In the slow-moving train crash of international Anglicanism, a decision taken in California has finally brought a large coach off the rails altogether. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to allow in principle the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n
Both the bishops and deputies (lay and clergy) of TEC knew exactly what they were doing. They were telling the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other \u201cinstruments of communion\u201d\u009d that they were ignoring their plea for a moratorium on consecrating practising homosexuals as bishops. They were rejecting the two things the Archbishop of Canterbury has named as the pathway to the future \u201d\u201d the Windsor Report (2004) and the proposed Covenant (whose aim is to provide a modus operandi for the Anglican Communion). They were formalising the schism they initiated six years ago when they consecrated as bishop a divorced man in an active same-sex relationship, against the Primates\u2019 unanimous statement that this would \u201ctear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level\u201d\u009d. In Windsor\u2019s language, they have chosen to \u201cwalk apart\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/columnists\/guest_contributors\/article6710640.ece<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the slow-moving train crash of international Anglicanism, a decision taken in California has finally brought a large coach off the rails altogether. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to…<\/span><\/p>\n