While it is true that some of my colleagues in the House of Bishops encouraged me to allow my name to go forward in the search process, and my name was submitted to the Committee, I am very clear and comfortable in my decision not to participate in this discernment. Therefore, I will not be considered as a possible nominee.
How disappointing…for Lambeth Palace, and after all that effort they have put in.
How sad. Never mind, there is always the bearded twit as a fall back, who is just as loony as she-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned, but much much smoother…
Perhaps he will keep shovelling money into the Lambeth Palace/ACO TEC rehabilitation program. After all he owes them for bending the rules to let him sit on the Standing Committee.
Then again, it could be someone much much worse, if that is imaginable. Send in the clowns.
I agree, PM. But I will admit that I’m pleasantly surprised at the Bishop of VA’s decision. +Johnston has followed the example of his famous “centrist” predecessor, James Peter Lee, in declining to be considered for the post of PB, when both men seemed to have good chances of being elected.
Regardless of his reasons for refusing to let himself be considered for the post, I’m glad for the decision. As someone who has lived in VA for over 25 years, I still find it hard to believe how fast and how far to the left the once great Diocese of VA has moved in the last decade. Once over a dozen of the most orthodox and spiritually healthy congregations left the diocese and TEC in late 2006/early 2007, the formerly moderate and diverse Diocese of VA lurched quickly leftward and is now quite hostile and toxic to anything resembling orthodox Christianity.
Don’t get me wrong. +Johnston is a pious man, and as sincere and likeable as can be. He’s far smoother, saner, and capable than than the horrendous +KJS. But that only makes him all the more deceptive, since he remains very much a heretical wolf in sheep’s clothing. The fact that he appears more sheep-like doesn’t actually make him so. And the same goes for +Ian Douglas, the duplicitous Bishop of CT whom PM was alluding to above. I have absolutely no trust whatsoever in either man. But as PM also suggests, TEC could easily end up with an even worse PB than those two imposters.
David Handy+
Richmond resident
Oops, I was far too hasty in proof reading again. +Johnston’s predecessor was the highly regarded Peter James Lee. But while +Lee was an institutionalist of the center-right type, +Johnston is far more openly supportive of Liberal causes. Before coming to Richmond, Shanon Johnston was a rector in Biloxi, MX, which among other things is the home of the fundamentalist radio empire started by Don Wildmon, AFR or American Family Radio. Like so many southern liberals, +Johnston seems to have a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything that reminds him of southern Fundamentalism, whether the association is justified or not.
David Handy+
No friend of southern Fundamentalism either