The Church Times has both a news report and a leader comment.
Lambeth rebuke for Kenya ordinations by Ed Thornton
This contains some additional information, including this:
…The Revd Richard Perkins, the senior minister of Christ Church, Balham, an AMIE church, wrote on his blog last week that the three who were ordained in Kenya were staff of the Co-Mission Initiative in the Southwark diocese, of which his church is a member.
He said that “on the presenting issue of homosexual activity”, the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, “has not been able to reassure us that he believes and will teach that the only God-approved context for sexual activity is within heterosexual marriage.
“What this means for those Anglican congregations within Co-Mission . . . is that the situation of temporarily impaired communion remains unchanged. We do not . . . recognise his spiritual authority over us…”
Leader: A fresh expression of ordination
WAS it all, indeed, just a misunderstanding? The Lambeth Palace gloss on the formation of the Anglican Mission in England (AMIE) this week is that the Archbishop of Kenya was ill-informed about “the precise requirements of English canon law and good practice” when he ordained three clergymen in the Southwark diocese last month. We should have thought that common courtesy might have prevailed and that, after all the discussions about the Covenant, the assumption of some form of oversight of clergy in another province might have rung a warning bell or two in Nairobi.
The Lambeth statement also reveals the surprising fact that Dr Williams is no wiser about the intentions of the new Anglican Mission than the average observer…
So Coekin is a “key player” in the establishment of AMiE. A good day’s work when Scott-Joynt & Williams backed him against Bishop Butler on the issue of back-street ordinations in 2006.
This is all very confusing for me. At what point does the action of any group in a society cease to be the seeking of a reasonable accommodation for a legitimately held, if minority position, and become, in fact treason? For me, it is at the point when it no longer seeks redress within the society, and no longer accepts its governance. When the American colonies decided that this was the case, they simplified matters with a “Declaration of Independence” clarifying for all their intent. They subsequently sought the assistance of an outside power, France, to realize that aspiration. In… Read more »
“The Lambeth statement also reveals the surprising fact that Dr Williams is no wiser about the intentions of the new Anglican Mission than the average observer…”
Not surprising, given Dr. Williams’ ignorance and disregard of ECUSA polity.
The Archbishop of Kenya knew exactly what he was doing.
See the AMIE press release in full on their website.
Don’t forget that this the culmination of a 4 year discussion with Lambeth and a 50 page document.