The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia has declined to consent to the election of the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles because, in the view of a majority of the Committee, her election is inconsistent with the moratorium agreed to by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. That majority believes that, at this time, failure by individual dioceses to respect the Church’s agreement to the moratorium would be detrimental to the good order of our Church and bring into question its reliability as an institution. The committee found no other reason to withhold its consent to the election of Canon Glasspool.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this translate to: “We don’t believe there is anything wrong inherently with her election or consecration, but we’re just trying to make good on the promise to wait.”?
I actually think it is more significant, Samh.
I think it’s clear that they don’t see anything wrong with same-gender sexual activity, nor does their bishop.
But they *do* see something scary out there that they don’t want.
My suspicion is that they are guarding their relationship with the Anglican Communion. They don’t want — should there ever by chance be a count — for their vote to count against the diocesan relationship with the AC.
And if that’s so — well, it’s just fascinating.
Sarah makes a good point.
I prefer to ascribe the Standing Committee’s act to the observation that even a blind pig occasionally manages to find an acorn. They just dumbed their way into making the right decision.
Classic institutional liberal; I’m sure the radicals in that diocese and nationally are not too happy. But, yup, they’ve still managed to rewrite or ignore Scripture. No shock there…
I find this a more calculated and orchestrated effort on the part of DioVA. This is bishop Johnston and the Standing Committee walking both sides of the street. These non-consents from DioVA have come after there were already enough consents from the other dioceses. So, no threat to Glasspool’s “consecration”. Its also hedging against future relations with Canterbury and the Global South Provinces. Now, DioVA can (with fingers crossed) claim that they didn’t have any part of breaking the moratorium and therefore should be able to maintain its relations within the AC. They may actually think that nobody is paying attention anywhere else.