2. The call from the Archbishop of Canterbury for a Primates Meeting in 2009. This will determine where the wider communion is and how broadly support for the Instruments remains. We hope all Primates will be present and that the work of the Communion will continue in these challenging days. If there is to be a Faith and Order committee of some description, as suggested, the input of the Primates into this important initiative is critical.
3. The endorsement from the Archbishop of Canterbury of the Covenant Process, Lambeth 1.10, Communion Partners, and a Pastoral Forum. In several public statements he clarified considerably his own view on the teaching of the church in the area of human sexuality, and was clearer about the consequence of pressing forward with departures from that teaching. In our view, this indicates a realism about the probability of Bishops and Dioceses moving forward with same-sex blessings in a more concerted manner. Already we are seeing news reports to that effect.
4. We welcome the call for moratoria and the timing of these, as this places the matter firmly before the Communion as a totality.
Posted below.
[blockquote] Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, said in an interview upon his return from London that he will continue to ordain gay clergy, which he called “pastorally important.”
He also said that local priests will continue to bless same-sex marriages, although Shaw said that those priests are doing so on their own and that “I haven’t authorized anybody to do anything.”[/blockquote]
I am sure the Primates and the ABC will handle this just as they did at Dar, with of course the invaluable assistance of the ACI.
[blockquote] 3. The endorsement from the Archbishop of Canterbury of the Covenant Process, Lambeth 1.10, Communion Partners, and a Pastoral Forum. In several public statements he clarified considerably his own view on the teaching of the church in the area of human sexuality, and was clearer about the consequence of pressing forward with departures from that teaching. In our view, this indicates a realism about the probability of Bishops and Dioceses moving forward with same-sex blessings in a more concerted manner. Already we are seeing news reports to that effect.[/blockquote]
And this acknowledges the perpetualizing of the (unequal) duality of the status quo? Both 1.10 and SSB coexisting. And ACI categorizes this an accomplishment???? Someone please tell me what ACI is thinking here! I am thoroughly mystified.
[blockquote]It is crucial to have Lambeth and especially the Archbishop’s own clear statements against which to view the next developments. [/blockquote]
Doesn’t ACI mean the Abp’s own duplicitous statements? I am further mystified by ACI’s genuflection toward +Cantuar. Whew!
As long as there is a process through Canterbury for dealing with TEC , no matter how long or delayed it is, I trust ACI will back it and put their hope in it.
… and, well, we all know just about how much the AoC supports the Primates Meeting.
In discussing the ABC’s lack of clarity on SSBs, Matt Kennedy helpfully summarizes the historical context:
I sometimes think that maybe Bill Engvall should do a worldwide Anglican tour just for us reasserters.
😉
Good old ACI. They have to include a shot at GAFCON, but it’s all sweetness and light from Canterbury. One wonders, if GAFCON is the standard, why Seitz and Turner are equally “not clear†on why we should expect so much from the Pastoral Forum, when virtually the same thing was proposed at DES, before being ignored into oblivion by Rowan Williams? And, one might wonder more generally, why the prospect of a Primates Meeting is of such excitement and why it is, again, “not clear†what the point of one is, considering Williams actively sabotaged the last one? One last time, given moratoria such as those mentioned here have been the working request of the Communion since at least the time of the Windsor Report, it’s striking that ACI has suddenly received such clarity, after years of seeing that requests from the Communion have precisely zero impact on ECUSA.
GAFCON should be the last direction Anglican Communion defenders should aim their barbs, as events since 2003 show that what is truly “unclear†is what the purpose of any Communion pronouncement “actually entails.â€
Phil, I have the same questions as you. This is simply a repeat of what has happened before. We have been betrayed once by the ABC and the ACI, so why should we trust the exact same scenerio in which the same people are actors? And we need to always keep in mind Matt Kennedy’s historical summary. So the question for me is: “What is the ACI playing at?”
[blockquote]it’s all sweetness and light from Canterbury[/blockquote]
Phil, my take is that for some reason ACI’s position is that in order for Anglicanism to be Anglicanism it must be directed by +Cantuar (regardless of his double-mindedness and complete scuttling of the other instruments of communion) – full stop. I would like ACI to illustrate, with the detail they are famous for, why Abp. Williams ought to be given any consideration more than a vote of no confidence. I’d also like them to issue a paper within the week that demonstrates the benefits to parishioners of Lambeth 2008. Something’s very wrong here.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
I don’t think Rowan Williams’ 2009 Primates meeting will go like the 2007 convocation.
Being of an age where I remember Fox Newreels I am reminded of the British PM getting of a plane after confering with Adolph Hitler waving paper in the air and proclaiming, “Peace in our time.” Then came World War Two. Lambeth 2008 I believe was like that PM and I’m waiting for the Anglican War to break out.
This whole thing reminds me of nothing more than one who is lame in one leg, lost in the wilderness, walking around and around and around in the same, big circle.
Enough already. Lambeth 2008 was purposely designed to perpetuate what +Cantuar has said numerous times what he wants to happen, namely, “keep both sides at the same table, talking to each other” – endlessly, it seems, if necessary.
Yes, a Bishop is to be gentle, temperate and self-controlled. He is also to “reprove, rebuke, exhort”, to “silence rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers”, “hold fast the faithful word and refute those who contradict” and “reprove severely” if necessary.
From a man who is reputed to be the sound Christian theologian as His Grace is, it saddens me to see that he has been unable to bring these basic Biblical requirements to bear in his position as the chief under-shepherd of his flock. So now, the sheep wander about upon the mountains and hills, because they have no shepherd. The wolves in sheep’s clothing have scattered them, and when other faithful shepherds attempt to step in and protect them, the chief under-shepherd equates them with the wolves who have scattered the flock in the first place-sadly, even seeming to side with the wolves.
But He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy.”
I hope that the ABC leaves out the word “Indaba” at next years’ Primates Conference.
Good ol’ ACI. Pollyanna is alive and well in the hallowed halls of ACI.
Close eyes. Stick fingers in ears. Chant, “La, La, La, La” incessantly until you forget why you needed to close eye, stick fingers in ears and chant, “La, La, La, La.” Repeat as needed.
12 LOL!!! Thanks for your ‘truth through humor’ post!
Not quite Panglossian, but anamored of a process that will not be particularly important, I suspect. Both TEC and GAFCON are going to battle for the heart of the Communion. It won’t be pretty, and little of it will consist of skirmishes involving the documents in question. TEC is way, way inside the Communion’s decision envelope, rendering its pronouncements obsolete even before they are published. GAFCON realizes this and will also work to change the facts on the ground to counter the revisionists’ heresies.
We’ll see it all up close and personal.
Rather than yet another summer camp, why don’t the Primates “meet” via Internet — and use the money that would otherwise have been spent on airline tickets, hotels, banquets, etc. towards the MDG? Think of the savings on the carbon footprint!
#15 Actually performing practical, energy efficient, “planet saving” measures is only for the vast, unwashed masses-not for the elite. You know the old saying, “Don’t do as I do-do as I say!” Sums up to a ‘T’ the lives of leftwing elitists worldwide, I’d say.
A week has passed and no further word from ACI (no surprise here), who’ve collectively slunk back into their cloistered cloud of academia.