Stephen Crittenden: While we have you here, Canon Conger, as well as being one of the senior correspondents for the truly excellent Church of England Newspaper, you have your own very fine blog site on all matters Anglican, and it seems like a good opportunity to catch up on what’s going on in North America in the lead-up to the Lambeth conference. It seems that things are being ramped up to quite a considerable degree in the lead-up to Lambeth. I notice that the church in California is preparing to conduct its first gay marriages, Bishop G. Robinson of New Hampshire who’s the gay bishop at the centre of the whole crisis, has recently announced that he wants to marry. A number of dioceses in Canada seem to be moving in the direction of same sex blessings. It really does look like Lambeth could be a real showdown would you agree? Or is that not how you read the situation?
George Conger: Well the Archbishop of Canterbury is desperate that nothing happen at Lambeth. He wants to prevent any sort of showdown, and so he’s devised a program that minimises any opportunity for collective mass action on particular issues. Using the tool of small groups and face-to-face discussion, a cynic would say that’s the way to prevent real action from taking place. What you’re seeing in the US are people as I say, establishing facts on the ground, going into the conference saying ‘Well this is the situation where I am’, and basically playing a political gamesmanship. ‘This is how far we’re going to go and get what we want, be it same sex blessings, the normalisation of gay clergy, or from the conservative side, we’re going to have parallel churches overseen by African archbishops in the US’, and basically saying, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ It’s a game of brinksmanship right now in the run-up to Lambeth. And there could be an explosion. Neither side is backing away, and for conservatives this is an issue of salvation; that the liberals are teaching a false doctrine, a false Christ; for liberals, the conservatives are blind to the call of justice and the prophetic words of the gospel. There are two religions in one church. There’s no sanction for bad behaviour in the Anglican communion.
“There’s no sanction for bad behaviour in the Anglican Communion?” Tell that to Kate Schori and Company!
That last line is what also struck me, Cennydd. It’s all too true. No organization can get along without boundaries or discipline for long without becoming unhealthy and falling into trouble. And that includes the Church, both TEC and the AC as a whole.
However, I encourage everyone to read the whole interview. Alas, Kendall didn’t provide the link and say, “Read it all,” for once. Elves, please rectify this!
Most of the interview actually concerns the appalling situation in Zimbabwe where President Mugabe and this thugs in the (secret) police have padlocked the doors to all the churches in Harare, the capital, and elsewhere. Last week, the Province of Central Africa actually excommunicated the notorious Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, who is one of the few people in the country still supporting that cruel, incompentent dictator, Mugabe.
Well, at least, there is some discipline being exercised somewhere in the AC. But probably no real change can take place until both Mugabe and +Kunonga are forcibly thrown out of power.
David Handy+
[blockquote]Well the Archbishop of Canterbury is desperate that nothing happen at Lambeth.[/blockquote]
So, why spend millions on tea with the Queen? Better to spend the money on MDGs! Or even, God forbid, on spreading the Gospel of Jesus Chirst. 🙂
[blockquote]He wants to prevent any sort of showdown, and so he’s devised a program that minimises any opportunity for collective mass action on particular issues.[/blockquote]
I seem to recall that in 1998 the ACC attempted to control the Lambeth Conference in order to produce a certain result. I also seem to recall that the bishops from the Global South said, “No way!” and threw the program out — liberals are still grousing about it.
A couple additions or corrections to my #2 above,
It’s not all churches of every kind, but specifically all ANGLICAN churches that are now padlocked to prevent the flocks from gathering there, since the Anglican Church is now officially hostile to President Mugabe and his crony +Kunonga. It’s a harsh, totalitarian dictatorship of the most flagrant kind. I’m glad that the villain, Bp. Kunonga has finally been deposed (rightfully, unlike Bps. Schofield and Cox here in the U.S.). as far as the AC goes. As many readers of T19 will recall, +Kunonga has the dubious distinction of being one of the very few bishops NOT invited to Lambeth (along with +Gene Robinson and +Cavalcanti etc.).
The whole interview is posted over at Anglican Mainstream.
David Handy+
Kendall/elves, is there more to read? Normally we get a Read it all hyperlink?
[i] Just in case[/i]
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2264468.htm#transcript
Sounds like a house divided to me. In TEC we call it diversity.
I disagree with George Conger when he says:
The Archbishop of Canterbury is keen that both the Covenant and the future shape of the Anglican Communion is discussed at Lambeth.
As to conservative bishops who are still deciding whether to attend or not, as I’ve said before on this site, ‘presence is more powerful than absence’.
For details, see [url=http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=310] ‘Reading and Reshaping the Anglican Communion’.[/url]
7, in your dreams.
These words – if an accurate reflection – are very telling “Well the Archbishop of Canterbury is desperate that nothing happen at Lambeth.”
Ignoring that – I believe – it will be an impossible feat to manage – The words tend to show that fear is ruling the roost. Decisions are based not on what may be right or even what is needed but only with the goal that nothing happen at this Lambeth on this Archbishop’s watch. He is preoccupied with getting thru the next 3 months.
Perhaps something as simple as a revisiting of the Lord’s prayer is in order
Paul
#7: Graham, Obesa paene cantavit.
Can’t you see that Lambeth will be a charade?
That the Tec bishops who consented to Robinson should never have been invited?
That the June Bride and his lover will be swanning around the conference site, camera crews in tow, just laughing at you all?
I fear that you liberal or open evangelicals have only paved the way for this denouement. It wasn’t what you wanted, but by dividing evangelical witness (and now seeking to drive out what’s left of the catholic voice in the COE by your advocacy of women bishops – despite the disastrous experience of decline in the US and NZ) you have unwittingly advanced the liberal agenda. Stalin had a phrase …
Everything since ‘the Windson Report’ has been an immense waste of time, money and energy, because it never proceeded from authentic Christian principle (a concern for the holiness of the church). You should have spoken earlier and plainer, as John Stott would have done. A line in the sand. Too late now.