In light of the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to remove Episcopal Church representation from ecumenical positions representing the Anglican Communion, the Presiding Bishop has apparently responded by appointing a position called "ecumenical and interreligious relations officer" whose job is to "develop strategies and actions supporting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's ministry as chief ecumenical officer of the Episcopal Church." One does wonder if even moderates and some true-liberals will pop their corks over that one.Is it really all about "supporting Bishop Schori's ministry" now? Is she taking the discipline personally? And when did she become the official "chief ecumenical officer of the Episcopal Church?" She a presiding bishop - not an archbishop. As I recall back in 2006, the Roman Catholic Church sent their official letter from now Pope Benedict directly to the gathering at Plano Dallas and missed stopping at 815 along the way. Oops. Got to wonder how diocesan bishops are feeling these days as well. They seem to continue to have the rug pulled up from under them - or is it over them?
Why create bureaucratic self-promoting positions rather than deal with the crisis at hand? What will it take to say, gosh darn it, this isn't looking so good? At the same time, it's hard not to recall General Convention 2006 when the House of Deputies found hastily hung flags tacked to the blue curtain backdrop that even back then seemed to mark the building of a "new communion" centered on 815. With the Presiding Bishop now fashioning her own personal chief ecumenical officer to promote herself does not seem to bode well for the future of TEC as the only Anglican show in town.
What say ye? Read more about it here.
15 comments:
On a whim, I just Googled the words: "Jefferts Schori as a Golden
Calf" -- and received some fascinating responses! Check them out here:
http://tinyurl.com/2wkp29q
Clearly I'm not the first person to observe -- with mounting alarm -- the sort of unabashed personal idolatry that she has set about to
create for herself. Perhaps her next move will be to declare that the following music is the "mandatory hymn" which MUST be played upon her entrance to any official Episcopal Church function:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3OG4VhPJRc
LOL...and BANG ON!
It's clearly down upon the HOB to instigate -- at the very least -- a
vote of "No Confidence" and request her to stand down from her post, for the sake of (whatever remains of) The Episcopal Church. Of course she will refuse to do so, and will set about to punish the "rebels" who dared to cross her. So what then?
We are living through "Interesting Times" indeed.
At least the conversation with the Orthodox church shouldn't take up too much of his time - they're not talking to TEc since they opened talks with the ACNA. And wasn't Bp. Epting laid off? It said he retired.
Do you think she will appoint her own Primates Meeting if, indeed, she is not invited to the Primates Meeting?
Looks like we're seeing the development of an Episcopal Eva Peron, abusing the governing apparatus she can control to build a personality-based regime at home while abroad her Rainbow Tour flops.
thank goodness for KJS....so much better for integrity in the AC than the doublespeaking people we have so often had in the wrong jobs, getting us into the mess in which the AC is now in
- KJS does not say one thing and do another..... gotta respect that, it is more honest than the ABC's position (he says he has private views but upholds the mind of the Communion even though he thinks it is wrong! yeah, right....all he is asking is for everyone to pretend to get along....KJS is being more honest and is not afraid of shattering a pretence of unity....she is wrong, but she is not lacking in integrity)
While some ecumenical and inter-faith dialogs that the Episcopal Church has engaged in have suffered in recent years, the decision of one of the two Moravian provinces to approve full communion with the Episcopal Church is promising. Moravians may not agree with the actions of the Episcopal Church, but they recognize that we share a common faith. "In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity."
Link: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100623/anglican/index.html
U.S. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori recently described the global Anglican Communion as "a bunch of teenagers growing up and finding their adult identity."
So she forms her own club just like a teenager!
Eric Cartman states quite regularly on South Park, "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
I am so glad she won the election a few years back. It definitely aimed her in the "right" direction for taking TEc where it desired to go in a much faster fashion than even the left desired.
"- KJS does not say one thing and do another."
Say What???
How, Lewis Carroll-esque, she has become the Queen of Hearts.
Fr. Weir,
And just what are "the essentials" that we are supposed to agree on?
Fr. Weir,
Can we agree on these?
We believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one comes to the Father but by Him.
1. We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.
2. We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
3. We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness and unity of the Body of Christ.
4. We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic Creeds: the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian.
5. Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils, in so far as they are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.
6. We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.
7. We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1562, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
Having been asked a question about several matters Anglican, I would say that neither the 1662 BCP nor the 39 Articles, being products of a different time and a very different context, can be viewed as sufficient expressions of the faith for this time and this context. They are not to be ignored, but they are not to be seen as "final" in any meaningful way. That, of course, is only my view of the matter and I could be wrong.
I also would observe that the philosophical categories that were used in setting forth the faith in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds are hardly intelligible to most people today and that, as important as they are, they should never be viewed as adequate. There is never language that adequately describe God. Finally, I would observe that what constitutes a "holy" life, whether for a Bishop or any other Christian, has been understood in different ways in different periods. At one time owning slaves was viewed as quite appropriate for Anglican clergy, even for Anglican parishes and missionary societies.
so, what are the "essentials" we must agree on to have "unity"? i mean no disrespect but i'm merely quoting what you posted Fr. Weir.
I haven't studied the documents relating to the agreement with the Moravians, but I see the essentials for intercommunion as those in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. There the two creeds are listed and, even though I find unhelpful the way in which the Nicene Creed attempts to define the relationships within the Trinity, I would not abandon that creed. The Creeds, Dominical Sacraments, the Holy Scriptures, and the historic Episcopate are essentials on which, I suspect, we and the Moravians agree.
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