Dr Butler, head of the Anglican community in the boroughs of Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich, said: “Those attending the GAFCon make claims concerning the Anglican Communion which are frankly not supportable.
“It would seem that some of the authors of the statement from the conference and the founders of the new organisation are coming to Britain to recruit from amongst our parishes and clergy.
“I will be very surprised if many from Southwark Diocese rush to join them as it was only a couple of years ago that some of our good, hardworking, thoughtful evangelical clergy asked me to take action against other, more militant, evangelicals who were planting congregations in their parishes.
“What is proposed goes against the spirit of Anglicanism and Archbishop Dr Williams is right to challenge them to think carefully before going on down this path.”
I suspect that they are going to think carefully AS they are going down the path. They won’t be coming back UP the path unless the Anglican Church provides a place for them. In honesty, though, why bother to ask for it? Let the ABC go his way with the liberal gathering.
Not supportable? Confessing Episcopalians in reappraising dioceses know this to be untrue and could provide him with quite a list of cases and instances and speeches that would convince him, if his mind were open to hearing it.
Divide and rule.
There are ‘good’ evangelicals (who behave as Bishops want them to and get an extra pat on the head for being ‘hard-working’, too) and there are ‘bad’ ones.
Though evangelicals in Southwark should count themselves fortunate. There are places in the Communion where the words ‘good’ and ‘evangelical’ would not be found together in a sentence Uttered by a bishop.
Better than being out on the lash I suppose.
Whatever.
Has anyone checked that the good Lord Bishop didn’t attend a reception at the Irish Embassy previous to that he stated this, and might just have gone DOWN the path in to the gutter again!?
Trying to protect a civil service position from interlopers. His anxiety is well founded. The monopoly may not last long.
You think we are having this reaction because after 15 years words are finally being backed by action?
If only the bishops of the CofE had been prepared to respond to TEC’s relentless unAnglican behaviour with this kind of directness.