The first sign that all was not well arose when Bishop Dean Wolfe of Kansas rose at the start of the C056 debate and cautioned the house against offering aggressive amendments. “Sometimes it takes very little” to “move us from agreement to division,” he observed. He asked the bishops to practice a “generous orthodoxy” to the conservative minority who might be troubled by same-sex blessings.
After twenty five minutes of debate, with only the acting Bishop of the Rio Grande, the Rt. Rev. William Frey, rising to speak in opposition, Bishop Clifton Daniel of East Carolina told the house the lack of input from the conservative side made him uneasy. The “silence is ominous,” he observed, adding “I need your voice to inform my conversation.” Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield responded by asking “Why waste time? Why waste my time? Why waste your time?”
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori prologued debate to the afternoon, and the afternoon’s debate was then postponed to Wednesday. Suggestions that delay could be postponed such that the convention would not be able to take up the resolution sparked outrage from Bishop Marc Andrus of California.
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/7/15/news-analysis-pushback-in-hob-on-gay-blessings
comments from the backup blog:
St. Jimbob of the Apokalypse said…
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why draw the line there?
If homosexuality is considered by the Episcopal Church to be a blessed behavior that should be considered as acceptable for a priest or bishop, then it makes no sense to withhold the blessings of same-sex relationships.
The handbasket has no brakes.
You all have my prayers as the pieces fall where they may.
4:11 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said…
‘Bishop Clifton Daniel of East Carolina told the house the lack of input from the conservative side made him uneasy. The “silence is ominous,†he observed, adding “I need your voice to inform my conversation.‒
Just as throughout the last two generations, the re-definers need those Christians remaining in the denomination to provide them cover and imprimatur.
The remainers need to snap out of the co-dependency they have enabled throughout this ugly era. To the extent they validate this train wreck with their “participation”, they are complicit.
4:31 PM
Blogger cmsigler said…
St. Jimbob is so right! “You are righteous in the sight of man and holy in the sight of God and so can be consecrated to the episcopacy as a same-sex partnered person. Your same-sex partnered relationship is not righteous in the sight of man or holy in the sight of God and so cannot be blessed in the church of which you are a member of the episcopacy.”
If allowed to stand, this is an undeniable sign of a schizophrenic organization.
Clemmitt
5:31 PM