The "Canterbury Bull" explained by +California

Recently the Most Rev'd and Rt. Honourable Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England, sent "The Pentecost Letter" wherein he officiously submits what he is going to do to punish errant provinces (as if he had power to do anything outside of the Church of England* - can we say hubris?) The blogs are aflame with reaction to the Canterbury Bull.

Yesterday, the Rt. Rev'd Marc Andrus, Bishop Diocesan of the Diocese of California added his thoughts. I believe he is the only bishop of this church to have publicly spoken/written his opinion of "the Pentecost Letter."

The letter is not a scathing denunciation of Williams. It is rather 'brotherly' and +Andrus states his admiration for the office and the man himself.

+Marc's thoughts are worthy of a read and you can find his response here. I want to post just a snippet of his thoughts:

[T]he Lambeth Conference was explicitly advertised as a non-legislative meeting; indeed we voted on nothing. However, lo and behold, through a non-transparent “consensus building” process, the bishops present (and so, in Archbishop Rowan’s thinking, the Communion) have affirmed the three moratoria put forward by the Windsor Report.

Here it is also important to note that the Windsor Report itself has been reified and given the status of a central Anglican document of faith and order, not by the test of time and use, but by the Archbishop and those who agree with him saying so.

Archbishop Rowan is intent on a covenant with punitive measures built in. The bishops of the Communion expressed their distaste for a punitive covenant, and so the archbishop has stepped up to be himself the judging authority he has been unable to build into a covenant.

Please take time to read +Marc's thoughts. We know +Marc has hit the nail on the head because Viagraville is going ballistic. "Good on yer, Marc!"

* As spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop, although without legal authority outside England, is recognised by convention as primus inter pares (first among equals) of all Anglican primates worldwide. Since 1867 he has convened more or less decennial meetings of worldwide Anglican bishops, the Lambeth Conferences. Convening and inviting to the Lambeth Conference is his only prerogative in the Anglican Communion.