From the American Anglican Council:
Dearly Beloved in Christ Jesus,
The recent actions of the American Episcopal Church (TEC) can now be seen in the full light of day, with the announcements that the Diocese of Los Angeles' candidates for Bishop include a gay man and a lesbian, and that the Diocese of Minnesota has a lesbian candidate. Of the three, at least two are known to be "partnered" homosexuals, and living a life that much of the Anglican Communion will find difficult to accept.
The Episcopal Church leaders believe that everyone else has a short memory, so they can tell the world one thing on Monday, change the story on Wednesday, and revise it again by the weekend. The Archbishop of Canterbury went personally to ask TEC at their General Convention not to overturn the moratoria asked for by the Communion, and specifically to leave B033 intact. Instead, TEC passed D025, which removed the moratorium on homosexual bishops, and TEC's own media representative announced that it had overturned B033. After that news resounded all over the world and negative press ensued, the Presiding Bishop of TEC, Katharine Jefferts Schori, quickly explained that TEC hadn't overturned B033, and that D025 was merely descriptive, whatever that means.
"Descriptive" is now illustrated, as we see the floodgates open and three homosexual candidates pour through, only weeks after the vote. General Convention 2009 was a signal to the LGBT community that their day had come. One wonders why, however, in the bizarre world of TEC, there were no bisexual or transgendered candidates put forward for bishop. That, perhaps, is being held for the next round of elections.
Along with this immediate rush to break the moratorium on homosexual bishops comes the news that some Church of England (CofE) parishes are thinking of linking up with TEC. This is a strategy that TEC has been working on, and it is diabolically brilliant - use TEC money to pull in additional dioceses offshore from the United States and make them part of TEC, then call TEC an international organization. Next, link up with or plant TEC churches in England, right under the Archbishop of Canterbury's nose, and bring the TEC heterodoxy and chaos all the way up to the wall surrounding Lambeth Palace.
While Dr. Williams is believing this is a family dispute and he can have two tracks and still keep the family together (albeit with one track functioning at a higher level than the other), he is missing the importance of Jefferts Schori's actions. She is bringing the war to his doorstep, and means to create the second tier of the Communion as a separate TEC-led Communion with herself replacing Rowan Williams as the head.
Dr. Williams apparently does not realize that this is not only a battle for Christianity, and for the soul of Anglicanism, and even for the CofE, but for his own role as "primus inter pares." He believes this is about an issue or two that we may have to agree to disagree over, while Jefferts Schori is setting him up for checkmate. Where can he turn? The Anglican Communion Office is an extension of Jefferts Schori's machinations. The Anglican Consultative Council just met and departed in near shambles. The financial report indicated that there wasn't money to have another Primates meeting for some while, so what is Canterbury to do?
The easiest and most obvious response is to put Jefferts Schori and TEC on the defensive: 1) personally recognize the Anglican Church in North America; 2) make an alliance with the conservative orthodox in the General Synod, and protect his own flank; 3) find the money and reconvene the Primates, putting Jefferts Schori and TEC in the dock. Is he willing to be so bold? The situation in the global Anglican Communion has worsened since as recently as the Alexandria Primates meeting, and now, after Jamaica, after TEC's General Convention flouted his pleas, after D025 and three homosexual candidates put forward for bishop in two major dioceses in the USA, and after the recent announcement by Inclusive Church in the UK, Dr. Williams should see that he needs friends, not more Indaba and Ubuntu. The Rev. Peter Ould has written an article included in this distribution, and he examines the unfolding events in the UK. He comments on Inclusive Church, Ruth Gledhill, and Rowan himself. If anything Peter Ould understates the malignancy of the false gospel coming across from TEC, and the amount of time that the CofE has left to deal with it.
Now to end on an upbeat and positive note - and who doesn't need that in these times of church wars - the worrisome news from Uganda was of starvation and hunger in some sectors and they issued a call for help. The very good news is of the cooperation of churches around the world to bring relief. Anglican Mainstream (UK) and the American Anglican Council both picked up on the request from Uganda's Anglican Primate Henry Orombi for food assistance to keep people alive. We put this up on the AAC website last week and we have received over $8,500 from online giving for Uganda food assistance. As the word gets out, we know that more caring people, Anglicans and non-Anglicans, will step forward to help save lives. Funds that the AAC receives will be wired directly to the Ugandan Primate's office for immediate use. Please continue to donate to this worthy cause and to the work of the AAC.
Blessings and peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
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