Reflecting of the recent turn of events in Los Angeles

From Not Worthy of the Name, the blog of Fr. John Newton, via TitusOneNine:

Friday March 19, 2010

Dear fellow parishioners at Messiah:

My main purpose in writing this week is to reflect on the news that a majority of the bishops and standing committees of the Episcopal Church have given their consent to move ahead with the ordination of a partnered lesbian as a bishop in the diocese of Los Angeles.

Mary Glasspool was elected to that position at a convention of the Episcopal diocese of LA on December 5 of last year. The canon law of the Episcopal Church requires that the ordination cannot proceed until a majority of the Bishops and standing committees of all the dioceses in the Episcopal Church (56/110) give their consent in writing. This happened on March 16, and the ordination is set to take place on May 15.

There has been immediate reaction, both negative and positive, both within the United States and around the world. Here is the official statement from the office Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury:

It is regrettable that the appeals from Anglican Communion bodies for continuing gracious restraint have not been heeded. Following the Los Angeles election in December the archbishop made clear that the outcome of the consent process would have important implications for the communion. The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion reiterated these concerns in its December resolution which called for the existing moratoria to be upheld. Further consultation will now take place about the implications and consequences of this decision.

My own position on the matter is the same as that of Dr Kendall Harmon, Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and blogster extraordinaire . He writes:

"I am saddened but not surprised by today’s news. This decision represents not simply a change in doctrine, nor a single change in practice, but an established pattern of common life. It is contrary to the teaching of Holy Scripture and the mind of the church catholic."

This was an accident waiting to happen. In a way it is almost surprising that it took seven years from the ordination of Gene Robinson, a partnered gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire, for a second such incident to occur. That event has been seen as tearing the fabric of the Anglican Communion, which has been held together in little more than name ever since. Is this the final nail in the coffin? Will the Anglican Communion be torn apart by intractable divisions?

The fourth Anglican Global South to South Encounter is set to take place in Singapore, April 19-23. The current situation in the Episcopal Church is not their principal focus. Yet they represent the large and growing majority of Anglicans in the world, and the primates (archbishops) and others who will be present are unequivocally committed to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth conference of bishops, which remains the official position of the Anglican Communion and which states:

• in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
• recognizes that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God's transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
• while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex; [and]
• cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions…

Many of the provinces (national church bodies) represented at this Global South encounter are already out of communion with the Episcopal Church or in "impaired communion". Please pray for these godly brothers and sisters as they prepare for this important gathering.

Pray also for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also for the godly bishops who still remain in the Episcopal Church, such as our own Visitor Bishop, Russell Jacobus of the Diocese of Fond du Lac. And let us believe that the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead is more than able to bring light into this dark turn of events, to bring good out of evil, and breathe life into a culture of death.