[Canon Kenneth Kearon]… said those who do not share the faith and order of the Anglican Communion should not be making decisions on matters in the Communion. “We’ve asked them to be consultants and we would hope that they would participate in the conversations and discussions,” he added.
Canon Kearon’s announcement looked beyond The Episcopal Church to Canada as well as to the Southern Cone in South America. Canon Kearon has written to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, to ask whether or not the General Synod or House of Bishops has formally adopted policies authorizing same-sex blessings.
In his presidential address to synod last week, Archbishop Hiltz made it clear that the answer to that question currently is ”˜no.’ However, members of General Synod 2010 are still in the process of discussing the issue of same-sex blessings until the triennial meeting ends Jun. 11.
The lie continues. Plausible denial of what they are actually doing.
A significant clue to what is going on here is the focus on the Southern Cone – of particular concern to the ACoC.
It would be a mistake to be looking for any consistency or principled response in this. The more I look at it, the more convinced that this is both pragmatic and political, through and through.
My take is this: KJS announced to the HoB that she feels called to a ‘global mission’ (we know of this announcement to the HoB) , by which of course she means taking TEC’s ‘prophetic voice’ to the wider Communion. Very thoughtful of her.
We suddenly hear of her offer to assist differing provinces in their ‘listening processes’ – hence her spate of visits to Canada, Scotland, and the UK. Also a visit to Aotearoa-New Zealand (talk of her being an official guest at the Hermeneutical Hui (meeting) is apparently declined). Do we know of any other international visits in coming months?
Lambeth Palace and the ACO are quite aware of what she is doing – trying to convince as many like-minded activists that this is the time to stand up and push the envelope. TEC has burnt her bridges, cut loose from the AC (through actions if not formally) and is looking to take as much of the Communion with them as possible. They will be challenging like-minded re-appraisers to match TEC’s clarity – hence her disparaging talk of those living in a state of double-standards. As many as possible expressing support for TEC or taking similar stands the better. Failing that, sowing greater discontent and discord wherever possible, and make the picture outside TEC as blurred and messy as possible, so that talk of any consistent perspective outside TEC can be denied.
As I say, I suspect the ABC and ACO are very aware of this, and this letter from Kearon, in this particular place at this time, is an attempt to cut TEC/KJS off at the pass. I think they are pragmatic enough to know that TEC is in one sense a lost cause – they will not change course, so it is a question of damage control. But they are also most concerned about any widening of support for TEC and the formation of an alternate coalition – hence the speed, opportunism and bluntness of this letter – it is aimed at ACoC and any other like-minded provinces thinking of discovering the value of expressing official ‘clarity’ on these matters. Ambiguity and local options the ABC and the ACO can work with, sufficiently to keep the moderates onside – but clarity such as TEC is now urging upon others is politically disastrous for the ‘crisis management’ bureaucracy at the ACO, and even more so with the prospect of finally losing the GS on one hand, and TEC gathering an alternate communion on the other.
Thank you Tim Harris. You make some helpful and important comments, especially about the PB’s being “on a missionâ€. To mind comes the old saying: “Beware of Greeks bearing Gifts.â€
The only “clarity†I myself would want to have before us has to do with the Covenant: what does our/your Province and/or Diocese think? Will you or wont you sign? And when? And any fence-sitting like that apparently of New Zealand is exactly “muddy†… Which therefore plays not only into the ACO’s hand re “management†but makes the likes of New Zealand a perfect mission field for the PB. Kyrie eleison!