Monday, September 24, 2007

A few thoughts

What really struck me more than anything from not only this "draft statement" but also from the comments from the bishops themselves, is that they are "reinventing the subreport" that was presented to the primates in Dar es Salaam and rejected. It's not clea

Going into Executive Sessions. Gotta go.

2:18 p.m. We are now out in the lobby - Matt and I are sitting on the floor. Matt's being interviewed by a reporter at the moment. Most of the folks who are standing around are the media. They are on cell phones and talking with one another, their cameras and bags spread around the foyer area where we are congregated.

Now we know that the Windsor group met together in the corner of the HOB room for a little chat. But if they will be able to wrestle away the apparatus of coordinating the decision-making process away from 815. In fact, now I think think about it, the way the PB is running the show is very similar to the attempt at Dar es Salaam to do it the same way. When the primates arrived there was a "subgroup report" which was presented to them as their statement for their gathering, affirming - among other things - that the Windsor Report was satisfied by B033, passed by the Columbus General Convention in 2006. It was presented that way in the initial press conferences since Kenneth Kearon and the Secretariat were trying to run the show. It took amazing leadership to wrestle that away from the England-based staffers. But the subgroup report was shelved in favor of the Dar Es Salaam Communique. It is the Communique that brings us hear today.

2:38 p.m. They are still in Executive Session. It may be that another resolution./statement - oh here come the bishops.

3:13 p.m. Well, we're back in the House and listening to a research survey report about the identity of the Episcopal Church. We've heard about multiple identities as well as seeking to understand what this phrase really means: "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." What does "welcome" really mean? And what does "you" really mean?

We're now hearing from reports from the Seminary Deans. We're hearing from the podium that the seminaries are in major change.

The problem is that TEC is shrinking and at the seminaries are not producing clergy who have the tools to grow their churches.

More in a bit ...

1 comment:

Timothy said...

Thanks for the great coverage and keeping largely in uderstandable terms.

- an interested Catholic