QUESTION IS CALLED
Request by three members to vote by clergy and laity – granted
Vote on Motion CLERGY:
In favour: 82
Opposed:13
Abstained:
Vote on Motion: LAITY
In favour: 157
Opposed:40
Abstained: 2
Motion carried – by 81% of combined houses 18% opposed.
Bishop Comments: He and Michael will discuss this with the primate later today. Implementation will be looked at in the days ahead.
This decision runs roughshod over the catholicity question again. The General Synod did not resolve it and it is only really something that should be decided at an international level.
The local diocesan synod is simply not wide enough a swath of the church on which to ground a decision as important as this. So as per General Convention 2003 the wrong decision arrived at in the wrong way.
What a shame.
I have relatives in Ontario province in Canada who have already left the Canadian Anglican Church (is that the right term?) in favor of a Bible-preaching non-denom. Evidentally, they have perceived a trend towards liberal-ness that parallels TEC’s movement.
[blockquote] Bishop Comments: He and Michael will discuss this with the primate later today. Implementation will be looked at in the days ahead. [/blockquote] What’s there to discuss? The bishop just came from a meeting the whole house of bishops in New Orleans at which they agreed not to do any of this before the next General Convention.
But…
On the other hand, the bishop might need advice on how to say “Yes” (like in Dar es Salaam) and then a short while later say “No” (like in a legal deposition). The Presiding Bishop is singularly qualified to give advice on how one does this.
#3, you are aware this is happening in Canada, correct?
Sorry Kendall, my apologies. On another thread I see that this bishop has declined this opportunity before?
I assume that those voting in the Diocese of Niagara are well informed regarding the relevant issues related to their vote.
Based on that assumption, I say that the Diocese of Niagara has just voted itself ‘out’ of the Anglican Communion and any feasible ecumenical dialogue with the rest of the Church Catholic.
They are adults. They’ve made their choice. Now they will have to ‘sleep with it.’
What does that mean to me? If and when I visit relatives within the Diocese of Niagara, I will not worship at one of their churches, nor consider any of their bishops and priests, who support this vote, to be priests within the Anglican Communion. Those priests may belong to some sort of denomination, but not a church of the Anglican Communion.
Kendall, as usual you have hit the nail on the head. Absolutely right.
Now that three Canadian dioceses have joined with New Westminster (Ottawa, Montreal, and now Niagara) in calling for the immediate implementation of the blessing of same-sex unions, it has become ever clearer that this is not just a problem of the TEC. This puts increasing pressure on Canterbury, and yet we hear nothing from Lambeth Palace, except the welcome report that the generous plan of the Province of the Southern Cone is “a sensible way forward.” It looks like Bp. Don Harvey has his work cut out for him.
The timing of this radical move by reappraisers in Canada, like that of the Diocese of Ft. Worth on the reasserters’ side, adds yet further evidence that should help the 11 CANA churches in Virginia in their court case. For it illustrates beyond any reasonable doubt the stark reality of a deep, and international, “division” within not only within TEC, but within that supposed phantom, the Anglican “Communion.”
As Julius Caesar is reported to have said when he crossed the Rubicon, invading Italy and thus passing the point of no return: “The die is cast.” Indeed, it is. May God have mercy on us all!
“The local diocesan synod is simply not wide enough a swath of the church on which to ground a decision as important as this. So as per General Convention 2003 the wrong decision arrived at in the wrong way”.
Yes, but why should catholicity matter to these people? They’re obviously way more concerned with their vision of themselves and being “prophetic”.
We are Americanos
The mighty NORTEamericanos
The cultural vanguard
Our word is law.
One can imagine the cheering squads in their Canadian (and American) flag uniforms leading from sidelines and hogging the airtime.
But the Canadian Primate stood irresolutely behind Kate at Da es Salaam, didn’t he? This is a chance to get back into the viewscreen of Western imperialism. Go Canucks! Go! Susan Russell+ and Fred certainly take it hat way on another thread here:
http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/7698/#comments
It seems we are getting clarity at a quickening pace in North America.
I am a priest in this diocese and I request prayer for conservative priests in this diocese. I did not expect 86% of the priests to vote for it. I knew the number would be high but not that high.
In case anyone doesn’t know, Bp. Spence will be working at Lambeth for the 2008 conference. In what capacity I’m not sure, but he is hired to work there for it.
Just in case any Primates haven’t heard…..
Father Gerry,
My prayers are with you and for your ministry.
My mother is of Canadian birth, eastern Ontario, and through the years I have seen, as a cousin of Ontarians, your fine province morph into something that my grand parents would neither comprehend nor accept. The forces that have morphed Ontario can be described as both alien and as intrusive.
The same thing has distorted the social norms of the ‘States.’ Today, just about anything ‘goes.’ This radicalism is a thing of the 60s that preceded the Vietnam War.
Some future noted student of history will analyze that period between 1958 and about 1964 and will identify clearly the change agent(s) involved. Right now we are just too close to the trees to see the forest.
Anyhow, please understand that many, like myself, truly pray for a major ‘reformation’ of the Anglican Faith in North America.
Amen, AnglicanFirst (#13). Right on!
Speaking as someone from the middle of the huge Boomer generation (I was born in 1955), I recognize that we are in large part reaping the bitter fruit of what my generation has been sowing for many, many years. So many of my fellow clergy seem to be suffering from the delusion that next year will be…1968 all over again, or something like it. They continue to see everything through the lens of those formative years in the 60’s when civil disobedience and questioning all inherited traditions and resisting authority of almost any kind was so cool, so progressive.
But next year won’t be a repeat of ’68. There will be a Democratic Convention, but no riots in Chicago. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy won’t be assasinated all over again etc. And above all, although much remains to be done in the fight for civil rights and justice for true oppressed minorities, the so-called “sexual minority groups” (LGBT of course) do NOT fall into that category. Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and “Trans-gendered” persons are NOT born that way. There are now hundreds, indeed thousands of ex-gays. But I never met an ex-black.
Maybe, as the generation that left Egypt but fell into idolatry and unbelief in the end died in the desert wilderness (for worshipping the golden calf, disbelieving Joshua and Caleb that they could take the Promised Land etc.), the sad fact may be that the Boomer generation of leaders in western Anglicanism may likewise have to die off, before we can truly enter into the coming Promised Land of a new orthodox Anglican province in North America and…
“the New Reformation.” If so, so be it.
1. The shock to me is the collapse of the orthodox vote. In 2004, 33.3% did not vote “Yes” (“No” or “Abstain”). In 2007 only 18.7% did not vote “Yes”. 43% of the orthodox vote disappeared over 3 years. This in a diocese that, while one of the 2 or 3 most liberal in Canada, is also (perhaps not coincidentally) the centre of the Network (ANiC). The reappraisers have clearly won the battle of opinion in Niagara.
2. Bishop Ralph and Bishop Michael (his elected successor, who will take over in February) have done Network dioceses a service by signalling their intentions in advance. This is the courteous thing to do. this resolution
3. So the bishops’ intentions have been made clear. If the Network acts as it suspected to do next weekend, anytime after that the doors of Network parishes may have their locks smashed or picked or be smashed down, their rectors’ offices and computers broken into, the rector inhibited, the wardens fired (Note the wording of the Nov. 7 letter: “Letter to Clergy and Wardens of the Diocese from the Bishops of Niagara”) and replacements appointed for all. (Although I suspect that Bishops Ralph and Michael will not act so precipitously, they have made it clear they will if they feel they have to.)
3. So the lines of battle have been set. If you live in a Network parish, this is not a time to be returning orthodox library books (they are unlikely to be needed in the parishes as reconstructed). If you have any personal property sitting around a Network parish, this weekend might be a good time to take it back. Every orthodox person should get a computer printout giving the name and phone number of every parish member (they will have to be called one day soon and told, “Rector Joe has been fired. He’s presiding over a service this week at the old slaughterhouse on Blood St. Hope to see you there.”.)
Toral