.

The fourth address began by quoting an early Christian theologian who said, a single Christian is no Christian. Our need as bishops is to be in council with other bishops. We’re called to live in community and to live in communion.

The very challenging suggestion the archbishop made was to identify one other bishop about whom one feels nervous, and ask that person to pray with you. It was a very powerful challenge to us to work to restore wounded communion.

He also said the Gospel is only truthfully spread by those who are in communion.

This has been a spiritual feast and I think the right and proper grounding for the weeks ahead.

Read it all.

Ed Salmon, the former bishop of South Carolina who is either retired or on sabbatical, depending on which bit of the Church is doing the talking, was invited to the Lambeth Conference. He is 75 and he says he is retired. Nevertheless, he was delighted to be asked to come to Lambeth. The invites were sent out before he retired and he assumed this was because of the grey area surrounding his precise status at present. He booked his flights, hotels and so on. Just one week before he was due to come, he was told he wasn’t invited after all. So he came anyway and I met him in the little flat in Canterbury where Anglican Mainstream has its hq. He and Gene Robinson, both uninvited bishops at the conference, are both here still, preaching God’s word on the fringes.

Read it all and watch the whole video interview with Bishop Edward Salmon.

How deep is the ocean? How deep is this divide that we must confront in our church?

Last evening one of the bishop’s wives I have contact with expressed regret about her Bible Study group. The wife from another province, known for its approval of and promotion of same-sex blessings, ordinations and consecrations, referred to Jesus as she. The wife said, “I asked Jesus what she thought about it and she said”¦”¦”

The bishop’s wife I know is a devout person with an active prayer life and a great ministry and now has serious doubt about continuing in this assigned group.

How deep is the ocean? How deep is this divide that we must confront in our church?

This afternoon, we spoke with a bishop’s wife from Australia. When asked where she was from, she said, “between Sydney and Melbourne.”

Fr. Wetzel asked if she was more inclined towards Sydney or Melbourne spiritually, her reply was a sharp rebuke against Sydney as being some kind of fundamentalists who want to complete the Reformation. She has nothing to do with anyone from Sydney. It was a final and pointed dismissal.

How deep is the ocean? How deep is this divide that we must confront in our church?

Granted, the ocean is not very deep in some isolated locations. But, I now understand this divide in our Church to be world-wide. This is not an Episcopal Church phenomena. This is a world-wide epidemic, with the potential to be as devastating as the reputed outbreak of the Bird flu.

Read it all.

Last month, about 280 conservative bishops from Africa, Asia and North America met in Jerusalem and pledged to sideline Williams and the Episcopal Church by creating a powerful new council of archbishops and a new province in the United States. About 200 of the bishops, mainly from Africa, are boycotting Lambeth, saying they won’t meet with their liberal colleagues.

But this year’s Lambeth Conference has been designed to discourage resolutions that would discipline the United States and Canada. Small group discussions and a “mind of the communion” document at the conference’s conclusion Aug. 3 will replace plenary sessions and parliamentary debate.

The Rev. John Peterson, former general secretary of the Anglican Communion, who helped plan the 1998 Lambeth Conference, said a conference without resolutions “has been the desire of every archbishop of Canterbury, ever.”

But that desire has rarely been fulfilled, Peterson said.

Read it all

Remain Faithful, a laity-led movement that includes some members of the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese, has announced a resolution condemning same-sex unions and the ordination of active homosexuals.

The action came as the Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade gathering of more than 600 Anglican bishops from around the world, began Wednesday in Canterbury, England.

The global Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church in the United States, is grappling with differing views on how to apply Scripture to controversial issues.

More-liberal Episcopalians believe that the Bible permits committed same-sex relationships, as well as the ordination of gays and lesbians.

Conservatives in the 77-million-member Anglican fellowship disagree.

Remain Faithful wants Anglican leaders to take “definitive action .”‚.”‚. not just more ‘discernment periods,’”‚” said Chad Bates, chairman of the group.

Read it all.

I first attended an Episcopal Church a little over 30 years ago. I joined the Episcopal Church 22 years ago, and I was ordained 19 years ago. Looking at the developments that have occurred over this period, someone might draw the analogy that I was a newly commissioned officer who sailed out in a fast speedboat to catch my ship that had already left port; and I took my place as a crew member on the Titanic just moments before it hit the iceberg….

Certainly, the Episcopal Church has been in a state of declining membership and increasing departures from historic, biblical Christianity for virtually the whole time I have been a member. But I always thought that the Anglican Communion would be the Episcopal Church’s salvation, not that the Episcopal Church would be the cause of the Anglican Communion’s destruction. I really never thought it would come to this.

Read it all.

The long foretold crack up of the Anglican Communion appears to be at hand, as political wrangling and media posturing mark the final days before the start of the 14th Lambeth Conference. Though the programme of the 20 day conference in Canterbury is designed to avoid position statements or divisive outcomes””the agendas brought to the conference by the 600 some bishops present will likely push the Communion farther apart, effectively ending the Anglican project.

While the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has been able to salvage past pan-Anglican gatherings from collapse, the mechanics of the 2008 Lambeth Conference differ from the smaller Primates Meeting and Anglican Consultative Council gatherings. Dr. Williams’ efforts to keep the Communion flag flying will further be hindered by the absence of between a quarter and a third of the Communion’s bishops.

In past international gatherings, Dr. Williams has been able to avert a crack up by resorting to calls for forbearance to conservative leaders and personal pleas to honor the integrity of the Communion. The absence of most African bishops will change the focus of Dr. Williams’ diplomatic efforts, forcing him to turn his attention to the fissiparous American church and seek its pledge of good behavior.

However many of the American bishops, who will comprise 1 in 5 of the bishops at Lambeth, though Americans are only 1 in 40 of Anglicans worldwide””are not seeking preservation of the status quo but sanction for their church’s normalization of homosexuality and will push for approval for gay bishops and blessings.

Read it all.

The late Servant of God, Pope John Paul II responded to the growing requests from priests, deacons and the lay faithful of the Anglican Communion, and its expression in the United States the Episcopal Church.

He instituted what is called the “Pastoral provision”, and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The “Pastoral provision” has provided a means for Anglican or Episcopal Priests, married or celibate, seeking to come into the full communion of the Catholic Church, to be considered for Ordination in the Catholic Church.

Though it has been in effect for almost three decades, most Catholics do not even know of its existence.That may soon change! The now annual “Anglican Use” Conference recently concluded in San Antonio Texas, the home of one of the most noted “Anglican Use” parishes, “Our Lady of the Atonement”. In addition the effort has given birth to the “Anglican Use Society”.

The “Pastoral Provision” also authorized the establishment of what are called “Personal Parishes”. These are sometimes called “Anglican use” parishes. They have been constituted in several places in the United States and are thriving.I have had the privilege of attending Holy Mass at one of their parishes and was deeply moved by its beauty.

Read it all.

In contrast to scholars like Ian Douglas, subsequently her professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as a member of the design group for this year’s Lambeth Conference, who propose a vision of globalization which she describes as “diversity globalism”–that is, “characterized by the affirmation of cultural and experiential diversity” and “nothing more clearly defined than general mutual good will”–Hassett writes that conservative Northerners and Southerners have together built various networks into the interconnected structure she labels “accountability globalism”:

This is no veiled anti-globalism or reactionary vision, in which older authority structures of white male Euro-American dominance are reestablished to maintain order in an increasingly complex worldwide organization. Instead, this conservative vision embraces the diversity and complexity of the contemporary world…call[ing] for power to shift away from traditional centers and to locate instead in a worldwide network of church leaders united in their commitment to Anglican orthodoxy. New, global patterns of discipline are envisioned in the service of correction, help, and, above all, accountability among Anglican churches around the globe.

While Anglicans, like Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, have historically organized their ecclesiastical polities around local bishops whose jurisdiction is largely defined by territorial boundaries, Hassett sees the potential of the nascent affinity networks which are manifestations of accountability globalism to radically transform relationships within the church:

[P]articular connections between individuals, parishes, dioceses, and provinces…bypass and even subvert the centralized, nested geographical authority structure of the Communion. It remains to be seen whether the total “realignment” of the Communion into networked clusters of Anglican bodies defined by affinity rather than geographical proximity will come to pass…Today many believe that such networks will become, functionally if not officially, the new organizing structure of the whole Anglican Communion.

Read it all.

Make sure to take the time to read them all: here, here, and there.

[KIM] LAWTON: Many Anglican churches around the world, especially in Africa, Asia and South America, are strongly opposed to gay rights. The last Lambeth Conference in 1998 approved a resolution asserting that homosexual practice is “incompatible with Scripture.” International Anglican leaders had asked the U.S. Episcopal Church to exercise caution in moving ahead with gay issues. But Bacon says as a priest he must minister to the people in his pews.

Rev. [ED] BACON: By the authority of the Holy Spirit, and the state of California I pronounce that you are married.

So we have a responsibility here on the ground, at the grassroots level to move forward with justice, inclusion, love and compassion. And the bishops can talk about it, but we think the bishops will come around and see that we are exercising great pastoral responsibility.

LAWTON: All Saints also actively supports Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Robinson’s 2003 consecration in the Diocese of New Hampshire set off a firestorm of controversy across the global Communion. Because of the turmoil, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Communion, asked Robinson not to attend the Lambeth meeting. But Robinson has gone to Canterbury anyway to advocate for gay issues outside the official meeting.

Bishop GENE ROBINSON (Diocese of New Hampshire): I go with a greater sense of focus on gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender people around the world. In an odd sort of way, not being included in the official meetings gives me that greater opportunity to focus on that.

Read it all.

The world’s Anglican bishops turned Saturday to the enormous task at the heart of their once-a-decade summit: trying to keep the Anglican family from breaking apart over the Bible and homosexuality.

With its private prayer phase over, the Lambeth Conference gets down to business but is hobbled by a boycott: about one-quarter of the invited bishops — mostly theological conservatives from Africa — are not attending.

The 650 bishops who are here include a mix of traditionalists, moderates and liberals, all with divergent ideas about what Anglicans should believe and how their fellowship should operate.

The conference’s opening public worship is set for Sunday in Canterbury Cathedral. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has led a three-day closed-door session this week focused on the role of the bishops as seen through the Gospel.

Williams designed the entire gathering without any votes or resolutions. Instead, starting Monday, the bishops will hold daily Bible study and small group discussions. They plan to release their collective “reflections” on the meeting when it ends Aug. 3.

Read it all.

And behind the scenes the Archbishop – who believes that God takes care of the results only if His people put in the footwork – is engineering a daring and complex plan. Canon lawyers are working on a canon law “blueprint”, an Anglican version of the Roman Catholic code that would provide a basis for legislative unity. It is likely to become a fifth “instrument of communion” to bind the Church, adding to the four that exist – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the primates.

Dr Williams writes in the foreword of The Principles of Canon Law, which sets out the basis of the blueprint handed to bishops at the conference, that it will not solve the communion’s problems, but is a “unique resource for thinking more carefully about the sort of unity and coherence we should aspire to in our fellowship of churches”.

Moderate conservatives are also drawing up plans to allow overseas primates to function in the Episcopal Church of the USA as pastors for evangelical churches offended by the liberal direction. It is hoped that the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, might agree to this to allow the communion to hold together. She is understood to be “aware” of the discussions.

Read it all.

Many attempts have been made to address the breach of relationships caused by the setting aside of biblical teaching by some provinces, dioceses, and individual bishops, beginning at Kuala Lumpur in 1997, at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, and culminating recently, after consistent efforts in the intervening years, in the Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam in 2007.

Sadly this new draft of An Anglican Covenant is both seriously limited and severely flawed. Whether or not the tool of covenant is the right way to approach the crisis within the Communion, this document is defective and its defects cannot be corrected by piecemeal amendment because they are fundamental. The St. Andrews Draft is theologically incoherent and its proposals unworkable. It has no prospect of success since it fails to address the problems which have created the crisis and the new realities which have ensued.

This document falls in effect into two parts. Sections 1 and 2 mention some matters of faith, but section 3 is in fact the critical section of the document, because this introduces the thought of Churches as being ”˜autonomous-in-communion’. It is on this concept that the proposed resolution of Communion disputes rests.

Read it all.

The Global Anglican Future Conference gathered leaders from around the Anglican Communion for pilgrimage, prayer and serious theological reflection. We are grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for engaging with the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. We wish to respond to some of his concerns.

On faith and false teaching. We warmly welcome the Archbishop’s affirmation of the Jerusalem Statement as positive and encouraging and in particular that it would be shared by the vast majority of Anglicans. We are however concerned that he should think we assume that all those outside GAFCON are proclaiming another gospel. In no way do we believe that we are the only ones to hold a correct interpretation of scripture according to its plain meaning. We believe we are holding true to the faith once delivered to the saints as it has been received in the Anglican tradition. Many are contending for and proclaiming the orthodox faith throughout the Anglican Communion. Their efforts are, however, undermined by those who are clearly pursuing a false gospel. We are not claiming to be a sinless church. Our concern is with false teaching which justifies sin in the name of Christianity. These are not merely matters of different perspectives and emphases. They have led to unbiblical practice in faith and morals, resulting in impaired and broken communion. We long for all orthodox Anglicans to join in resisting this development.

On the uniqueness of Christ. We are equally concerned to hear that ‘the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God’ is ‘not in dispute’ in the Anglican Communion. Leading bishops in The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, and even the Church of England have denied the need to evangelise among people of other faiths, promoted and attended syncretistic events and, in some cases, refused to call Jesus Lord and Saviour.

On legitimacy. In the current disorder in the Communion, GAFCON came together as a gathering of lay leaders, clergy and bishops from over 25 countries on the basis of their confession of the common historic Christian faith. They formed a Council in obedience to the word of God to defend the faith and the faithful who are at risk in some Anglican dioceses and congregations.

GAFCON, where the governing structures of many provinces were present, affirmed such a Council of the GAFCON movement as its body to authenticate and recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith.

In their primates and other bishops, the assembly saw a visible connection to the catholic and apostolic Church and the evangelical and catholic faith which many have received from the Church of England and the historic see of Canterbury. It is this faith which we seek to affirm.

On authority. As the Virginia Report notes, in the Anglican tradition, authority is not concentrated in a single centre, but rather across a number of persons and bodies. This Council is a first step towards bringing greater order to the Communion, both for the sake of bringing long overdue discipline and as a reforming initiative for our institutions.

Whilst we respect territoriality, it cannot be absolute. For missionary and pastoral reasons there have long been overlapping jurisdictions in Anglicanism itself ”“ historically in South Africa, New Zealand, the Gulf and Europe. In situations of false teaching, moreover, it has sometimes been necessary for other bishops to intervene to uphold apostolic faith and order.
On discipline. Finally, with regard to the Archbishop’s concern about people who have been disciplined in one jurisdiction and have been accepted in another, we are clear that any such cases have been investigated thoroughly and openly with the fullest possible transparency. Bishops and parishes have been given oversight only after the overseeing bishops have been fully satisfied of no moral impediments to their action.

We enclose a response to the St Andrew’s Draft Covenant. (see the subsequent blog entry)

We assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of our respect as the occupier of an historic see which has been used by God to the benefit of his church and continue to pray for him to be given wisdom and discernment.

Signed

The Most Rev Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria
The Most Rev Justice Akrofi, Primate of West Africa
The Most Rev Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of Rwanda
The Most Rev Valentine Mokiwa, Primate of Tanzania
The Most Rev Benjamin Nzmibi, Primate of Kenya
The Most Rev Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda
The Most Rev Gregory Venables, Primate of The Southern Cone

July 18 2008

Check it out.