ZZZZZ…
In news that absolutely nobody anywhere cares anything about(I can barely stay awake long enough to post this), the Anglican Covenant was rejected by the Church of England and is probably as officially dead as you already knew it was at least a year ago:
In the light of today’s news about the decisions of the dioceses of the Church of England about the Covenant I wanted to clarify the current situation across the Anglican Communion.
What next steps are taken by the Church of England is up to that Province. Consideration of the Covenant continues across the Anglican Communion and this was always expected to be a lengthy process. I look forward to all the reports of progress to date at the ACC-15 in New Zealand in November.
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, who probably hasn’t set foot inside an Anglican parish since he was a boy, thinks the C of E’s refusal is a good thing becausethe British no longer have to pretend to respect those filthy foreign bigots of ListeningTM and crap.
Something very significant in the history of the Church of England happened on Saturday. An absolute majority of dioceses in the Church of England, debating diocese by diocese, voted down a pernicious scheme called the Anglican Covenant. This was an effort to increase the power of centralising bureaucracy throughout the worldwide Anglican communion. However much the promoters denied it, the principal aim was to discipline Anglican churches in the United States and Canada, which had the gall to think for themselves and, after much prayer and discussion, to treat gay people just like anybody else.
So now Anglicanism needs to move forward and forget this sorry diversion, into which many perfectly well-meaning people poured a huge amount of energy over a decade when they might have been doing something useful. Woe betide any attempt to revive it, though I notice that the secretary general of the Anglican communion (now there’s an office that sounds ripe for culling) is clearly determined to keep it alive. To judge by a press statement he issued after the votes, he simply hasn’t understood the scale of the catastrophe the covenant has suffered at the hands of ordinary English Anglicans.
Anglicanism could be seen as a family: in families, you don’t expect everyone to think in exactly the same way. You listen, you shout, cry, talk, compromise. You do not show the door to one member of the family, just because you don’t agree with them. Now Anglicans can start listening afresh. The present archbishop of Canterbury has their warm good wishes, as he prepares to use his many talents and graces in a different setting. They should ask the next man or woman in the job to reconnect with the church and the nation.
GAFCON realized the Covenant was a sham a long time ago but, notes Tobias Haller, you know how Machiavellian Africans can be.
I’m not so sure the thing is quite completely dead in England yet. However, it’s rejection at this point may well lead Southern Africa not to give final approval later this year. I don’t think TEC is going to adopt. The English action may well have a chilling effect — but it may inspire some of the Gafcon folks who were against it to sign on, and then amend the thing to their liking. I think that may have been in their minds all along, and Ephraim Radner suggested as much not too far back.
After further review, though, Haller thinks that might not be as easy as he initially thought. But it might not need to be. Next month, GAFCON is meeting in London and all it would take to send Episcopal blood pressure sky-high would be for Rowan Williams to drop by for a visit and perhaps an address.
Will he go? Hard to say. Since my gracious lord of Canterbury is on the way out, he doesn’t need to pretend to like traditionalists anymore. He also doesn’t need to care about liberal opinion either so a trip to the conference, with the implicit recognition such a visit would provide, is not out of the question.
As the C of E’s liberals might look askance, it’s possible that the Primate of England or any of the other contenders for Lambeth Palace would be reluctant to stop by. But of the contenders, Dr. Sentamu might be the most likely of the English hierarchy to address GAFCON. Considering his history, the high-toned disapproval of people like Diarmaid MacCulloch probably doesn’t count for very much.
UPDATE: I stand corrected. The Prof informs me that MacCulloch was ordained a deacon in the C of E in 1986.
In the light of today’s news about the decisions of the dioceses of the Church of England about the Covenant I wanted to clarify the current situation across the Anglican Communion.
What next steps are taken by the Church of England is up to that Province. Consideration of the Covenant continues across the Anglican Communion and this was always expected to be a lengthy process. I look forward to all the reports of progress to date at the ACC-15 in New Zealand in November.
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, who probably hasn’t set foot inside an Anglican parish since he was a boy, thinks the C of E’s refusal is a good thing because
Something very significant in the history of the Church of England happened on Saturday. An absolute majority of dioceses in the Church of England, debating diocese by diocese, voted down a pernicious scheme called the Anglican Covenant. This was an effort to increase the power of centralising bureaucracy throughout the worldwide Anglican communion. However much the promoters denied it, the principal aim was to discipline Anglican churches in the United States and Canada, which had the gall to think for themselves and, after much prayer and discussion, to treat gay people just like anybody else.
So now Anglicanism needs to move forward and forget this sorry diversion, into which many perfectly well-meaning people poured a huge amount of energy over a decade when they might have been doing something useful. Woe betide any attempt to revive it, though I notice that the secretary general of the Anglican communion (now there’s an office that sounds ripe for culling) is clearly determined to keep it alive. To judge by a press statement he issued after the votes, he simply hasn’t understood the scale of the catastrophe the covenant has suffered at the hands of ordinary English Anglicans.
Anglicanism could be seen as a family: in families, you don’t expect everyone to think in exactly the same way. You listen, you shout, cry, talk, compromise. You do not show the door to one member of the family, just because you don’t agree with them. Now Anglicans can start listening afresh. The present archbishop of Canterbury has their warm good wishes, as he prepares to use his many talents and graces in a different setting. They should ask the next man or woman in the job to reconnect with the church and the nation.
GAFCON realized the Covenant was a sham a long time ago but, notes Tobias Haller, you know how Machiavellian Africans can be.
I’m not so sure the thing is quite completely dead in England yet. However, it’s rejection at this point may well lead Southern Africa not to give final approval later this year. I don’t think TEC is going to adopt. The English action may well have a chilling effect — but it may inspire some of the Gafcon folks who were against it to sign on, and then amend the thing to their liking. I think that may have been in their minds all along, and Ephraim Radner suggested as much not too far back.
After further review, though, Haller thinks that might not be as easy as he initially thought. But it might not need to be. Next month, GAFCON is meeting in London and all it would take to send Episcopal blood pressure sky-high would be for Rowan Williams to drop by for a visit and perhaps an address.
Will he go? Hard to say. Since my gracious lord of Canterbury is on the way out, he doesn’t need to pretend to like traditionalists anymore. He also doesn’t need to care about liberal opinion either so a trip to the conference, with the implicit recognition such a visit would provide, is not out of the question.
As the C of E’s liberals might look askance, it’s possible that the Primate of England or any of the other contenders for Lambeth Palace would be reluctant to stop by. But of the contenders, Dr. Sentamu might be the most likely of the English hierarchy to address GAFCON. Considering his history, the high-toned disapproval of people like Diarmaid MacCulloch probably doesn’t count for very much.
UPDATE: I stand corrected. The Prof informs me that MacCulloch was ordained a deacon in the C of E in 1986.
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