Archbishop’s TEC response reveals division

The last line of this article is a direct contradiction of the statement by the Bishop of Central NY in his interview with the Syracuse newspaper. You can find the Syracuse interview with Adams in an earlier post. This piece comes from Religious Intelligence via TitusOneNine. ed.

Thursday, 30th July 2009. 3:05pm

By: Matt Cresswell.

Different visions of the future Communion have been provoked by the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to the Episcopal Church’s recent convention.
Archbishop’s TEC response reveals division

Debate has intensified over whether TEC should be given the green light to establish itself in the UK, following the two tracks of the Communion referred to by the Archbishop.

Commenting on Dr Rowan Williams’ 26 point reaction to TEC’s decision to part from the moratorium placed upon them by the Communion, the Rev Giles Fraser, chair of Inclusive Church and soon to be canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, said he respected the Archbishop’s sensitivity on the matter but believed much of Dr William’s response to be ‘hypocritical’. “It [the response] says that you can’t liturgically acknowledge same-sex unions because this would be, in a sense, liturgical acknowledgment of sex outside of marriage,” he said.

“But actually the latest liturgy that the Church of England has produced for the joint wedding baptism services is precisely that, it seems to me, if you are actually getting married and having your children baptised at the same time you are producing a liturgy which acknowledges sex outside marriage so I think there is a form of hypocrisy that goes on here with regards to gay people.”

Reflecting on the Archbishop’s response he said there was now an increasing demand for TEC to be further represented outside of the US and in the UK. “If members of the Episcopal Church in London find that they are not welcome in Church of England parishes then I guess the Episcopal Church has to respond pastorally to their needs.” He added that TEC had representation in Europe with a strong centre in Paris.

Commenting on the Lambeth response Canon Chris Sugden, of Anglican Mainstream, said: “I have been speaking to senior colleagues in different parts of the world and it is clear that they have seen, possibly for the first time, that the rubicon has now been crossed.”

He added: “People are finding the analogy of the two tracks deeply problematical, because clearly people are going in very different directions. A more appropriate analogy may be that there are two games being playing on the same field. To keep it seasonal, there is a game of cricket going on and someone is playing baseball at the same time.”

Canon Sugden also agreed that a UK-based TEC might be a possibility. “Bishop Schori made a very important point in Jamaica that the Episcopal Church is not just in the US but is in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Europe,” he said. “TEC is certainly an Atlantic-based fellowship. This is not fantasy I think”

The Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Rev Graham Kings, praised the Archbishop’s response as “very clear, wise and helpful.”

Dr William’s reflections, he said, rejected implications that nothing much had changed as a result of General Convention.