Global South Anglican

There are two visions competing for the heart and soul of the Episcopal Church. They are separate and distinct. They are irreconcilable.

A ‘series of consultations’ to head off ‘schism’ in the Anglican Communion are taking place at Lambeth Palace, as the Archbishop of Canterbury considers potential fall-out from the American General Convention in June. On Monday the Archbishop met with senior bishops and representatives of mission agencies, Anglican Mainstream and the Anglican Consultative Council to discuss a range of scenarios for dealing with the crisis.

I’ve been getting phone calls, but I said no, I’m not going to talk. If they want to know what’s happening, come to our country. Since 1988, where there’s suffering, this comes from our Muslim neighbors. We have never on our own initiated any attack on anybody. Never. And that’s because our youth were willing to take our advice. But now they’re accusing us and calling us names—what do we do?

Ed: A good read.

Three years after delegates of the last Episcopal General Convention in the United States approved the election of V. Gene Robinson, a homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire, local Archbishop Drexel Gomez still fears a split in the Anglican Communion.

Underlying the report is a promise of fudging the issue as well as an underlying message that the Scriptural view of sexuality is antiquated and that the current consensus of the Anglican Communion, with its affirmation of the authority of Scripture and Lambeth 1.10, is no longer acceptable and should be replaced. In short, the report does not reflect the mind of the Anglican Communion with regard to these issues, nor does it comply with the spirit and word of the Windsor Report or the Primates’ Communiqué.  It is, therefore, inadequate.

“Bishop John Chew, head of the Anglican Church in Singapore, makes no apologies for expressing his views and believes other citizens should do the same. Dr Chew believes there could be other ways to approach the challenges that Singapore faces.”

It all makes a good and characteristically ‘modern’ story – about resisting authority, bringing secrets to light, exposing corruption and deception; it evokes Watergate and All the President’s Men. As someone remarked after a television programme about the Da Vinci Code, it’s almost that we’d prefer to believe something like this instead of the prosaic reality.

When we are told the water tank for the Archbishop’s Palace is empty (which it often is!), we say, “That is not good.”  When my wife, Mama Phoebe, discovers that the food store is empty, we say, “That is not good.”  When my driver tells me that the fuel tank in my vehicle is empty, I say, “That is not good.” If you are like me, most of our associations with the word ‘empty’ are negative.  We think, “empty is bad, and full is good.”

Having been enabled by God to meditate on the passion of our Lord during the holy season of Lent, it is hoped that the lessons of love, perseverance, humility, and absolute trust and dependence upon God have been learnt.