Bishop Katharine visits Rowan Williams
Updated Monday morning
As previously reported by the Living Church, today the Presiding Bishop-elect of The Episcopal Church visited Archbishop Rowan Williams at Lambeth.
Episcopal News Service and the Anglican Communion News Service both carry reports and photographs.
Archbishop welcomes Presiding Bishop, Presiding Bishop-elect to Lambeth Palace
The Presiding Bishop elect meets with the Archbishop of Canterbury
Update The Living Church has a further report, Archbishop Williams Meets With Presiding Bishop-elect Jefferts Schori
Her installation as Presiding Bishop will take place at the Washington Cathedral on Saturday 4 November. Details of the arrangements are described here.
For an earlier video interview with CBS News, go here.
For two videos from the General Convention go here.
Her remarks at a recent conference for ordained women are summarised here.
Update Monday
In his sermon at St John’s Notting Hill yesterday, Frank Griswold said:
My reason for being here in London has been to introduce Bishop Katharine to his Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury. While I have known Archbishop Rowan for many years – our friendship dating back to his days as a professor at Oxford – my successor had yet to meet him. It was an immensely positive and fruitful exchange. During our meeting we were able to share mutual concerns and hopes for the future of our Communion and its ministry of service to our broken and needy world.
The Anglican Communion, through its international consultative council, has committed itself to gender equity in all of its representative and consultative bodies. The election of Bishop Katharine to serve as 26th Presiding Bishop, and therefore Primate, is a first step toward bringing gender balance to what until now has been an all male preserve.
There are those who have indicated that they will not sit at the same table with her. I do hope that once they meet her as a person, rather than as a fabrication of the Internet, they will be able to sense the depth and authenticity of her faith, and to recognize her as a sister in Christ and a fellow bishop.
This is a welcome initiative. Maybe when souls talk to her, they might realize she actually understands the bible, people and organizational/communal needs. This would take it from being a theoretical “I wonder if a women is capable” to an actual “this woman is capable”. The only souls who won’t be able to cope are those who stuff their ears and close their eyes so they cannot hear or see the evidence before them. This is biblical, and one of the prophesies that needed to be fulfilled, that women were to go from calling God “master” to calling God “husband”… Read more »
There may be primates who have difficulty acknowledging her primacy because of her gender. Recognition by Canterbury makes a clear statement that many will have difficulty arguing with.
“Because of the serious repercussions in the Communion, we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites [of same-sex blessings], and recommend that bishops who have authorized such rites in the United States and Canada be invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorization. Pending such expression of regret, we recommend that such bishops be invited to consider in all conscience whether they should withdraw themselves from representative functions in the Anglican Communion.” This does sound like a piece of bullying. Clergy are more and more involved in blessing… Read more »
“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.” (Deut 22:5).
Nice suit Bishop Jefferts Schori!
“Nice suit Bishop Jefferts Schori!”
Yes, it is, isn’t it?
Reminds me of the old joke about the drag queen who goes for the first time to a smells and bells Anglo-Catholic church for Mass and, upon exiting, tells the celebrant, “Honey, I just love your pretty white dress and your red poncho, but I was kinda worried about your purse being on fire!”
“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.” (Deut 22:5).
never mind the suit. what about my lace?
“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.” (Deut 22:5). Nice suit Bishop Jefferts Schori!” Posted by Martin Reynolds I’m sorry, but is this post for real? Should we propose that the ABC also have an “acceptable underwear” check, whenever he is meeting with another bishop? Otherwise, how else could Canterbury be sure that all is in consonance with some antediluvian concept? But, I do remember my nautical charts in the Navy, which clearly pointed… Read more »
Typical of a Navy type to suggest an underwear check for the ABC! I personally think it should be de rigueur – though the job should only be open to ex-Chief Petty Officers and above.
My chart still shows the likelihood of falling off the end of the real world occurs at Sydney!
…nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment…
Hmmm… I rather prefer the Gospel’s “dressing code” —
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27-28).
Jerry. I do, I hope they have the sense to keep their private parts private. 🙂
at the risk of being tasteless (!) I add the following reflection on Dt 23:1….
“Is anything worn underneath the cassock?”
“No, Archbishop, it’s all in perfect working order.”
Thomas+ thanks for reminding us of that passage. I was also reading Jonathan Sacks’ book “To heal a fractured world” on the weekend. He reminded me that God sent Adam and Eve out into the world clothed in skin and fur. Sacks refers to this as God providing them with protection, even though they were being cast out into the world. A reread of Genesiss 3:21-24 also led to the contemplation that those clothes of skin and fur were actually the incarnate forms of human bodies. (Thus Adam and Eve were no longer only metaphysical, they were now also manifest… Read more »
“My chart still shows the likelihood of falling off the end of the real world occurs at Sydney!” A strange map you have in Old South Wales. US maps of the world put America in the middle, European maps put Europe in the middle, and Chinese maps put the Middle Kingdom in the middle – and all of them show New Zealand 1,300 miles east of Sydney. There is life outside Merthyr Tydfil, you know! (Is there life inside it?) Whether the Anglican Church will any longer be on the map in Wales in another generation is another question, given… Read more »
After hearing the vid streams of PBE Jefferts Schori yet again, I am playing the Magnificat (JSB) for sound track. I feel so very grateful for her election, and near pending investiture. Watching/hearing her again during the touchy moments of the press conference stream only confirmed my burgeoning suspicion that she can deftly sidestep the either/or traps laid for her in so many new conservative presuppositional questions, while inviting us all consistently to be Anglicans in relationship at the Lord’s Table. That is pretty much all any leader in such a high position can do, and I for one wish… Read more »
The Church in Wales has indeed suffered a severe decline in membership over the past 75 years, but Robert Anderson will be pleased to hear that at least one diocese – that of our redoubtable Archbishop Barry Morgan appears to have arrested the decline and hopeful signs are emerging. The one thing I can say from my experience is that the Anglican faithful of Wales minister to their communities with a resolve and determination that is awesome. Perhaps Robert has studied our spiritual history, in which case he will know that while Anglicanism has diminished the great non-conformist churches of… Read more »
No one denies the growth of Sydney Anglicans, or the other megachurches for that matter. No one denies the sincerity of their commitment to evangelicising and promoting Jesus not just to Sydney, but throughout the world. But it is growth at what cost? Driving ministerial staff into other Dioceses or churches because they are “incorrect” in their scriptural interpretations and subject to disciplinary action? Increasing controls and the ease of removing ministers? Senior leaders not ashamed to make sermons in parishes reminding the parish of their ability to remove leaders and that they have done so in the past and… Read more »
And how much impact do Sydney Anglicans have on those outside the fold? Given that Sydney remains a liberal city with a vibrant gay community, I’d say very little.
Is Sydney perfect? certainly not. Yet in studying at Moore I have never found that a well researched essay taking an opposing view to a lecturer or even the principal was rejected because of its viewpoint. I agree that a “liberal” might find the college heavy going – and feel isolated with few prospects of advancement in the diocese. Thats a function of it being a conservative evangelical see. In a similar way a Sydneysider might find a liberal TEC diocese a tough place to be. The anglican system makes it quite difficult to remove a minister appointed to a… Read more »
Cheryl, are we talking about the same Abraham? You know, the one who handed his wife over for sexual molestation to save his own skin, who abandoned his legal partner and their child to a slow death in the wilderness, who thought infanticide a good idea?
I’ve always dealt with Abraham as a classic example of how God works through even the weakest and most venal characters.
David Your comments about biblical characters being human, for better or for worse are valid, and a point often glossed over by puritans. Remember that Sarah was protected from the King, and the King acknowledged that her God had protected both her and Abraham. That God comforted both Abraham and Haggar and made a promise to them separately that Haggar and her son would live and go on to found their own nation/s. And the legal partner was the troublemaking handmaiden that Abraham had only taken at Sarah’s insistence as she was barren. The only reason she was cast out… Read more »
Sorry to interrupt the flow, BUT . . .can anybody tell me if it is usual for the AbC to send a representative bishop to the installation of the PB of ECUSA? I had rather thought that ++RW’s predecessors had attended in person.
Please re-assure me that this isn’t the case. That way I might be able to salvage some of my once high opinion of the Most Reverend Dr. Williams.
Yes it is the usual thing for the ABC to send a representative to the installation of any Presiding Bishop or Primate of the AC. The installations he attends in person are exceptional (Sudan I think, some years ago now, was the most recent exception). Why it should be thought that ECUSA is so important that Cantuar must be there in person – when there are now almost 40 Anglican provinces – is beyond me?
“Why it should be thought that ECUSA is so important that Cantuar must be there in person – when there are now almost 40 Anglican provinces – is beyond me?” I don’t believe that was in any way the implication by Anglicanus; I do believe it was to simply inquire whether the ABC’s decision, about whom should attend, was in any way different than the norm. Clearly, from Mr. Carey’s comments, it was quite the norm, as is the status of ECUSA. It is no more important, and no less important, than other provinces in the Anglican Communion. Wealth is… Read more »
will this lady be installed as the leader of “TEC Global” at the same time or is that in 2008?
To paraphrase a well known punchline — “That’s no lady, that’s my Primate!” with apologies to KJS.