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. 

But one thing you quickly discover at worship in the Sudan is that there is no occasion free from alleluias. That Ash Wednesday service echoed with the joyful shouting of ‘Alleluia’ – from the children and the women especially as we came in, from every speaker who got near the microphone during the service, in hymns and songs throughout.

It’s good for us to shut up and sit down occasionally. Our task is both very simple and very hard: to create a kind of rest and quiet that begins to tune people’s ears to the impression of intense activity elsewhere. That would be worship worth the name, a space for the heart to grow into.

However, the language proposed by the Commission stated the apology was not for having been in error for affirming the election of a non-celibate homosexual priest as bishop, but for a “failure to consult adequately with our Anglican partners” before it authorized the election of Gene Robinson.

More responses to the report and views of some bishops can be read here at Standing Firm

In an important step that will strengthen future leadership in the Anglican Province of Rwanda, classes have begun as part of the new Kigali Anglican Theological College, Rwanda’s first seminary. 

This is a great loss not only to the Anglican Church of Kenya but to CAPA and the entire Anglican Communion, which he served. Bishop Waqo has been helping the CAPA Secretariat administratively in the absence of a General Secretary…

Ed: For your prayer and support.

Will they ever be healed? Reflections as an aid to prayer

by Peter Toon

Ed: A season of change for Archbishop Drexel and his Diocese - Info for prayer

Ed: Great reading.

“The Church of love is also the Church of truth, understood above all as fidelity to the Gospel entrusted by the Lord Jesus to his own.”

Ed: Spoken with refreshing Christian clarity and a reminder of our basic identity. Some thoroughly confused parts of our Church need to hear some of these feint echoes of what we once were. I agree with Kendall’s comments at titusonenine: “Interesting phrase, that, the contrast between the truths of faith and the resulting lacerations of communion. Well worth pondering this week."

By The Rev’d Dr Ephraim Radner is a Senior Fellow of the Anglican Communion Institute and a priest in the Diocese of Colorado

The Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion has issued its report, including 11 resolutions to be debated by the 75th General Convention at its meeting June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio.

by Greg Griffith

Read at Standing Firm

Ed: Interesting but not surprising. 

“The cultural diversity of the Anglican Communion has worked in our favor in that it has enabled us to foster relationships through the work of interfaith dialogue with significant individuals such as the Rt. Rev’d. Dr. Mouneer H. Anis [Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and The Horn of Africa]. Also, in Nigeria, we are having a difficult but powerful conversation, and we have facilitated a critical dialogue in Pakistan.”

The American Anglican Council released today the second edition of its educational booklet “Equipping the Saints: A Crisis Resource for Anglican Laity,” first published in 2004 as a tool for assisting individuals and congregations with understanding the issues and nature of the current crisis in the Anglican Communion.  The second edition includes current statistics, an updated timeline, and descriptions of situations that reflect the escalating crisis.  Time is of the essence, and we encourage you to use this educational tool in your congregations and small groups as well as with individuals.  Print it, make copies, and pass it along.

Download it here

Ed: Very helpful reading

Clergy and lay leaders of 63 American congregations under the Anglican provinces of Uganda, Southern Cone (South America), Kenya and Central Africa gathered at Christ Church, Overland Park, Kansas, from March 22-24, 2006.