Category Archives: anglican

Rowen Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury,

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Rowen Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, is convening a world wide conference of Anglican bishops in October 15-16 to hopefully come to some sort of resolution to the problem of Gene Robinson being approved for election as bishop of New Hampshire. Here is a news artilce for ENS.

August 8, 2003
by Jim DeLa
[ENS] Reacting to events this week at General Convention, the Archbishop of Canterbury has called a special meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in London, October 15-16.
According to a news release on the Anglican Communion News Service's Web site, Dr. Rowan Williams said a meeting is needed. "I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we
will need to sit down and discuss their consequences," he was quoted as saying.
"I hope that in our deliberations we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us," he said.
In his official letter to primates, Williams writes, "I hope also we will take quite seriously the intervening period to reflect carefully on our life together as a Communion and to consider how we might best bring our faith, experience and wisdom to bear constructively on these discussions."
On Tuesday, convention confirmed the Rev. Gene Robinson as the bishop coadjutor-elect of New Hampshire. He is the first noncelibate gay priest to be elected bishop in the Episcopal Church.
On Thursday, convention passed a resolution recognizing "that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions," but stopped short of authorizing liturgies for such services.
Members of the House of Deputies and House of Bishops said the archbishop's announcement of a primates meeting was not unexpected. "I think he's exercising his appropriate authority," said the Rev. Ian Douglas, a deputy from Massachusetts. "He's doing what he needs to do."
"I think there's some desire of the part of all that there be a conversation that includes the primates, not just sound bites from
different parts of the world," said Bishop Wendell Gibbs of Michigan. "We welcome the fact there will be a conversation."
Opponents of Robinson's election and same-sex blessings were also pleased by the news of the October meeting. "We are extremely grateful to Archbishop Williams for his swift response to our plea for intervention," said Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh and chair of the bishop's network of the American Anglican Council. "I am confident that the archbishop will make adequate provision for mainstream Anglicans in North America."

I went to the American

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I went to the American Anglican Council’s website after the affirmative vote by the bishops at General Convention. On the website, there were two open letters posted from a parish in Colorado.
The second letter was from a priest and I am amazed. Here is the letter. You can see it “live” at the link above.

LETTER ON HIS ELECTION
By The Rev. Don Armstrong
I do want to ask you publicly what I asked you a few weeks ago and that is: How can you replace Jesus with yourself at the center of the church's life? How can you think your election to be a bishop is more important than the unity of the whole Anglican Communion?
You are quoted in this morning's New York Times that unity is not your responsibility. I thought unity was precisely an Episcopal responsibility, even that a Bishop was sign and symbol of unity. I thought being a Bishop was also about being responsible, responsible for a diocese and responsible for protecting the doctrine, discipline and worship of the church. Your very election is a challenge to, not a protection of, the doctrine, discipline, worship and unity of the church--the exact opposite of what a bishop is supposed to be.
Then, you have never even been able to be responsible for yourself. You have not been able to control your appetites, your self-interest or self-indulgence, your lust for power and position.
You suggested in the New York Times this morning that you went to therapy for years trying to deal with your homosexuality. Do you not think that a Bishop should exhibit a certain level of self control? That even if your homosexual desires were your cross to endure, that you could reign in these desires, control them, and discipline yourself to a life of celibacy?
How can you be a model for the rest of us to follow when you yourself give into your passions? What are you going to do with heterosexual clergy who give into their passions? What about your life indicates that you have forsaken all to follow Jesus, that you have an ability and willingness to lay down your life, to sacrifice for the common good?
This morning you were quoted that you prayed every morning about whether you ought to follow the lead of Jeffery Johns and withdraw form this election, but that the Holy Spirit told you to continue in the process. Our bishop, Jerry Winterrowd says we should never pray about our own desires and then claim the Holy Spirit's approval because our motives are mixed and the voices in our head too many and too complex. He suggests letting someone else pray for our answer.
Have you ever thought that perhaps the response of the primates and clear division in the church is the Holy Spirit's sign to you, a clear answer to your prayer. The Holy Spirit's function in the Trinity has always been about bringing unity and order out of division and chaos. That your election has done the opposite, brought chaos and division to the church, could it be that it is clearly not of the Holy Spirit? Could it be that the unprecedented upheaval, chaos and division that is about consume our Communion is a clear sign that you and your supporters have only been seduced by the one whose task it is to sow dissension and discord in Christ's church, to in fact destroy Christ's Church?
Although there is much more I wonder about all this, it does seem to me that if you want all of us to vote for consent of your election you owe us an answer to these questions. You need to be responsible for who you are and what consent to your election will cause in our church and explain that to us. To say that it is not your responsibility is simply not true and not an answer!
To avoid these questions and sit silently while a wave of secular sentimentality for homosexuality sweeps you into office and splits apart our ancient Communion would be in itself an indictment of your episcopacy
Rev. Don Armstrong
Colorado Clergy Alternative

Okay, here is the latest

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Okay, here is the latest from the prohibitionist side. I’m sure we are going to have some very good debates during classes come fall term, just a month and a half away. Tomorrow, Sunday, I will be speaking on this topic at the 9:00 am service at my field placement parish – Church of the Ascension on 5th Ave. I particularly like what Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of South Africa said, referring to member primates acting like the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since they do not consider the A.B.C. to be doing his job – condemning homosexuals – then they will take it upon themselves to act in his sted. Since they do not consider the A.B.C. to be doing his job, they then will do his job for him and determine who is in and who is out of the Communion. (Technically this is not possible. They may determine that they will no longer be in communion with provinces or dioceses that accommodate homosexuals, but it is only the See of Canterbury who can determine who is part of the official Anglican Communion. After leaving, they may say they are the true Anglicans, but by their leaving they have proven that they are in fact not because they have violated one of the major tenants of the Anglican ethos, and if the See of Canterbury does not recognize their province, then they are in fact out.) Even while I was part of the Evangelical/Fundamentalist/Pentecostal side of the Church, I recognized that many within this group of people like to do such things. They will take upon themselves the role of God and determine who is in and who is out of the Church, the Body of Christ, those who have been reconciled to God (or in their vernacular, saved). The self-proclaimed conservatives in the American province continually try to usurp authority and property. It has always been the same going back centuries.
I am sympathetic to some of their claims, such as a drift away from biblical authority and reliance and relativism, but in the same way, they charge the liberals of going to far, so they also go too far. Maybe it will be better to just get it all over with so they can leave and we all can get on with the more important things, except that our witness as Anglicans – to be able to stay together in union despite our very different ways of looking at our Christian lives and theology – will be once again be shot. Anyway, here is the article:

July 24, 2003
2003-167
Group ‘prepared to respond' if General Convention affirms Robinson, blessing rite
by Jan Nunley
(ENS) A group of 62 Anglicans and Episcopalians, including some primates and bishops of the Anglican Communion, held a press conference July 23 to announce that they are "prepared to respond" if the Episcopal Church's General Convention either confirms the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire or directs the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare blessing rites for couples living in committed relationships outside marriage. The convention begins July 30 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The group gathered in secret at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, for two days to craft their statement. "The proposed actions by General Convention…would shatter the church," the statement said. "The American bishops at this meeting have prayed, planned and are prepared to respond as faithful members of the Anglican Communion. Should these events occur, the majority of the Primates anticipate convening an extraordinary meeting at which they too will respond to the actions of General Convention."
Element of surprise
But under questioning by reporters, the group refused to divulge any specific plans. "Action will happen," said Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria. Another spokesman for the group, the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, explained, "We are trying to preserve an element of surprise. That is part of the strategy here."
Asked if it will make a difference if, say, Robinson were confirmed but the liturgy resolution failed, Akinola said, "No. Either one will cause a split. They are inextricably linked."
Plea for mutual accountability
On the same day the statement was released, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sent a letter to Anglican primates asking them to maintain "mutual accountability," not just on matters of sexuality but on issues such as lay presidency at the Eucharist and "alternative episcopal oversight" for dissenting parishes.
"We do not have a central executive authority in our Communion; this means we are quite vulnerable in times of deep disagreement, and need more than ever to pay attention to one another," Williams wrote. "… This is not to recommend a refusal to face circumstances or to avoid conflict at all costs. It is to acknowledge that who we are as Christians is connected to the worldwide fellowship to which we belong. Within a living Communion, we should never find ourselves in the position of saying, or seeming to say, to each other, ‘[I have no need of you' (I Cor. 12.21)."
Claiming a majority
The statement claimed that the signers represent "a majority of the world's 75 million Anglicans." Exact numbers are hard to come by, but according to the Anglican Communion Secretariat's figures, the seven primates listed represent a little more than 20 million members out of 76,650,449 worldwide -- 26 percent of the total.
When asked how many primates agreed with the group, Akinola responded, "Most primates are here in spirit. We know the mind of a good number of primates." He would only confirm being in contact with "6 or 7" of the primates.
Most of the names on the list are familiar as conservative activists in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
Many have signed previous statements declaring their discontent with moves towards the full inclusion of homosexuals in the Episcopal Church, and are members or officers of advocacy groups such as the American Anglican Council, Forward in Faith/North America, and the Institute for Religion and Democracy.
Ten of the 15 American bishops are "bishops with jurisdiction," eligible to vote on Robinson's consecration. Their dioceses represent 185,766 communicants, some 9% of the American church. The clergy listed represent congregations with a combined average attendance of approximately 10,500 members.
A stream of statements
The Truro statement follows an "Open Letter to the Concerned Primates of the Anglican Communion," issued July 15 by 24
Episcopal Church bishops, who declared themselves to be in a state of "impaired communion," or broken relationship, with the
Canadian Diocese of New Westminster, which has authorized liturgies for blessing same-sex partnerships. They also committed to commit to "common responses" to what they described as "the deteriorating situation within the Episcopal Church" over homosexuality.
In early June, fourteen of the 38 Anglican primates charged that "by deliberately and intentionally abandoning the established Anglican consensus, [the bishop of New Westminster] placed himself and his diocese in an automatic state of impaired communion with the majority within the Anglican Communion."
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold wrote to the primates July 22, asking for their understanding of the difference in context between their provinces and the American church over the understanding of human sexuality. "Over these last five years I have continually reminded our church that we are part of a larger reality called the Anglican Communion, and that what we do locally has ramifications both positive and negative in other parts of the world," Griswold said. "At the same time I am
mindful that each of us has to interpret the gospel in our own context and within the particular reality of our own Province; there is no such thing as a neutral reading of Scripture. While we all accept the authority of Scripture, we interpret various passages in different ways."
At least one African primate has already come out publicly against the Truro statement. "I believe that it is wrong and contrary to our Anglican Tradition and understanding of Canon Law to presume to interfere in the affairs of another Province," said Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of South Africa. "Such actions are a major threat to the fabric of our Communion. Let us respect the integrity of each Province.
"It would be profoundly inappropriate for any Province or any group of Provinces to presume to take on a role which properly belongs to the See of Canterbury, and with the whole Communion acting with the See of Canterbury."

Here is the latest letter

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Here is the latest letter by the Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church USA, to the other primates of the Anglican Communion, deal with the homosexual issue coming up at General Convention. It is a good letter!
"July 22, 2003
2003-163
For the Primates of the Anglican Communion
My dear brothers in Christ:
I write you on the eve of the General Convention of the
Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to let you know some
of what is on my mind and heart during these days of prayer and
preparation.
I am aware that earlier this month a letter was sent to
"concerned primates" from a number of bishops of the Episcopal
Church, USA outlining what they called a "deteriorating
situation within the Episcopal Church and elsewhere." They
particularly pointed to two matters that will be before our
General Convention: one pertaining to the confirmation of the
bishop-elect of the Diocese of New Hampshire and the other
dealing with the authorization of the development of rites for
the blessing of same sex unions which would then be brought to
the General Convention of 2006 for debate.
The polity of our church places the election of a bishop and the
nomination process which precedes it entirely in the hands of
the electing diocese. The election then must be confirmed by a
majority of the diocesan standing committees (made up of clergy
and laity) and by bishops with jurisdiction, each voting
separately. When an election occurs within 120 days of a
General Convention, the General Convention becomes the
consenting body. Each bishop-elect must first gain the consent
of a majority of the dioceses in the House of Deputies, which is
comprised of elected clergy and lay members from each diocese.
Next, ballots will be received from bishops with jurisdiction
and the bishop-elect must receive a majority of those votes, as
well.
At this General Convention ten dioceses will present
bishops-elect for consent. The Diocese of New Hampshire and
their bishop-elect are the focus of attention, not because of
the competency and gifts of the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, or
because he was elected overwhelmingly by the clergy and laity of
a diocese in which he has served for 28 years, but because he
shares his life with a partner of the same sex. As Presiding
Bishop and chief pastor, my concern, as I said in a letter to
our bishops, is "how we move with grace through this time." I
am including a copy of this letter for your information.
This election, though profoundly disturbing to a number of
Episcopalians, is not surprising given that increasingly in our
part of the world there is an acknowledgment that some men and
women find that their deepest affections are ordered to members
of the same sex. Our church has a number of lay persons and
clergy for whom this is true. Some have chosen the path of
celibacy and others live within the context of a sustained
relationship. In this latter case we are not talking primarily
about sexual behavior which in both its heterosexual and
homosexual manifestations can be profoundly sinful and little
more than the compulsive pattern of lust so soundly condemned by
St. Paul. What we are talking about is the core of the personal
identity of men and women who share with us in the risen life of
Christ.
I, perhaps more than anyone else, realize how very problematic
this election is for some of you, as well as for some members of
my own church, including the bishops who wrote to you. I am
also aware of the efforts that have been made to draw you into
this impending debate. Because we are members one of another in
the body of Christ through baptism and are called to share each
other's burdens, your concern is appropriate and welcome. And
may I say that I am always grateful when one of you contacts me
directly to express your concerns.
Over these last five years I have continually reminded our
church that we are part of a larger reality called the Anglican
Communion, and that what we do locally has ramifications both
positive and negative in other parts of the world. At the same
time I am mindful that each of us has to interpret the gospel in
our own context and within the particular reality of our own
Province; there is no such thing as a neutral reading of
Scripture. While we all accept the authority of Scripture, we
interpret various passages in different ways.
I believe that the report of the House of Bishops Theology
Committee, which was shared with you, can be helpful here. In a
section entitled Living In Disagreement it states: "Our present
conclusion is that equally sincere Christians, equally committed
to an orthodox understanding of the Faith we share, equally
looking to Scripture for guidance on this issue, are deeply
divided regarding questions with respect to homosexuality. It
will be crucial for all parties in this debate to ask God's
blessing on their ever-deepening conversion in Christ, and to
pray for God's love and forgiveness to be granted to all.
Faithfulness and the courage to offer love and acceptance to
those with whom we disagree is the great need of the moment."
As Professor David Ford told us several years ago during one of
our primates meetings, we are in the process of becoming a
communion. I have reflected often upon his words and come to
see more and more that communion is not a human construction but
a gift from God. Communion involves not only our relationships
to one another on earth but our being drawn by the Holy Spirit
into the eternal life of communion which belongs to the Holy
Trinity. Communion on this earth is always in some way
impaired, both because of our limited understanding of God's
ways and our own human sinfulness. Because we have been
baptized into one body through the death and resurrection of
Christ, we cannot say to one another "I have no need of you."(1
Corinthians 12:21) This means that maintaining communion is a
sacred obligation. It is not easy and involves patience with
one another, ongoing conversion, and a genuine desire to
understand the different ways in which we seek to be faithful to
the gospel. Declarations of being "in" or "out" of communion
with one another may assuage our anger or our fear, but they can
do little to show our broken and divided world that at the heart
of the gospel is to be found a reconciling love that can embrace
our passionately held opinions and transcend them all.
Please know how deeply I value each one of you as fellow
pilgrims on a continuing journey into the ever unfolding truth
of Christ. Grounded in Scripture, the historic creeds, the
councils of the church and the sacraments of the new covenant,
it is my prayer and deepest hope that our General Convention
will reflect the mind of Christ such that our church can be an
authentic sign of God's reconciling love.
Yours sincerely in Christ's love,
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church, USA"
comments? e-mail me

I came across this from

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I came across this from St. Stephen’s Musings, a weblog from a guy named Karl who maintains a great weblog on Eastern Christianity (Orthodoxy). Being that Anglicanism is of the liturgical tradition, although a hybrid of Western Roman and Protestant expressions, the following can also be said – at least for me at this point.
Not Perfect but More Whole
“A liturgical Church has an advantage over one where worship is relatively spontaneous, in that people powered by religious emotion simply run out of steam. Where there is a Liturgy, you show up each week and merge into that stream, and allow the prayers to shape you. But where the test of successful worship is how much you felt moved, there’s always performance anxiety; even the audience has to perform.”
“I had been a Christian about ten years when I noticed to my dismay that my spiritual feelings were changing; the experience was growing quieter, less exciting. I feared that I was losing my faith…Then I came to sense that my faith had undergone a shift in location. It had moved deep inside and was glowing there like a little oil lamp; if I was swept away with emotionally noisy worship, it might tip and sputter. Silence and attentiveness were now key.” Frederica Mathewes-Green, “At the Corner of East and Now” (pg 170-171)

5/30/03 There is a Canadian

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5/30/03
There is a Canadian Anglican diocese that encompasses and surrounds Vancouver, British Columbia, that during its diocesan convention last year passed a resolution to write a rite for the blessings of same-sex unions. It has caused quite a stir among the Communion world-wide. After a year, the bishop released the rite and it has just been used for the first time. We shall see were this goes! Here is an article I received via e-mail –

First same-sex blessing in New Westminster met with mixed reaction
by Jane Davidson
(ACC-News ) The blessing May 28 of a same-sex union in the Anglican Church of Canada's diocese of New Westminster has
been met with both joy and dismay.
Less than a week after the rite of blessing of same-sex unions was issued by the bishop of the diocese of New Westminster to six parishes which had requested it, the Rev. Margaret Marquardt blessed the 21-year same-sex relationship of Anglicans Michael Kalmuk, 49, and Kelly Montfort, 62, at St. Margaret's, Cedar Cottage Church in east Vancouver.
Bishop Michael Ingham had authorized the controversial and contested rite on Friday, May 23, just days before an international primates meeting declared itself unable as a body to support same-sex blessings, and one week in advance of his own diocesan synod, May 30-31.
The blessing came one year after the New Westminster diocesan synod voted to allow same-sex blessings in parishes requesting them. It was the third time that synod had voted on the issue;
the bishop had previously withheld his consent to the decisions in 1998 and 2001, but agreed to go ahead last year when
presented with a clear majority vote of 63 per cent in favor. That decision led to eight parishes walking out of the synod meeting, declaring themselves in impaired communion with the diocese.
Williams expresses 'sadness and disquiet'
In a media release the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, expressed his "sadness and disquiet at the move" by the diocese. Williams had said previously that there was no theological consensus in support of same-sex unions.
"In taking this action and ignoring the considerable reservations of the church, repeatedly expressed and most
recently by the primates, the diocese has gone significantly further than the teaching of the church or pastoral concern can justify and I very much regret the inevitable tension and division that will result from this development," the archbishop said.
Williams was referring to the statement from the international primates' meeting, held just days earlier in Brazil and attended by the Canadian primate, Archbishop Michael Peers.
Chris Ambidge, spokesperson for Integrity, a lobby group for gay and lesbian Anglicans, said his group has been working for 28 years "for more full membership of gays and lesbians in the body of their church.
"This is a very significant step along that path and I praise God that this has happened," he said. "In retrospect, I'm glad that Bishop Ingham has been as careful as he has been. But there comes a time when you need to move."
International infighting
Tension, infighting and recrimination over the same-sex issue spread beyond the boundaries of the diocese to the international forum and saw Ingham publicly chastised last fall by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey. In his last presidential address at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Hong Kong in September, 2002, Carey singled out Ingham for his diocese's decision to allow the blessing of same-sex unions "without regard for the rest of us and against the clear statement of Lambeth '98."
The Canadian primate gave a different interpretation of the
international primates' recent statement in a media release
issued within hours of Williams' reaction.
"I share their (the primates') assessment that the absence of consensus makes it impossible to speak with one mind in support of the actions of the synod and bishop of the diocese of New Westminster," said Peers.
"At the same time, reports that characterize the primates' letter as a direct and unanimous repudiation of those actions are wrong. The primates do not, at our meetings, either move resolutions or take votes. We seek the deepest possible expression of unity in whatever terms are available to us.
"In this case, our common mind accurately reflects the potential for division and the absence of theological consensus among us and within the churches that make up the Anglican Communion."
Campaign for an alternate bishop
Meanwhile, the group of parishes which walked out of synod last year in protest of the same-sex vote expressed its displeasure with the release of a blessing rite.
"This unilateral action," said the group in a statement, "isolates the diocese and seeks to pre-empt the issue scheduled to be addressed at General Synod 2004. Never before has a single diocese so abruptly and brazenly repudiated the church's 38 primates and their desire for Anglican unity."
The Rev. Trevor Walters of St. Matthews, Abbotsford, a spokesperson for the group which calls itself the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW), said he felt "grief, great sadness and a great sense of having lost the church as we have known it" when he heard of the blessing.
He predicted that the blessings in New Westminster would make the ACiNW coalition grow rapidly.
The ACiNW had campaigned the church for months for an alternate bishop and recently received an offer from Bishop Terrence Buckle of the diocese of the Yukon to be their bishop until General Synod 2004. Ingham called the offer interference and asked that Buckle be disciplined.
Instead, Ingham asked Bishop William Hockin of the diocese of Fredericton to act as "episcopal visitor" to clergy and parishes which do not support same-sex blessings. An episcopal visitor may provide pastoral support but has no jurisdiction in the diocese.
Walters said, "We have had at least 10 churches tell us that as soon as a blessing went ahead they would join us in asking for Bishop Buckle to be bishop."
Ingham caught by surprise
Ingham said upon releasing the rite that it was not a marriage ceremony but, rather, "a blessing of permanent and faithful commitments between persons of the same sex in order that they may have the support and encouragement of the church in their lives together under God."
In an interview, Ingham said the St. Margaret's blessing caught him by surprise. "I found out about it when a reporter called me for a comment," he said. He noted that the parish had been one of the original movers of the motion in favor of same-sex blessings.
The timing of the rite had nothing to do with the primates' meeting but was done to complete his commitment to synod made a year earlier, Ingham said.
"I agreed a year ago to complete this process. It's been a long process of trying to be reconciled with those who find this difficult," he said. Earlier this year facilitated talks aimed at reconciliation between the ACiNW on one side and the bishop and diocesan representatives on the other, broke down.
Parishes authorized to use the rite are St. Margaret's, St. Mark's, St. Paul's and Christ Church Cathedral, all in Vancouver, St. Agnes, North Vancouver, and St. Laurence, Coquitlam.