HE General Synod’s secretary general, William Fittall, has told reporters to expect “quite a lot of tension and anxiety” at the Synod’s next meeting (4 to 8 July).
The outcome of the debates on women bishops was “genuinely hard to call”, Mr Fittall said during a media briefing on the agenda in Church House, Westminster.
Mr Fittall said that, while simple majorities on motions and amendments were all that was necessary at this “pre-legislative” stage, two-thirds majorities in all Houses would be required later for any legislation. So voting figures on motions and amendments would be watched carefully, and were likely to “prompt people to consider their estimates about their own futures”.
In response to complaints in the church press from a Winchester lay representative, Paul Eddy, after his private member’s motion on the evangelisation of Muslims did not, as he and others had expected, appear on next month’s agenda, Mr Fittall said: “There has been no malarkey.”
Mr Eddy wanted to know who set the agenda for the Synod, and, Mr Fittall said, it was the Synod’s business committee, but “not in a vacuum”: it had to respond to many demands for the Synod’s time.
In the US South FCA stands for not Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans but Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a high school and college group sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ or maybe another conservative Evangelical parachurch ministry. In the places I know Young Life is for those who don’t play the big money sports and FCA for football and basketball.
How can they be serious? Women bishops is controversial? Sorry folks but that issue was resolved the moment ECUSA went and started ordaining women without negative consequences. You can’t let the camel’s nose into the tent and expect to keep the rest of the camel out. Ms. Schori will soon have a lot of company.
ICXC NIKA
John
I wouldn’t say there have been no negative consequences in the U.S., if you look at the dramatic loss in membership since 1976, which outstrips the general mainstream loss by a significant margin.
#1, I don’t think “Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans” is the chosen name for the group; it’s just what the news people are calling it. Personally, I prefer saying “Jerusalem Fellowship.”