Pat Ashworth interviewed Bishop Greg Venables.
Her report at the Church Times blog is headlined Greg Venables had not seen or agreed the GAFCON Covenant response:
HE WAS diplomatic about it, but it was clearly vexing to the Archbishop of the Southern Cone, Greg Venables, that he had neither seen nor agreed the published response to the St Andrew’s draft Covenant , issued by GAFCON on Friday in his name and those of the Primates of Nigeria, West Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. None of the other six is present at the conference…
…“If the conservative orthodox group within the Communion is going to come out of this very difficult situation in a way that honours God, it’s going to have to be consulting together, agreed not just on what we believe but prepared to be tolerant and considerate and loving on secondary issues and also committed to talking together and doing things together,” said Bishop Venables.
“If we speak, it’s because we have had dialogue and we have agreed on what we’re saying. The GAFCON statement as it came out of Jerusalem [The Jerusalem Statement and Declaration] was fully agreed on and worked out together – but obviously other things haven’t been followed through in the same consultative, collegial way, which is a great pity.”…Bishop Venables had agreed the accompanying response to some of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s concerns, a response which, although uncompromising, has a markedly less high-handed tone. Was GAFCON starting from a totally fixed position with no compromise and no leeway, I asked Bishop Venables? “That’s the opposite of what a number of us feel, “he said. “I wouldn’t be here at Lambeth if I didn’t think that God had always got the door open, and if we move towards him then hopefully we would be moving towards each other if we were all sincerely seeking the same thing.”
Actually, as far as I know, the Primates of West Africa and Tanzania ARE at Lambeth.
It is also probable, according to Andrew Goddard, that the detailed backing paper relates not to an earlier Nassau draft version of the St Andrew’s Covenant, but an entirely different document altogether:
http://tinyurl.com/gafconcov
Actions going on behind Greg’s back and without Greg’s permission?
Must.Resist.Schadenfreude…. ;-/
Why is he surprised? That’s how the Global South operates. You’re either with them or against them, and they already know that you simply MUST agree with them!
Oh what a tangled web we weave…
Greg Venables must be feeling quite uncomfortable at this time. Having been rejected by his own confederates of the Global South at Gafcon (not even being included as a signatory of their response to the message from the ABC), and obviously not a popular figure at the Lambeth Conference, he must wonder which way the cat is going to jump for him after Lambeth. Is he going to cling to his primacy over the dissidents he has elected to shelter under his wing at the Southern Cone – and risk being seen as a ‘sheep-stealer’? Or will he dissemble, and… Read more »
As we’d say in the land of Oz: Peter just boned Gregory
A lawyer who is very dear to me advises that adding names as signatories to a document where those named have not specifically agreed to it constitutes fraud.
Fraud (just in case any of the GAFFEPRONE happen to be reading this and not know) is a criminal offence.
Oh, and this isn’t the first time, either, that Martyn Minns and Peter Akinola (which is Edgar Bergen and which Charlie McCarthy?) have committed this particular crime.
“… a response which, although uncompromising, has a markedly less high-handed tone.”
Who can be amazed at these machinations?
Indeed, some of us expected them from previous experience.
Attend a conference with some souls. Agree to their “decree” released at the end of the conference, and then it seems you have given a blank cheque to their theology. A bit like Jesus was annointed as global messiah, it was agreed he was global messiah, so everything that Jesus’ priests do from that point is fair game. You no longer have the right to dissent, because you signed on for the process. Flash backwards to Mt Sinai. The reason the second set of stone tablets could be written is that the men had stolen from the women their jewelry… Read more »
Going back to MJ’s comment, the first comment above. I believe MJ is correct that bishops from West Africa and Tanzania are at Lambeth.
Has anyone done an accounting of the bishops who are in attendance? At worst perhaps looking at the official photos from Lambeth Conference and doing some ID’s might be in order.
Does ‘boning’ have a different meaning in the land of Oz from its (colourfully explicit)
meaning in the UK ?
I do hope not !
As we say here in the (U.S.) South: If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.