“Coming so soon after the slate announced by the Diocese of Minnesota,” said Integrity President Susan Russell, “today’s announcement by the Diocese of Los Angeles is another sign that the ‘season of fasting’ at the expense of the vocations of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church is at an end.”
“Just a few days ago we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the ordination of the first women to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church,” said Russell. “Thirty five years ago it was hard to imagine that we would come to a place where the inclusion of gifted women on a slate of candidates for bishop would become the expected rather than the exception. And we believe that we are journeying to a place where the same will be true for gay and lesbian candidates.”
What a cruel charade. Hasn’t anyone from 815 rung up Mrs. Russell to inform her that the moratorium is still on? Or couldn’t they get through the call without falling into uncontrolled laughter?
Jefferson, Susan Russell is telling the truth about what General Convention did. Good for her.
The shame is the number of bishops and other leaders trying to claim otherwise.
Minnesota and California, the two-track system is in play, ladies and gentlemen and undecideds! Place your bets now on who wins the ABC pile-up!!!
Along with Kendall, I prefer the straightforward statements of Integrity to the attempted weaseling of the PB and HOD President.
I’m one who never believed there was a moratorium, Dr. Harmon, just a nod to “restraint” that was purely voluntary. So, in a very real sense, both KJS and SR are telling the truth: KJS can claim to Rowan Williams in parsed, lawyerly language that the moratorium hasn’t been lifted (wink, wink…because it never existed in the first place) and SR can crow that it’s all gay, all the time in TEC now because of D025 and C056.
You don’t see it because you’re a better man than me, and want to believe the best of motives on the part of these folks.
Now, homosexuality is considered a virture or a “fruit of the Spirit” to the liberals. It is a resume enhancer that to them “covers over a multitude of sins” or incompetencies. I wonder what Satan has on deck.
dwstroudmd,
What is the spread for L.A.?
LA and Minnesota will not consecrate with impunity. The nominations of interest are merely symbolic of TEC’s freedom. It’s a bark, not a bite.
Seems to me, that if these folk are elected locally, there are most certainly some Bishops who will have to make difficult decisions.
Perhaps not, depending on why they voted “aye”, but I”m glad my neck is not in the noose.
Grandmother
NewTrollObserver if you are being serious I beg to differ….this has been their life’s mission and it’s all coming true.
Kendall, I read Jeffersonian’s #1 as agreeing with you by a facetious statement – that of course Susan Russell states the fact that the actions of GC09 ended the moritoria/non-moritoria while 815 and the bishops reading their talking points are brazenly dissembling (lying is such an ugly word!) or have drunk the groupthink kool-aid and can no longer distinguish fact from fantasy.
I do not think the phrase ‘season of fasting’ means what you think it means….
Clemmitt
More headline after headline of controversy in Episcopal denomination. It will be disastrous regardless of outcome. There are two outcomes: there will be another homosexual bishop or there won’t. Either way, the TEClub loses.
Do not miss this post, the title and the comments: http://apostolicity.blogspot.com/2009/07/mistaken-identity.html
The Flagship is where the Admiral is and He is in the Center of His Church and at the center of each of us, building a new identity, orientation and personality. The Church is completely inclusive and no one is excluded from God’s mandates and requirements: unconditional surrender, crucifixion of the flesh, living in obedience to His Word not our own desires. Galatians 5
Let me dwell on the obvious for a moment. It seems obvious that the various homosexual candidates were being considered and checked out in MN and LA before the recent Gen Con took place in Anaheim. The nominating committees in those two ultra-liberal, gay-friendly dioceses surely didn’t wait for the passage of D025 before looking at the gay/lesbian priests as serious potential candidates.
Indeed, Bonnie Perry herself had been a candidate earlier in the Diiocese of CA (the one based in San Francisco). This is simply further [b]PROOF[/b] that B033 back in 2006 was never really a ban on the selection of more openly gay (i.e., openly immoral) bishops.
It shows that some dioceses in TEC simply no longer care what the rest of the AC thinks. They are fully prepared not just to “walk apart” from the majority of the AC, but to RUN away. They see no need to try to pretend otherwise anymore.
I welcome such clarity. But such bold and clear actions on the part of dioceses on the extreme left in TEC calls for “an equal and opposite reaction” from dioceses on what is now the extreme right of TEC. So what are you going to do now, South Carolina? Albany? Central Florida?
David Handy+
Nevertheless, this is no surprise. And Fr. Handy, I expect either no response or no meaningful response either from the dioceses you mention or the AC.
David–to dwell on the obvious, these dioceses will do exactly what they said they will do, and they will be joined by CP as a whole, and also by a growing number of Bishops who see that the church they believed was ‘liberal’ is not at all; that explains (in part) the rush on the part of a new group to sign Anaheim. That is, they will not give consent, and they will begin to understand the kind of church they are now inhabiting. The Rousseau liberals and the Locke liberals will begin to have it out. This will be the most interesting phase in this struggle. The PB has just given marching orders on property matters–and it is beginning to sound like she is facing broader opposition. We had already heard rumblings along this score. So the nominations/elections will further confirm the TEC leadership’s position. In so doing, they will also begin to force people’s hands and that will lead to new and different alliances.
Fr. Seitz has a point – what are all of these bishops going to do who proclaimed that B033 is still in effect and nothing has changed? How can they vote to consent, if an openly homosexual person is elected, and still make that claim? Can it be that they have been, if not dishonest, at least intellectually dishonest with us? I suspect at least one of these nominated homosexuals will be elected, and then the word parsing of so many of our bishops and of our PB will catch up with them. Though I am adamantly opposed to the election of another homosexual bishop, I would like to see these certain bishops put to the test.
[blockquote]Fr. Seitz has a point – what are all of these bishops going to do who proclaimed that B033 is still in effect and nothing has changed? How can they vote to consent, if an openly homosexual person is elected, and still make that claim? [/blockquote]
See my post at #5 and David+’s in #15. B033 was a ruse to gull those who didn’t want to think the worst about TGC’s leadership (against all evidence). There never was a moratorium in place and never will be, just lawyerly evasions crafted to use your Christian generosity against you.
I would LOVE to see +++Rowan call ++Schori’s bluff. He’s in a good position to do so, since he has written that the diocese is sacrosanct and the basic building block of the Church. A letter like this would be delicious:
Dear Katharine:
I appreciate TEC’s repeated assertions about how important the Anglican Communion is to your local church and I’ve received your explanations about how your General Convention did not end the moratorium on the election and consecration of partnered gay bishops.
However, I see that despite all of your oft-described “efforts,” two dioceses in the Episcopal Church have announced partnered gay candidates for bishop. Surely they must have misunderstood the actions of your General Convention! Because of your frequent correspondence to me, I am assured that you are taking the appropriate steps to address this matter to the Communion’s satisfaction. Allow me to assist these efforts by declaring that any diocese that elects outside of the mind of the Communion in this matter will no longer be in Communion with the See of Canterbury. Far be it for me to sound like the tea-and-crumpets Nazi but there will be no Lambeth for them!
If I can be of further assistance to you in your efforts to reconcile Anglicans worldwide, one to another, please do not hesitate to contact my office, as you have so enthusiastically done in the past.
Yours in Christ,
+++Rowan Cantuar
Billy,
I think that all three of them will be elected……they have known what they were about and have been about doing it for decades. Now that they have the door wide open there will be no holding back. I predict all three will get their Bishop’s Seat with no problems nor bumps nr hiccups.
Three, Billy? Minnesota and LA, who is the third?
Oops! I didn’t realize that LA was electing two.