Will the ‘bonds of mutual affection’ hold?

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Statement on Los Angeles Episcopal Elections

December 6, 2009

“The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.

The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.

The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold.”

– from The Anglican Communion News Service.

This might be an appropriate time to re-read The Episcopal Church: Tearing the fabric of the Communion to shreds, prepared by the American Anglican Council in February 2009. It’s an 820kb PDF file.

Dean of Auckland elected Bishop

Dean Ross Bay“Ross Bay has been elected as the new Anglican Bishop of Auckland.

The Dean of Parnell’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, 44-year-old Bay is being touted as further evidence that the church is placing its trust in a new generation of leaders…”

– TVNZ reports on the election of a bishop to replace Bp John Paterson, who will retire in March. Video report here. Profile here.

Lesbian Episcopal priest elected LA assistant bishop

Mary Glasspool“The six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected the Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, canon to the bishops of the Baltimore-based Diocese of Maryland, to the office of bishop suffragan, in which she is called to assist Bishop Diocesan J. Jon Bruno in ministry to the region’s 70,000 parishioners. Glasspool, 55, was elected Dec. 5 on the seventh ballot taken by some 800 clergy and lay delegates to the 114th Annual Meeting of Diocesan Convention…

The second woman to be elected a bishop in the diocese’s 114-year history, Glasspool is also the first openly partnered lesbian to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church…”

– Press release from the Diocese of Los Angeles.

See also this story from Associated Press.