primates meeting: Wednesday
Updated Wednesday afternoon
Morning reports from British journalists in Northern Ireland:
Stephen Bates in the Guardian
Bishops pray together amid rumours of split
Tolerance is absent from their lexicon
Ruth Gledhill in The Times
Church plea for unity over gays
BBC
Call for peace in gay bishops row
Belfast Telegraph Church should be a place of sanctuary: Archbishop – Let us keep doors open, says Williams
Primates Meeting 2005: Photographs from Armagh
Later reports
If, as I understand it, all deliberations have been behind closed doors, how can one be sure that the information is other than pure media speculation?
The answer to R Leggat’s question can be found in the second Stephen Bates artilce which Simon has helpfully linked above. The reactionaries are leaking by mobile phone to their supporters camped nearby. Bates is clearly right: this has nothing really to do with gay people. It’s all about power – who gets to control what Anglicans are seen by the world to believe and practise.
Many thanks to Simon and all for keeping us up to date. In Australia the meeting is being completely ignored by all news media.
While not necessarily agreeing with the language used by Rodney McInnes, I think he’s got the facts pretty accurate. It’s evident that David Virtue has inside knowledge and his site is pretty upfront about how he got it. I do, however, think that Stephen Bates needs to be read with some caution. He has many admirable qualities, but he isn’t – and doesn’t pretend to be – neutral. First, I think Mr Bates is an example of a certain type of liberal Roman Catholic who thinks his wish-list will be fulfilled more readily in the Anglican Communion than his own… Read more »