(ENS) The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, is to speak to the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council here on June 18.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the council at its opening plenary session that Kearon would engage with the council in a question-and-answer session at 9 a.m. on the last day of the council’s June 16-18 meeting at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute.
His presence at the meeting will come 11 days after he announced that he had sent letters to five Episcopal Church members of the inter-Anglican ecumenical dialogues with the Lutheran, Methodist, Old Catholic and Orthodox churches “informing them that their membership on these dialogues has been discontinued.” Kearon also said on June 7 that he had written to the Episcopal Church member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), withdrawing her membership and inviting her to serve as a consultant to that body.
Q and A:
1. sort out the status of the episcopal rep for ACC (Roskham is still in that slot)
2. does +CT permit SSBs in his diocese, clarification re: moratoria
3. explain the contents of the letter sent by ABC to the PB on April 17, delivered by Kearon and referenced by Booth Beers to the ‘baby bishops’ (see CEN article now appearing)
4. clarify the ABC’s Pentecost Letter and status of moratoria breaking — will there, e.g., be a re-vote on Standing Committee representation and the status of the PB as NA rep
5. Q: what does the PB mean about a ‘US-based Episcopal Church’ whose origins are in the SEC and from 1607 to the War of Independence the CoE presence (SPG etc) is nullified?
6. Q: moratoria breaking and covenant–perhaps it is time to move on and let those who wish to abide by moratoria and covenant do so?
The PB appears to be throwing down the gauntlet — she has described the restrictions imposed on her by the ABC at Southwark as nonsense (the longstanding agreement across the communion re: honoring provincial standards). I wondered as I read the vituperation and incautious comments if she has any minders or if she is ‘going solo’ now?
The more I read, the more I get the sense that she is operating as a disgruntled American CEO in a multi-national corp. Has she discussed this with all of the shareholders or is a fringe group of malcontents egging her on? The Canadian branch of the firm didn’t act boldly.
And I’m beginning to wonder if there was a calculated plan in the ABC’s seeming reluctance to act vigorously over these past years. Has he been watching and expecting her to back herself and TEC into a corner? Because that seems to be what’s happening now. I don’t think that Kearon is attending the meeting as a fan and supporter.
#2 — d’accord…
Going solo? ENS reports this careful assessment from the PB of ‘The US-Based Episcopal Church’ (the new nomenclature) regarding the strictures on her wearing her mitre, carrying her crozier:
And she called the requirements “nonsense” and said “it is bizarre; it is beyond bizarre.”
One can remember when Bishops visiting dioceses not their own in the US were careful about such matters. But the PB is a former RC with a grasp of history limited to her own needs.
The thing that struck me was that the Presiding Bishop seems to have gone out of her way to get this story out, along with her reaction, telling ENS that they could run it. I think she’s definitely upped the ante. Lord knows what will happen when Kearon gets there.
Would be much obliged if someone with a CEN subscription would let us know a bit about what’s in that article cseitz references above in 1.3
Oh, airing the twisted inner knickers! And over canons of all things. I am reminded of the Psalmist’s account of Who’s sitting where and laughing… . And US-based, well, sort of, if you ignore the decline in the ECUSA/TEC and pay attention to all those “others” used to fudge up the statistics. Enough iron-y here to suggest a supernova recently imploded/exploded.
cseitz, post 4,
As you noted “the PB is a former RC with a grasp of history limited to her own needs.”
As I have read the Presiding Bishop’s sermons and watched her legal actions I have come to think that she is more influenced by the Roman Catholic Catechism, which she probably studied as a child, than she is influenced by the Bible, which she probably did not study as a Catholic school student.
Hmmm, when the shoe is on the other foot, it gets a bit uncomfortable. By going on an international tour for her cause, the PB was “border-crossing,” essentially. It’s rather amusing that she had no problem declaring that non-TEC bishops could not visit the parishes that aren’t part of TEC — but she deems the ABC’s pronouncements for her Southwark visit (as established by CofE protocol) as “bizarre.”
I guess she just doesn’t understand the “polity” of the C of E! LOL
bettcee, post #8,
Please point out which part of “..the Roman Catholic Catechism, which she probably studied as a child” that explains the your PB’s current beliefs and behavior. Must have been quite impressive to leave such an indelible mark on an 8 year old girl. ;o
The roman, post 10,
I am just an observer not a scholar, but it seems to me that Presiding Bishop Schori’s presentation of the Episcopal Church as hierarchal in court is based on her understanding of the Roman Catholic hierarchy rather than an understanding of the Anglican hierarchy as it has developed since the Reformation.
I am not very knowledgeable of what Catholic Schools taught about the Bible at the time she went to school because I only went to a Catholic School for one year, but If I remember correctly most Catholics were not allowed to read the Bible or interpret it themselves until after Vatican II so she possibly would not have been taught to read the Bible (or Jesus’ parables) at the time she went to Catholic school.
#11
…and she STILL doesn’t read it today!!! But she DOES intrepet it HER way!