Friday, May 28, 2010

The Blogs Are Burning


Well, well, well. The Archbishop of Canterbury has really done it this time!
In yet-another-misguided-missive from the ABC, ++Rowan is seeking a "new Pentecost". Trouble is, his idea of a new Pentecost is one in which the likes of the Episcopal Church are not exactly kicked out. But we are told that we must sit quietly in the corner while those who ++Rowan "likes" will get to call all the shots. Here's the paragraph:
...when a province through its formal decision-making bodies or its House of Bishops as a body declines to accept requests or advice from the consultative organs of the Communion, it is very hard (as noted in
my letter to the Communion last year after the General Convention of TEC) to see how members of that province can be placed in positions where they are required to represent the Communion as a whole. This affects both our ecumenical dialogues, where our partners (as they often say to us) need to know who it is they are talking to, and our internal faith-and-order related groups.

I am therefore proposing that, while these tensions remain unresolved, members of such provinces - provinces that have formally, through their Synod or House of Bishops, adopted policies that breach any of the moratoria requested by the Instruments of Communion and recently reaffirmed by the Standing Committee and the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) - should not be participants in the ecumenical dialogues in which the Communion is formally engaged. I am further proposing that members of such provinces serving on IASCUFO should for the time being have the status only of consultants rather than full members.

For expert analysis and commentary, I recommend Preludium, Stone of Witness, and Of Course, I Could Be Wrong. And I agree with frdougal: We should go back to our American Revolutionary roots and declare, "No taxation without representation." The Lambeth Conference isn't quite the same party without our financial support. If we are going to get sent to bed without our supper, we should refuse to pay for anyone else's meal. I'm sure our financial resources could be better spent helping the poor, the friendless, and the needy in places such as Haiti, Cuba... or even on the streets in our own country.




3 comments:

Kay & Sarah said...

I could say that we and the TEC should take our Chalice and go home to play somewhere else, but we have done that. We have learned to play sports under the stadium lights for so long that we should organize another league and steel as many of the other players as we can. If the new TEC League is invited to play in the old league it must be up to the others 'guy's' to fork over the money to pay our way.

The time is now to gather those who have adopted our rule of play under the flowing robes of the PB.

Phoebe said...

When I read the Biblical Pentecost story.. I understand that the Holy Spirit gave everyone words, and everyone around the area heard the good news in their own language.. So ++Rowan wants to control the HS? I don't think so. Making "God" in his own image? No way can I answer to 'that god'.

SCG said...

Of course, I could be wrong... but I actually think the Anglican Communion came about because of the Episcopal Church USA. And so you are quite right, Two Auntees: we already know how to play the game and we ought to recruit those who want to play with us.

Phoebe, didn't you know ++Rowan IS God? Silly little 'piskie priest. :)