Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said he wasn’t surprised with the Lambeth Conference’s call for a moratorium on actions that have led to divisions over sexuality. He said that bishops needed to be honest that this has been “a huge, huge challenge to implement.”
Archbishop Hiltz said that the moratorium and other recommendations are matters for the Canadian house of bishops and the Council of General Synod ”“ the church’s governing body between General Synods ”“ to discuss. Bishops were also presented with a proposal to create a pastoral forum that would create a “safe space” for conservative Anglicans who have left their churches.
There was wide agreement that moratoria on same-sex blessings, the ordination of gay bishops and cross-border interventions by conservative bishops would help to heal the conflict engulfing the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury warned that failure to heed the call would put the Communion “in grave peril.”
This certainly sounds like the reappraisers see movement as being possible in one direction only — towards their position. And it is true that they really cannot go back to the way things were in 2000. The thinking that produced Bp Robinson (and the homosexual priest who preceded him) was there in 2000 and would still be there even with a rollback. We cannot change people’s thinking by legislative fiat — although legislation can at times give time for thought and for change.
I sometimes think that one reason we are in this mess is because we tried to fight the sin of homosexual activity using only psychological tools (shame, derision, etc) rather than spiritual tools, such as love and prayer. If we had not left it to the culture at large to suppress homosexual activity, but had had outreach ministries emphasizing both truth and compassion all along, we might never have gotten to the place we are now.
I do wish they (Abp Hiltz, etc) would recognize that there are now two religions inhabiting one structure, and allow for as peaceful a separation as possible.
When rot sets in to an apple, you could cut it out. But you can’t cure the spot. If you wait too long you have to chuck the whole thing and look for good fruit.
What is the old saying…you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube?
Pandora’s box…and all that….something even the ancient Greeks new all about…which is EXACTLY why it should not have been allowed to occur in the first place, and the revisionists knew it would be so. EXACTLY the same as the “irregular” ordinations in 1977.
He said that bishops needed to be honest that this [moratorium]has been “a huge, huge challenge to implement.â€
Strange, isn’t it, that SSB’s themselves were not such a huge challenge to implement.
Should be honest and form his own church on his own belief system, but probably would have lost his sinecure………………………..now, it’s just the loss of the AC.
It’s revealing that Bishop Victoria Matthews, former Canadian Bishop of Edmonton, Alberta, and now Bishop of Christchurch in New Zealand and a member of the Windsor Continuation Group, emphatically states that asking +Gene Robinson to resign has never, at any time, been considered by the WCG. Contrast the bold call for precisely that act of genuine repentance by the new Primate of Sudan, Archibishop Daniel Deng Bul of Juba.
I submit that what is impossible is for a mere “moratorium” to last. By definition, a moratorium is a temporary truce. Either the AC is going to have to accept more gay bishops like Robinson (perhaps soon, with the proposed appointment of the famous/infamous Jeffrey John, Dean of St. Alban’s in England as the new Bishop of Bangor in north Wales), or it is going to have to bite the bullet and genuinely repent (as it should) for the scandalous and totally inexcusable toleration of an openly immoral man like the current Bishop of New Hampshire. Either homosexual behavior is a sin, or it’s not. And that would be UNIVERSALLY true, regardless of cultural context.
The fact is, the clear and consistent teaching of Scripture and Tradition on this matter is eminently reasonable and binding. There is absolutely no theological justification for the pro-gay movement. Zip. Zilch. Nada. None.
I welcome this forthright statement from ++Hiltz and others, even while I lament the spiritual blindness it displays. As is becoming ever more clear, the tear in the fabric of the AC continues to widen. The AC will continue to unravel and disintegrate, since two rival, incompatible, and mutually exclusive worldviews and religions are competing for dominance.
As the Master warned us, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” No, the Canadians will doubtless continue in their unrepentant ways. And they will be joined by other liberal provinces like Scotland, New Zealand, and Wales.
And that is why the New Reformation is necessary and fully justified.
David Handy+