Saturday, December 12, 2009

At Last, A Crumb Falls to the Floor

Not only has President Barack Obama finally issued a statement condemning the proposed Anti-Homosexuality legislation in Uganda, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an interview with the London Telegraph, offered some words of concern for what is happening in that African nation. You can read the snippet posted in Andrew Brown's blog HERE.

One of the people commenting on Brown's post I think hit the nail on the head. The Archbishop is basically out-of-his-league in these matters of worldly... real-life affairs. He is a great scholar. He is no doubt a valued voice in academia. But the threat of prison and the persecution of LGBT people, especially at the hands of Christians and fellow "anglicans", is something that doesn't fit neatly into a thesis. And my own perception is that the man is too proud to see that he may be on the wrong path, and that he may not be able to apply his book knowledge to solve the issues of bigotry and hatred. That's just my observation. For these reasons, I'm actually very sad for the Archbishop, but that doesn't excuse him from his Johnny-come-lately statement (such as it is) when he so quickly condemned last weekend's vote in Los Angeles where two women, one a lesbian, were elected Bishop Suffragans.

So, thanks for the crumbs. But even the crumbs are stale.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Upper South Carolina has elected a new bishop, Rev. W. Andrew Waldo. Bishop-elect Waldo spent some time in my native Diocese of New Hampshire, serving as a curate in the "Queen City" of Manchester; hence he is not only aware of Bishop Gene Robinson, but apparently calls him an "old friend and mentor." The Archbishop will be happy to know that this particular Bishop-elect is a non-celibate white heterosexual man, so there will be no need to fire off terse statements questioning his election, and encouraging bishops and standing committees to reject him. Congratulations to the Upper South Carolina folks. The bio on your new bishop sounds like you will make beautiful music together!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Andy Waldo was honored in this way. So South Carolina has one of ours and we in Christ Church have one of theirs in Annie Thornberg.

Peggins

SCG said...

Peggins, do you know Rev. Waldo?