NEENER, NEENER

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Now that resistance has been crushed, the Anglican Communion doesn’t have to pretend anymore:

The appointment of an American priest to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) does not mean that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ban on members of churches in violation of the Windsor Report serving on ecumenical dialogue committees has been lifted, the staff of the Anglican Consultative Council reports, as the new commission member is not American enough to trigger the ban.

Um…what?!!

The appointment to the ARCIC III team of one of the author’s the Episcopal Church’s apologia for gay ‘bishops and blessings’ has caused disquiet among conservatives. It is also likely to set back Dr. Rowan Williams’ hopes for regaining the trust of the majority faction within the Communion, who hold a jaundiced view of the probity of the ACC staff.

All together now. YA THINK?!! Here’s how AngConsCoun tried to spin it.

A spokesman for the ACC told CEN “Canon Prof McIntosh is a canon residentiary of Durham and is licensed as a priest in the Church of England. So he is not prevented from being a member of ARCIC.”

Does the name Phil Ashey ring a bell?

This explanation has rung false with critics of the ACC, who note that some Americans appear to be more American than others. Canon Phil Ashey, who was barred from taking his seat as a delegate from Uganda at the ACC meeting in Jamaica on the grounds that although he was a bona fida priest of the Church of Uganda he was an American and former Episcopal priest, stated he was disappointed by the news, saying this was “further evidence” that the ACC, Canon Kearon and “ultimately the Archbishop of Canterbury make up the rules as they go along and then choose whether or not to abide by them.”

That right there is why any idea of reforming Anglicanism while continuing any sort of association with the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Lambeth apparatchiks is a doomed enterprise. Because their words mean whatever they need for them to mean.