BREAKING NEWS: The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church office announced today that a majority of Episcopal diocesan bishops and diocesan Standing Committees consented to the consecration of Bishop-elect Mary Douglas Glasspool as a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Despite pleas from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican leaders throughout the world to exercise restraint, the Episcopal Church will go ahead and consecrate its second non-celibate homosexual bishop on May 15th.The statements are starting to come in. Read the AAC statement here. Here is what Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said following Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool's election in December:
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.
Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury
35 comments:
I'm sorry, I stopped dropping tokens into the machine and playing the game awhile back.
I can't help contrasting this picture of her reaction with that of my own rector's, now an ACNA bishop. He said that when his election was announced, the color drained from his face and he began to shake. She looks like she just won the lottery--as indeed, she has.
Sue, not sure if that is a fair comparision. This was not when she heard of the election (since she was not at the electing convention) but at a press conference days later in Los Angeles. There really is no way of knowing from the picture what she was responding to. I suspect from Bruno's hands, he may have been making a joke about the relative height of his new suffragans to his admittedly impressive stature.
I don't have the Second Sight, but I think I am pretty safe in predicting something like the following coming from Lambeth Palace. With, of course, the unstated implication that the TEC & liberal allies dominated Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion remain in charge of the Covenant process...
************
The approval by the Episcopal Church's standing committees and bishops of Mary Glasspool as suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.
This decision only underlines the necessity of continuing in the Covenant process and allowing this the time to work itself out.
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 would be helpful to strengthen our bonds of mutual affection.
Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury
Anonymous,
No, I don't know when the photo was taken or what Bp. Bruno had just said, but I doubt if it was that hilarious. This just looks unseemly to me. Being elected bishop, whether Spirit-led or not, is a grave matter, and should not be lightly undertaken.
I find the headline perplexing: when did the Christian life become a game?
Perhaps Fr. Daniel, BB is talking about the game that TEC has been playing for years - the one where they pretend to care what the rest of the Anglican Communion thinks.
Rowan has not let the Primates act for 7 years......wonder if he can stall another 7......while the AC disintegrates because of a small no of revisionists who attract v few in the US...... those who have given their loyalty to Rowan have helped the revisionists no end
SometimesWise
I am glad that you have the ability to discern when TEC is pretending. I prefer to base my discernment on what people do, and until now TEC has not broken the moratorium of partnered LGBT bishops. Many of us care deeply what others in the Communion think, but caring doesn't mean agreeing with them or doing what they want us to do.
mr weir....so what? it is going to break the moratoria on May 15th...and has been threatening to do so since GC
I think Fr. Weir knows full well what BB meant, it's just another attempt to downplay her point.
"Many of us care deeply what others in the Communion think, but caring doesn't mean agreeing with them or doing what they want us to do."
My 4 year old will ask for something and then scream and whine when she doesn't get it, complaining that I don't listen to her. My response is that I did hear her, but that doesn't mean that I will automatically give in her her tantrums.
LL2
I don't know what BB meant - I was only hoping that she didn't mean that life in the Church is a game, and that it was simply a poor choice of words. Perhaps she meant that the leaders in TEC were playing a game, but I hope she has more respect for those sisters and brothers in Christ than that. I have never thought that people on any of the sides in this controversy were playing games, believing that all of us are acting as we believe that God has led us to act. We cannot, of course, all be right, in fact we are all wrong to some extent, adn I leave judgment on this to God.
Fr Dan - here you go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_over
bb
bb,
Thanks for the wikipedia link, but I already knew the reference and still find the expression less than apt.
A great many believers think that revisionists are, in fact, playing at religion. They show little regard for Scripture, tradition or doctrine. They think that God answers to the whims of the General Convention and have no understanding of the role of logic and reason in theology.
That the Episcopal Church is determined to make bishop a woman who is not celibate and not married shows that as an institution it is in fact playing a game instead of being a church.
It's a game those of us who are serious about God are unwilling to play any more. When I was a child, and all that.
I live in the area and am debating whether to attend the installation, at least to see how the ceremony is conducted and what is said. If that would be of any use I can do it.
I toss this out, not as a brickbat but a point for serious discussion; would Mary Glasspool+ have been considered for elevation to Bishop if she were a partnered heterosexual?
Andy,
Priests who have served as Canon Glasspool has as the rector of a parish, as president of a standing committee, as a deputy to general convention, and as canon to the bishops of a diocese are among the most likely nominees for bishop.
Daniel
Since people in homosexual relationships aren't able to be married (in most states), are Biblical prohibitions against sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage negated? Do those passages get tossed due to their context as well?
Are we to assume that only heterosexual people are to abstain from sex outside of a marriage relationship?
Just curious.
At the risk of being a wee bit offensive, BB, why should adherents of the Duncanite Sect give a toot who is elected suffragan in a church whose dust they have shaken off their shoes?
Lapin,
Maybe it's like the the people in the lifeboats watching the Titanic begin its final descent. Glad to be alive, but in pain for those who will follow the vessel down.
This analogy is admittedly weak in that the captain of the Titanic was not trying to machine-gun those in the lifeboats...
RalphM
I find the analogies that are used by RalphM and others delightfully over the top. When did buildings get to be as important to Christians as lifeboats. Nothing that the PB has done has jeopardized the spiritual health of those who left TEC.
Hmmm...
I didn't see buildings being discussed in this thread, but maybe I missed it.
I agree: Thankfully there's nothing the PB can do to jeopordize the spiritual health of those who left. She can file nuisance lawsuits against clergy, trustees and vestry to try to hurt them financially and emotionally, but spiritually we are beyond her range.
RalphM
Lapin - because they are the natural members of the AC.....the cuckoo has to be shown to be a cuckoo and got out of the nest so that the natural family can be reunited........that's why this all matters (no other reason given how small TEC is and how fast it is declining with all its 'ubuntu' .......)
Titanic, machine guns, now cuckoos. Bastard offspring, conceived in the Original Sin of Rebellion Against Their Rightful Monarch? What else was to be expected, Londoner? Where, I wonder, will the metaphor trail lead next?
A question: The Archbishop wrote, "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." Can anyone tell me to what statement of the bishops the Archbishop was referring?
Thanks in advance.
Fr. Daniel, you're right when you say: "Nothing that the PB has done has jeopardized the spiritual health of those who left TEC."
It's my mental health I'm worried about.
Fr. Weir, you've been blogging since at least August 2007. Titanic and lifeboats has been used for years across the blogging world, not just here and not just by RalphM. I find that your attacking almost anything that's written by those of us who oppose TEC's actions and how it is expressed is over-the-top. It is a form of diminishment to us, and belittles how we feel. That you don't agree is more than clear; however, we conservatives understand something you refuse or unable to see. If your "tent" is so big, why not make room for people different than you instead of expecting them to conform to your view or standards? It would be fair, would it not?
As far as your question on the "gracious restraint", I believe it was based on the Dar Es Salam Communique, http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/2/5/ACNS4574, specifically paragraph 21 last sentence on the last page. They were referring to the moratoriums mentioned by The Windsor Report. That can be found on the same website. I Googled gracious restraint and found the reference pretty easily.
LL2
Thank you for the citation. If that is the correct one, the Archbishop was, as many of us are, less than perfectly accurate, as it wasn't the bishops,but the primates. However,it may be true that Archbishop undersstands that the primates speak for the bishops. I disagree with that,but I can understand how that might be his position as well as the position of those who want greater centralization of authority within the Communion.
I am sorry that my "pickiness" about analogy is offensive. The Titanic metaphor didn't bother me, and I'm sorry that I wsn't clearer about that. What bothered me was the assertion that the PB was tryng to sink the lifeboats, which I took, perhaps mistakenly, as a reference to the property litigation. I hardly see buildings as lifeboats for Christians.In fact, I think, to continue with the Titanic metaphor, buildings can be the iceberg which sinks the church.
I think the problem with metaphors is that if they are a bit over the top they detract from the effectiveness of the argument. A case in point is the Berlin Wall metaphor for the Denis Canon, because it appears to equate the suffering of traditionalists to the sufferings of people under Soviet rule. IMHO, it is a metaphor which makes the argument against the Denis Canon less effective.
Fr. Weir,
You could go research yourself to make sure it is what you want. I disagree with your analysis about "less than perfectly accurate. I believe the ABC correctly quoted "bishops" as not only are the primates bishops (although I don't agree that the PB is a legitimate primate), there are many bishops who would be in complete agreement with the statement.
To me - warning, an analogy is coming - it's like the developers down here in Lakeland who keep trying for zoning variances over and over again after being told no. We had one poor couple who went to court proving and winning the local government was wrong to say yes - and they had to sue to get reimbursed for their expenses. Only to have the developers try it again. Now their house has been torched. No means no. Florida is in for some really rough times in the future because the Development "Plan" has been violated beyond the capability of the natural and commerical resources.
Listen to what's being said, maybe not so much as to how it's being said. None of us thinks we are being persecuted like the Jews, Russians, etc. But we do understand that those things didn't happen overnight. It was multiple yes's when no's were needed that got the crises to that point.
Personally, I agree that 815 wants to torpedo the lifeboats. I think the analogy gets the point across very well. The PB has made it clear that anything is preferrable than letting a non-TEC Anglican entity exist (go read her deposition). ANd if the the building that the congregation is in that wants to continue in traditional Anglicanism - sell it, a saloon is fine, and obviously selling it to the Muslims is preferrable to letting the congregation continue witnessing Christ to the community in that building. Jesus told us not to worry about if others were witnessing Him to others. What's the PB afraid of? That there will be a place for people who want to continue in the Anglican tradition - because TEC isn't continuing that way?
I say - go your own way and let us go ours. God will bless that which pleases Him.
Fr Weir,
I may be guilty of over-the-top metaphors, but they pale in comparison to the real actions of the PB and her chancellor.
If you don't believe the PB is trying to sink the lifeboats, then you have not not bothered to educate yourself.
The Berlin Wall metaphor does not seek to treat lightly the sufferings of the Germans under the Soviets. It refers to the practice of trying to execute those who would escape. If TEC is so sure they speak the truth, let it stop the lawsuits and see how many congregations would leave with their property. TEC does seek the equivalent of execution for those congregations who feel they are entitled to keep what they paid and cared for.
RalphM
I think I have made the best case I can - and perhaps not a very good one - for the course that TEC has taken, I think it would be a waste of my time and that of others for me to try again.
RE: "I think it would be a waste of my time and that of others for me to try again."
Heh -- I certainly agree with that.
Sarah
Lapin... it leads to ACNA being part of the AC....that is why the ABC and ++York have been asked to look into CofE relations with ACNA....because they are very much like most of us in the CofE.
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