The "Third Document" or Rowan's Folly

There has been talk of a third document to be released to the bishops. This document is supposed to be the atom bomb. It is supposed to have the full weight of +Williams behind it. According to an article in The Sunday Telegraph, it may well be a “Shot heard ‘round the world.”

Apparently, “liberals” will be expelled from the inner circle of the AC if they do not line up like blind mince behind this document.

The proposal, commissioned by Williams, to be distributed Monday, will ban any future consecrations or ordinations of persons with same-gender orientation, unless such persons are celibate. According to Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs,

It is set to start the first real clash of the conference, with liberal bishops expected to fight any attempt to restrict their autonomy.

However, Dr Williams is determined to impose tighter governance of the Anglican Communion to try to hold it together.

The paper, "How do we get from here to there?", stresses that it is vital that an Anglican Covenant be agreed so that churches around the world are mutually accountable and united by a common set of beliefs. This must happen as soon as possible, it says, to prevent further haemorrhaging of the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexual clergy.

If they do not, they will face being pushed to the margins of the communion and find themselves excluded from the councils that are central to the governance of the Church.

Excuse me, but I thought we were all united in a common set of beliefs – the Chicago Quadrilateral. It’s worked for a long time—one hundred twenty-two years, to be exact. What the above statement means is, of course, that Rowan is willing to deny full membership to GLBT Anglicans to keep the GAFCON crowd in the Communion. Sorry, Rowan, but that's not going to happen. Nothing short of a total take-over of the Communion will make the Donatists stay.

I also distinctly remember Williams stating Lambeth ’08 would not be a legislative assembly, but one of reconciliation. Once again, if this is true, Williams has eradicated his credibility.

Wynn-Jones also states

There have been reports that [The Episcopal Church] is prepared to consecrate more gay bishops while the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told this newspaper that he would be willing to do the same.

Until a consensus is reached, the American and Canadian churches must refrain from consecrating more bishops that are homosexual and carrying out blessing services for same-sex couples, the paper says.

Perhaps it is time to compile a list of all known gay bishops in the Anglican Communion. With 800 (+/-) bishops, I think it's safe to say 80-150 are gay although not officially out.

But Rowan has bad news for the GAFCONites too,

The African churches, which oppose having practising homosexuals in the clergy, will be told that they must stop intervening in the affairs of other churches as their actions are deepening the rift.

Poor Rowan, he really is delusional about all of this. The African bishops are going to do whatever they want to do, and the Communion be dammed. He just does not want to realize the prognosis. They have called the roll of the ABC "irrelevant." what does Rowan not understand about these folk?

Wynn-Jones continued

The paper from the Windsor Continuation Group is central to the stance that Dr Williams would like the conference to take. If the conference agrees to the recommendations, it will give him a mandate to exclude rebel churches.

As well as the covenant, Dr Williams has argued for new canon laws, which would govern how bishops and clergy acted. "We need ways of knowing who is supposed to do this or that and who is entitled to do this or that, so that we can act economically and purposefully, instead of being frustrated by a chaotic variety of expectations and recriminations," says the archbishop:

The introduction of a covenant and canon law would be further steps on the path to a more concrete notion of Anglican identity and limits on what is acceptable behaviour, following the more centralised model of the Catholic Church.

Liberals in the Church of England who have stood by the American church will be dismayed by this return to a conservative position as will the Church of Wales whose primate has already said he is not opposed to the ordination/consecration of GLB members of his church. Then there is the Scottish church that will be opposed to any such covenant. The Irish Church, too, will not be sanguine about it. That leaves Rowan and a few CoE dioceses accepting the covenant.

Even those who are opposed to GLB ordination/consecration are not happy:

The Rt. Rev'd. John Saxbee, the Bishop of Lincoln, said that he supported dialogue, but was opposed to the idea of a covenant. "We need to be a broad Church offering hospitality to everyone," he said.

According to the Rt. Rev’d. Kirk Smith, bishop of Arizona,

After worship tonight, Rowan Williams commented that the planning committee had decided not to change the schedule for next week, an idea that was floating around a lot. He also indicated that there we could expect to have some kind of document at the end of our time which would be more than simply--"We met, we had a good time, we have many differences yet to be resolved." We should expect something much more substantial and "prophetic" based on the feedback we were giving to the planners.

Now, since this blog is named the Three Legged Stool, we need to use that third leg and ask, “Is all of this reasonable?”

Certainly the press has and will put the worst possible spin on this document (if it actually is forthcoming), and given the fact that they have been virtually banned from the Lambeth events, they are looking for something to sell papers.

Regardless of the press' spin, given Rowan’s track record of obfuscation, appeasement and blunders, I believe the reports are reasonable. Perhaps things are not as dire as we are being told, but the report is reasonable to believe, nonetheless.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to this third document if the rumours are correct. We may end up with three Communions: TEC Communion with 17-22 provinces, GS with 7-8 provinces, and a third with 8-12 provinces.

One must wonder how Rowan will react when most of the dioceses in the CoE head west for the US/Canadian Communion with 90 percent of his flock under the age of forty.

UPDATE: Mark Harris has just weighed in on this subject. You'll find his thoughts here.

US Bishops accused of arriving with an agenda

Yesterday Riazata Butt reported that an unnamed U.S. Bishop accused the rest of our bishops of manipulating the Lambeth summit by “providing its 125 representatives with briefing notes explaining how to promote liberal attitudes towards gay clergy.”

What the bishop is implying, of course, is that the U.S. bishops are the only people who came with an agenda and a plan to get the agenda accepted.

Keith Ackerman (Ordinary of Quincy) weighed in on the subject by calling this unseen document “Embarrassing.” Ackerman calling anything “embarrassing” is a travesty. His actions for years have been an embarrassment to the word “Christian.”

He went on to say,

We should come to Lambeth spiritually prepared, not tactically prepared. It is a clear attempt to dominate the debates we are having and push them in a certain direction.

The Episcopal Church is attempting to manipulate this conference hoping to convince the rest of e Anglican Communion that its innovations should be incorporated and respected.

I’m afraid with the Puritan track record it is going to take an angel from heaven to convince me that the Donatists were not well prepared for this conference. The wee archbishop of Sudan didn’t just happen to mention he would be talking, if the press wanted to show up; he didn’t accidentally lob his live grenade to the press. That was all planned. And more is planned, we can bet on that.

Today, there is news that at least some Nigerian bishops are in Lambeth but no one will say which bishops. A press conference by the Nigerian bishop(s) was scheduled for 10 a.m. but a fax was received stating that the bishop(s) would not be available until about 3 p.m. I absolutely remember Peter Akinola stating that neither he nor any bishop in his province would be at Lambeth.

But our friend Mark Harris quotes from Bishop Howe’s blog – dated Wednesday

Tonight I have just come from a meeting of seven of the "Global South" Primates, several of the British Bishops, and 14 of our American Bishops, some involved in "Common Cause" and some in "Communion Partners." The point was again made that CP is an "inside" strategy, and CC an "outside" one, but that both are needed; and we want to do the best we can to support each other. The Primates were very clear in repeating several times their promise of solidarity with both efforts.

Now, keep in mind that there are only seven Global South Primates. At least official GS press releases have only seven signatories. This means that Akinola is there. And they have a strategy. That sounds like they came prepared. More duplicity and deceit.

The U.S. and Canadian bishops are not trying to take over this conference. They have held no press conferences to spread an agenda. What most of our bishops are trying to do is promote understanding of both the issue and our polity. That is not true of the Donatist Curia; they are trying to force their innovated agenda on the communion.

To do this, the über-conservatives are forcing the indaba groups to take votes on the incompatibility of homosexuality and the bible. Ackerman said

I am putting my hand up in my group. I invite my brothers and sisters to do the same thing when they get the opportunity.

It is a way to take the temperature, to remind people that we do not all think the same. It is a bit like a festering wound. It is not going away and we will not let it.

What a Christian attitude. Let’s not try to apply healing balm of Christian love. That won’t help us win. And believe me, this is about winning - at any cost.

By bringing the matter to repeated votes, the Puritans hope to seize control of the middle ground and eradicate the “progressive agendas espoused by churches in the U.S. and Canada.”

For at least five years, the malcontents have plotted and planned a coup of the Communion. Now, we are expected to believe they came un-briefed and un-prepared at least to attempt to hijack the conference. I’m sorry, but I just don’t by that propaganda.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the duplicity of the Donatists--well, that and their unmitigated hubris.

St. James and Fr. T

One of the nice things about having one’s own blog is that one may write about anything one wishes. Today is the such a day. I rather think that I am taking the day as a toxic free day, although I strongly urge you to read yesterday's post then read Bishop Robinson's post for today found here.

Today is the Feast Day of St. James the Apostle (St. James the Greater). It is my name day. It is the patronal feast day of the my life-long parish.

O gracious God, we remember before you today your servant and apostle James, first among the Twelve to suffer martyrdom for the Name of Jesus Christ; and we pray that you will pour out upon the leaders of your Church that spirit of self-denying service by which alone they may have true authority among your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today is also the anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of the Rev’d. Terry L. Martin, better known as “Fr. Jake” to a huge portion of The Episcopal Church and a significant portion of the AC.

On the anniversary of your ordination, I say, “God knew exactly what he was doing when he decided he couldn’t trust you as a layperson.” Or, as Minni Pearl used to say, "I'm just so proud to know ya!"

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I hope you will take five minutes to watch last night's Colbert Report which featured a segment on Lambeth. You'll find it here. My favourite moment was when Colbert asked, "Why can't the Anglicans just ordain all the gay priests they want and not talk about it, like the Catholics do."

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On a different subject, my condolences and prayers for Susan Russell, attending Lambeth, whose mother died yesterday. Requiescat in pace, et lux perpetua luceat eis. You may read Susan's thoughts here.

Today's radicalism, tomorrow's orthodoxy

If I ever have the opportunity to meet the Rt. Rev’d. Gene Robinson, I know exactly what I will do; I will take off my shoes. (Ex 3.5) This man is one of the best examples of a Christian that the world has seen in at least fifty years.

I urge you to read the 23 July post on Bishop Robinson’s blog, Canterbury Tales from the Fringe. Here is a wee excerpt:

The day is littered with chance meetings with brother and sister bishops from the Episcopal Church -- always helpful and comforting to me. There are the chance meetings with others from around the Communion -- some warm and friendly and supportive, some averting their eyes when they see me coming, choosing to withhold returning even a smile in passing.

Almost invariably, though, I am stopped by each of the conference stewards -- mostly college-aged young people from England and around the Communion, who want to shake my hand and tell me of their support. These young people are so interested in the Church, so committed to being here and helping in any way, yet mystified by some of the words and behaviors they witness, all in the name of the Church. They want me to know how much they are praying for me. The fellow behind the cafe counter in the Marketplace insists that I accept a [cappuccino] he has made for me, a free gift he insists. Many want their pictures taken with the Bishop of New Hampshire, as if it will be a reminder of something important and hopeful for them. I am awed and honored by their interest and their kindness, and am reminded that "my congregation" right now is anyone who will listen and engage. Being "on the Fringe" is a blessing indeed.

Brothers and sisters, all is well with the church. Our youth recognize hypocrisy when they see it -- and they hate it. Their generation is probably the most honest-straight-forward group in history, and certainly since the 1960s. They usually do not keep silent about justice issues That is a radical change from times past when parents' values were accepted with out question.

The 'radical change' of today is the orthodoxy of tomorrow. This has been true since the founding of the church. We see this in the younger generation of our Anglican Communion. They do not blindly accept what has "always been."

When I was young, another bishop was the whipping boy of the Anglican Communion. His name was James Pike. He happened to be ‘my’ bishop – the Bishop of the Diocese of California. He was a radical, an apostate who was ‘out to rewrite Christianity and the bible.’ For those of you who are not old enough to remember him, or were not in TEC ‘in the days,’ let me give you a couple examples.

• The virgin birth (didn’t believe it)
• The incarnation (didn’t think it happened the way the bible said it did)
• Original sin (didn’t believe it)
• The Trinity (didn’t believe in the 'historic' interpretation)
• Said that Christianity was not the only path to God (even the Roman church agrees today)
  
• Said that the bible was neither infallible nor inerrant
• Said it was quite possible that Jesus was married

Forty years ago, he was a heretic. There were parents who would not let him confirm their children. As I recall, there was even a presentment before the House of Bishops. Today, Bishop Pike would be considered absolutely in the middle of the conservative/liberal spectrum. It only took forty years.

This next radical change into orthodoxy will not take that long. In five to ten years, this nonsense will be largely over and the ‘issue’ will be well on the way to being orthodoxy. "Why?" because Anglicans under forty years of age are already over 'it' now. This demographic will be moving into leadership positions all over the Communion. In fact, they already are.

Yes, there will be pockets of resistance, but even there, we will recognize the shift from “radical revision” to orthodox. It will take much longer in such pockets, but it is going to happen. It has to. I read somewhere that Tradition is the faith of a living church; traditionalism is the epitaph of a dead church.

Perhaps James R. Lowell’s great poem Once to Every Man and Nation puts it best:

New occasions teach new duties,
time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward,
who would keep abreast of truth.

That could be the motto of the 'under forty' demographic.

And in this time of change, we hear the words of Jesus, "Go tell the disciples – and Peter – that I go before them …" We have only to say, Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia!

What are some other examples of radical change that became orthodoxy?