The Windsor Report of 2004 recommended “that the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges” [Section D subsection 134, bullet point no 3].
That request was reiterated at the Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam and followed at the Primates’ Meeting in Alexandria with a request for ”˜gracious restraint’. The decision of The Episcopal Church in respect of the confirmation of an election and subsequent consecration of a partnered gay person to the episcopate has clearly signalled the end of ”˜gracious restraint’. This is a development which I deeply regret. Whatever may be ”˜the mind of a majority of the elected leaders in The Episcopal Church’, it does not reflect the mind of a majority of those in positions of leadership in the Anglican Communion and it is bound to create even greater stresses within the Communion at a time when consultations on an Anglican Covenant are at an advanced stage.
The action of The Episcopal Church also has implications for another serious issue that has strained the bonds of affection within the Communion, namely extraterritorial interventions by other provinces in the life of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. A moratorium on such interventions and also on the authorization of public rites of blessing for same-sex unions was requested by the Primates at Dar es Salaam. In neither of these cases has “gracious restraint” been wholly exercised.
When even a flaming liberal like ++Alan Harper expresses “deep regret” at the flagrantly schismatic actions of TEC, it shows how isolated TEC is within the AC. However, ++Harper tries his best to be even-handed and mollify his liberal base by criticizing the cross-provincial interventions in almost equally negative terms, and he clearly deplores the formation of the ACNA. And that final reference to the Anglican Covenant is non-committal.
So all in all it’s a tepid response, but still a rebuke just the same for TEC and for Harper’s fellow primate, the shameless and utterly unrepentant PB.
David Handy+
[blockquote]Following a request to the Church of Ireland for comment on the US Episcopal Church’s plans[/blockquote]
It may well have an obvious answer, but by whose request would that be?
[blockquote]It is very hard to see how these developments may shape the future of the Anglican Communion.[/blockquote]
Yes, I suppose it would be.
[blockquote]The position of the Church of Ireland in respect of the Churches with which it may be said to be ‘in communion’ will be determined, first and foremost, in light of the provisions of the Preamble and Declaration prefixed to the Statutes of the Church of Ireland passed at the General Convention in 1870. It will also be governed by the response of the Church of Ireland to any future Anglican Covenant.[/blockquote]
I see….I think…Now, just where did I put my copy of the Statutes of the Church of Ireland passed at the General Convention in 1870, I wonder? I must remember to keep these things handy.
[blockquote] I see….I think…Now, just where did I put my copy of the Statutes of the Church of Ireland passed at the General Convention in 1870, I wonder? I must remember to keep these things handy [/blockquote]
It took a little bit of digging, but make your way to http://www.ireland.anglican.org/index.php?do=information&id=23
for the “Preamble and Declaration prefixed to the Statutes of the Church of Ireland passed at the General Convention in 1870.”
#3 Thank you for excavating that – The key sections appear to be:
[blockquote]
I
1. The Church of Ireland doth, as heretofore, accept and unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as given by inspiration of God, and containing all things necessary to salvation; and doth continue to profess the faith of Christ as professed by the Primitive Church.
2. The Church of Ireland will continue to minister the doctrine, and sacraments, and the discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded; and will maintain inviolate the three orders of bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons in the sacred ministry.
3. The Church of Ireland, as a reformed and Protestant Church, doth hereby reaffirm its constant witness against all those innovations in doctrine and worship, whereby the Primitive Faith hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid, and which at the Reformation this Church did disown and reject.
II
The Church of Ireland doth receive and approve The Book of the Articles of Religion, commonly called the Thirty-nine Articles, received and approved by the archbishops and bishops and the rest of the clergy of Ireland in the synod holden in Dublin, A.D. 1634; also, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of Ireland; and the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, as approved and adopted by the synod holden in Dublin, A.D. 1662, and hitherto in use in this Church. And this Church will continue to use the same, subject to such alterations only as may be made therein from time to time by the lawful authority of the Church.
III
The Church of Ireland will maintain communion with the sister Church of England, and with all other Christian Churches agreeing in the principles of this Declaration; and will set forward, so far as in it lieth, quietness, peace, and love, among all christian people.[/blockquote]
So it looks as if they will maintain Communion with the Church of England and such other churches as similarly:
1. Believe the Scriptures and profess the faith of Christ as professed by the Primitive Church;
2. disown and reject innovations in doctrine and worship whereby the Primitive Faith hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid;
3. receive and approve the 39 Articles and Book of Common Prayer;
4. and subject to the Irish response to the Anglican Covenant.
None of which sound very good for TEC with its “innovations in doctrine and worship”, does it? As AB Harpur puts, it with perhaps carefully chosen words: “This is a development which I deeply regret.”
#1 Rev Handy:
[blockquote]he clearly deplores the formation of the ACNA[/blockquote]
I am not sure whether that is the position of the Church of Ireland; some reports I read suggested they were open to positive to ACNA being acknowledged as part of the formal structures of the Communion, but I am not sure I that I have seen this backed up in resolutions.
The Church of Ireland has liberal leadership because of a Gerry O’Mander-ed system that allows liberal dioceses in the south with few members equal voting in Synod with the more populous, conservative dioceses, like Down and Dromore, in the north. A strict system of control has prevented Irish evangelical seminarians from training in evangelical colleges in England (as they had always done so in the past) to bolster numbers at the liberal Church of Ireland Training College. The goal is to ‘liberalize’ CoI clergy.
The Church of Ireland is also an important historical repository with marriage, birth and death records kept in many of the local churches. Public records in Dublin were destroyed by fire. We learned a lot about my families history via the records in St. Salvator’s Church in Donagh Parish on the Leslie Estate.
Describing the Irish Primate as a “flaming liberal” seems to be most unfortunate. +Allen Harper is anything but flaming. He is a quiet, gentle man of moderate Evangelical background, born raised and trained in England and for some years bishop of one of those conservative Northern Irish diocese mentioned above. Nor would he have made this statement without consultation with the Dublin Province’s Primate and the rest of the bishops, north and south.
Archbishop Harper is not easily squeezed into a party label, nor I suspect would he wish to be.
I was fortunate to spend some time with him at the General Synod of the CofE in York in 2004. I found him gracious.