Several Episcopal bishops who have read the draft said they are not entirely happy with it.
“There are several things in there that will be hard to swallow,” said Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington. “The references to Gene (Robinson), the moratoria and the pastoral forum.”
Bishop James Mathes of San Diego said the proposal for a pastoral forum would confuse rather than clarify disputes within provinces and dioceses.
Bishop Hector Monterroso of the Diocese of Costa Rica, Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, said the reflections have missed “a good opportunity for gay people to feel better in God’s mission in the church.”
Monterroso disputed a paragraph (104) in the document that says that in some places in the United States, Canada and England the inclusion of gays and lesbians had been good for the church. “Not only there, but in Latin America,” he said.
“In our province we need to focus on other kinds of important issues like evangelism, work with poor people and the immigrants,” he added “That kind of thing here is not the emphasis.
Like Monterroso, Bishop Bruce Caldwell of Wyoming took comfort in the “unofficial” status of the reflections.
“It is just a record of conversations,” Caldwell said. “If it were a definitive document, we would have done it in a different way.”
Read it all and our thanks to Cafe for these kinds of specifics which are so helpful for those of us seeking to follow Lambeth who are not there (is anyone else out there getting tired of generalizations?–KSH).
For a multitude of reasons, including finances, health care costs in the USA, and nature study, my husband and I are moving to Costa Rica for the next 2 years or more. We just got back to Dallas on 7/31 after a 2 1/2 month stay. We will return to Costa Rica on 10/1.
We had our doubts about the Anglican presence in CR because we had learned something that indicated it might be pretty liberal. We did make a good faith attempt to connect with the Anglican church in San Jose, but it is more than an hour’s drive from our house to an area of the capital citywe felt was not safe; attending would have involved finding a guarded place to park the car, then walking from there to the pedestrians-only area (streets closed to vehicles) to get to the church. This is problematic due to Dick’s mobility problems. We gave up on it for security and legitimate physical reasons and have continued to attend Mass at the RC church in our community, week after week.
Now that we’ve seen what Bp. Monterroso has to say, we are even less inclined to pursue an Anglican connection in the Province/ Diocese of Costa Rica.
When we return, we are going to make an appointment with the RC priest in Puriscal to see if we can get permission to receive Communion. Otherwise, we’ll need to import orthodox Anglican priests to visit so we can receive communion.
It was a true joy, blessing, and relief to receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord at the Saturday morning mass today at St. Francis, having not received for 2 1/2 months. That’s the longest I’ve gone without receiving in 30 years.
The Lord bless your journey, Connie, and in this time of judgment and exile I pray you hold fast to the small good things and find rest for your souls.