From the American Anglican Council

Message from Bishop David Anderson Bishop Anderson Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, There are several news stories we are following. One is the Archbishop of Canterbury's dismissal of his public affairs secretary, George Pitcher. According to Tim Ross of the Telegraph , "It is understood the situation came to a head when Mr Pitcher made a crude joke about the Archbishop in the Daily Telegraph's diary column following criticism of Dr Williams' attacks on the coalition." It is always ill-advised for a trusted staff member to make crude remarks about the boss, but Rowan Williams does seems to elicit controversy everywhere he ventures. Another story we are following is the marriage situation in the American Episcopal Church in New York State. Because of the recent decision by the State of New York to allow homosexual marriage, the question is, can gays and lesbians get married in an Episcopal Church? We don't mean so-called blessed unions, we mean the oxymoron, homosexual marriage. The answer is yes and no - in some places, yes, but not in others. The Episcopal Church, the perennial bad boy of the Anglican Communion when it comes to sexual matters, has not taken an official stand recently, and in any case, an official stand taken more than three or four years ago is presumed to be OK to break if it doesn't favor the zeitgeist. The State of New York has six Episcopal dioceses, and whether homosexuals can marry or not in each diocese will vary. Gays and lesbians in Queens (no pun intended) and Brooklyn can marry, but those in Manhattan and the Bronx can't. Those in the conservative diocese of Albany can't either, nor on Staten Island, but those in Syracuse can. It all depends on what the bishop allows.

Of course, if liberal priests do perform a homosexual marriage they aren't supposed to, they can always appeal any adverse ecclesial judgment, and my bet is that it would be overturned. In fact, with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's new-found powers as of July 1, she can pretty well do what she wishes. The New York Times has an article on the wedding dilemma. For those who are orthodox Anglican Christians, this all seems a tempest in a lavabo bowl; no one who is a non-celibate homosexual should be a priest or bishop, and no couple which is not heterosexual can actually be married - they can only participate in a sham of the real thing. There are principles that God has ordained which humankind simply can't reshape, redefine, or degrade into something different. Civil unions don't touch on the sacramental nature of holy matrimony, so perhaps those so interested should stop at that and not annoy the Almighty. In London, there continue to be repercussions from the launch of the Anglican Mission in England (AMIE) and the ordinations of three deacons for them in Kenya. The Archbishop of Canterbury imagined that the AMIE group and the Co-Mission Group that received the new deacons must have been less than transparent with the Kenyan Primate Eliud Wabukala. Or it could be that the Primate of Kenya does get it and the Primate of England doesn't? Can anyone remember a Primate of All England whose behavior in so many areas is so tedious? All of his pronouncements and opinions flow easily, except the right ones on the really important ones for the Anglican Communion. I remember a conversation that officially never happened at the ACC meeting in Nottingham, England some years ago, when a trusted advisor to the Primate of All England approached me for a candid conversation "off the record." He asked me what the conservatives in America really thought of Dr. Williams. I was more hopeful back then, and I answered thus: I think that in England's greatest hours of need, a puzzled and misled Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain failed miserably in the most important duty he had, keeping England safe. Then a man without parallel, Sir Winston Churchill, stepped forward and helped save not only England, but the entire free world from the darkness that had fallen over Europe. Dr. Williams needs to decide who he is for the Anglican Communion, a Neville Chamberlain or a Winston Churchill. It is his call and the future of the Anglican Communion is at stake. I was thanked, and that was the end of it; not that I expected anything more. Time has proven that Dr. Williams has made his choice and we all suffer for it. Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus. Pray for the Church and her leaders. The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr. President and CEO, American Anglican Council