Bishop Richard Ellena of Nelson: Lambeth an expensive exercise in futility
Posted on August 3, 2008
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Stand Firm has published, with permission, a letter from Bishop Richard Ellena of the New Zealand Diocese of Nelson:
We are now in the last couple of days of Lambeth and I am feeling deeply sad.
I don’t know why at the moment – everything I came here hoping for looks set to be agreed to:
It is very likely that the Windsor continuation report will be approved – which means that a moratoria on gay bishops will continue etc….
And it seems likely that a covenant process will be endorsed and a draft agreed to.
All this seems good to me and yet I can’t help this overwhelming sadness.
Because I am more convinced than ever that none of this will help us. Those who have stayed away will not agree to it and will continue their ministry in the States. And TEC will continue to bleat that they won’t follow the moratoria while these Africans continue to ignore it.
I believe (at this stage – and there are still two days to go) that this has been the most expensive exercise in futility that I have every been to. …
– Read the rest of the message at Stand Firm.
Sarah Hey of Stand Firm has also posted online an audio interview with Bishop Ellena.
(Photo: Diocese of Nelson.)
Lambeth 2008: A Conversation with Archbishop Venables
Posted on August 2, 2008
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Kevin Kallsen of Anglican TV has posted online a 35 minute video interview with Archbishop Gregory Venables.
Archbishop Venables compares Lambeth with GAFCON and notes that Lambeth has totally ignored GAFCON – it’s as if it didn’t happen.
At Lambeth? “We haven’t talked about the gospel. We haven’t talked about salvation.” “The toothpaste has been squeezed out of the tube and we are not able to put it back again.”
Reports of Anglican demise exaggerated
Posted on August 2, 2008
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There is an industry saying that people uncritically accept media reports, except in their area of expertise. Then the media gets it totally wrong. Although I have been a journalist for 30 years, my time in the GAFCON pressroom proved that old adage.
As well as being responsible for Archbishop Jensen’s media liaison, I was privileged to be a part of the GAFCON media team, a group made up of Anglican press officers from around the world: Uganda, Canada, Nigeria, the US and Kenya plus a Norwegian fellow traveller. …
– Russell Powell reflects on the media’s reporting of GAFCON at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Russell interviews Bishop Al Stewart – with Tim Robinson filming – overlooking the Sea of Galilee . Photo: Zac Veron.)
Pittsburgh changes address – just in case
Posted on August 2, 2008
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The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is in the process of moving its online home to www.pitanglican.org. The new address, based on Pittsburgh’s airport code, now is the primary host for the diocesan website and all diocesan staff email accounts.
“We are grateful for the use of our former address, pgh.anglican.org, which has been very kindly loaned to us by the Society of Archbishop Justus for more than a decade. That said, given the diocese’s coming vote on realignment and the decision of the Society earlier this year to take back the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin’s address after it approved a similar vote, it seemed prudent to make this change now,” said the Rev. Peter Frank, director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.…
– More at pitanglican.org. (See also “San Joaquin website disappears” from March 2008.)
“An Open Door, Pittsburgh Laity Discuss Realignment”
Posted on August 1, 2008
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A ten minute video has been produced to help members of the Diocese of Pittsburgh as they consider realigning with the Province of the Southern Cone.
Featuring lay members of churches across the diocese, the stark choice of either staying in The Episcopal Church or leaving is clearly presented. Worth watching as a reminder to pray for these brothers and sisters as their diocesan convention approaches next month.
– The video is available at parishtoolbox.org – a website produced by the Diocese of Pittsburgh. (Photo: Dr. Edith Humphrey narrates the video.)
Bishop speaks of ‘Interfaith relations’ with members of the TEC House of Bishops
Posted on July 31, 2008
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Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield spoke of his own Christian faith and responded to questions from the media during a 45-minute session at the Lambeth Conference on July 30.
It was one of the few unscripted moments that the media have been able to observe to date at this event, and Bishop Beckwith drew a large group that delayed the start of an official Episcopal News Service media briefing…
[Speaking of some of his TEC episcopal colleagues, he said –]
“It’s not just that we’re not on the same page,” he said. “We are not in the same book. We are in different libraries. I am dealing with interfaith relations within The Episcopal Church.” …
– Report from The Living Church. (Photo: Diocese of Springfield.)
… it’s knowing they’re foreign that makes them so mad
Posted on July 31, 2008
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I was reminded of this line from the Flanders and Swann piece of gentle self-mockery, A Song of Patriotic Prejudice, when I discovered that in a cross post to my little article on Thirty-two years of women’s ordination in the American context someone on the Stand Firm website had listed a whole string of similar words and actions which we in England might find bizarre, but which are quite common, it would seem in TEC. …
– from John Richardson at the Ugley Vicar.
Why we need an ACL
Posted on July 31, 2008
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– That’s not the title of the Rev. Todd Wetzel’s report from Canterbury, but the American experience shows what can happen when committees and synods take on a life of their own, not representing the local churches.
In 2000, I called the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson the most dangerous man in the Episcopal Church.
Before you jump to conclusions, let me say that I was very clear that it was not because I considered him a “bad” person. Quite the contrary, he was (and is) very articulate, a capable and well liked priest, intelligent, reasonably good looking, a skilled consultant who was (and is), by his own admission, non-celibate and a person of homosexual orientation. As a member of the diocesan staff, he was well known locally. I called him ‘dangerous’ because he was elect-able. And, if elected, and consecrated, chaos would emerge within the Episcopal Church and the Communion. …
Read his full post at Anglicans United. (See also the ACL’s Policy Objectives.)
The Pointy Hat Club
Posted on July 31, 2008
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Once upon a time in a far away place called Dar Es Salaam there was a party attended by boys and girls who liked to wear pointy hats, including one girl who liked to wear a pointy hat, but who sometimes wore a rainbow-colored oven mitt on her head instead. The other boys and girls were very polite and never used the words “oven mitt” in front of the one girl because they knew it would make her very cross. …
– Robert S. Munday, Dean of Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, has written this little story. You might enjoy it – but it has a serious side.
(Photo: Episcopal Life Online / Richard Schori.)
Archbishop Mouneer Anis spells it out
Posted on July 31, 2008
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“I find that many of our North American friends blame us and criticise us for bringing in the issues of sexuality and homosexuality but in fact they are the ones who are bringing these issues in. Here at Lambeth, you come across many advertisements for events organised by gay and Lesbian activists which are sponsored by the North American Church.
If you visit the marketplace at the conference, you will notice that almost half the events promoted on the noticeboard promote homosexuality and are sponsored by the North Americans. And in the end, we, the people who remain loyal to the original teaching of the Anglican Communion, which we received from the Apostles, are blamed. They say that we talk a lot about sexuality and that we need to talk more about poverty, about AIDS, and injustice. They are the ones who are bringing sexuality into this conference. It’s not us. We want to talk about the heart of the issues which divide us, not only sexuality. That is just a symptom of a deeper problem. …”
– Archbishop of Egypt, Dr Mouneer H. Anis in “Lambeth Voices: a panel of Anglican bishops share their views with Faith Online” at TimesOnline. (Photo: ENS.)
Sydney Standing Committee endorses Jerusalem Declaration
Posted on July 30, 2008
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The Standing committee of the Diocese of Sydney has overwhelmingly endorsed the Jerusalem Declaration from GAFCON, with the Bishop of North Sydney calling it a “great moment in defining Anglicanism”. …
– Report by Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.
What will Lambeth 08 say?
Posted on July 30, 2008
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‘What is Lambeth ’08 going to say?’ is the question looming larger all the time as this final week unfolds. But before trying out any thoughts on that, I want to touch on the prior question, a question that could be expressed as ‘Where is Lambeth ’08 going to speak from?’. I believe if we can answer that adequately, we shall have laid some firm foundations for whatever content there will be. …
– Archbishop Rowan Williams’ second address to the Lambeth Conference. (Photo: Lambeth Conference media.)
On the Windsor Continuation Group
Posted on July 29, 2008
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John Richardson, just back from his honeymoon (congratulations John and Alison), has some refreshingly honest words about the preliminary observations of the Windsor Continuation Group at the Lambeth Conference.
The executive summary of his analysis?
“as much use as a chocolate ladder at a house fire”
Read John’s post here.
John recently appeared as a spokesman for Reform on the UK’s Christian channel – Premier TV – in a programme (‘The Gay Christian debate’) about Lambeth and Gene Robinson. It may now be seen here.
See also Ruth Gledhill’s “Lambeth Diary: ‘Pastoral Forum’ proposed” in Times Online.
Blame Africa? The Anglicans and their troubles
Posted on July 29, 2008
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The Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops is meeting in Britain, even as the worldwide Anglican communion is about to tear itself asunder over issues of homosexuality, gender, and biblical authority. Over 200 conservative bishops are boycotting the conference, and the global media are trying to figure out how to report the meeting.
One of the most creative and revealing attempts at an explanation comes now from The Economist. …
– Al Mohler comments on some classic spin.
How many CHURCHGOING Anglicans does Lambeth represent?
Posted on July 28, 2008
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A lot of things have been said over the last few months about just who represents whom in the Anglican world. GAFCON, for example, is pilloried by the media and the leadership at Lambeth as a “breakaway” movement. But, is this right?
Already some journalists are beginning to realise that while the Lambeth Conference might have a large number of bishops in attendance, those bishops actually represent a SMALL MINORITY of the world’s Anglicans. …
– Bishop David Chislett, of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, looks at the numbers.
(Bishop Chislett served as a Rector in the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane until 2005.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…