Update
There are further quotes from the bishop here.
Jonathan Petre reports in the Daily Telegraph that the Bishop of Rochester has said he may not attend:
144 Comments…Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Bishop Nazir-Ali backed the calls of African archbishops for Dr Williams to convene an emergency meeting of all the primates to decide whether to discipline the Americans or postpone Lambeth.
He said: “My difficulty at the moment is not with a particular person, such as Gene Robinson, but with those who felt it right to approve and to officiate at his ordination.
“Unless they are willing to say that what they did was contrary to the Gospel, and we all of us from time to time need to repent about what we have done wrong, I would find it very difficult to be with them in a council of bishops.”
He said if the conference was no longer to be regarded as an authoritative council, as it had been in the past, then he might be able to attend, but many would then question whether such a costly gathering had any point.
Bishop Nazir-Ali dismissed the view of the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, that conservatives who boycotted Lambeth would be expelling themselves Anglicanism because they had broken their links with the Archbishop of Canterbury…
The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has written The Next Twenty Years for Anglican Christians.
100 Comments…Uncertainty is now over. The decisive moments have passed. Irreversible actions have occurred. The time has come for sustained thought about a different future. The Anglican Communion will never be the same again. The Windsor process has failed, largely because it refused to grapple with the key issue of the truth. A new and more biblical vision is required to help biblically faithful Anglican churches survive and grow in the contemporary world.
Some have still set their hopes on the Lambeth Conference. But that is to misunderstand the significance of our time. It can no longer either unify Anglicanism or speak with authority. The invitations have gone to virtually all, and it is likely that some of those not invited will still attend as guests. There are faithful Anglican bishops who are not invited, and there are others who cannot be present in good conscience. The solemn words of the 1998 Conference were ignored by the American Church in 2003, and any authority which we may have ascribed to the deliberations of the Bishops has been lost permanently. Not surprisingly, Lambeth 2008 is not going to attempt a similar exercise in conciliar pronouncements. Why would it? There is no vision here….
… That leads to this fundamental conclusion. Those who believe that the American development is wrong must also plan for the next decades, not the next few months. There is every reason to think that the Western view of sexuality will eventually permeate other parts of the world. After all, it has done so spectacularly in the West, and the modern communication revolution has opened the way for everyone to be aware of what happens in New York, London, San Francisco and Brighton.
Thus the question before the biblically orthodox in the Communion is this: what new vision of the Anglican Communion should we embrace? Where should it be in the next twenty years? How can we ensure that the word of God rules our lives? How are we going to guard ourselves effectively against the sexual agenda of the West and begin to turn back the tide of Western liberalism? What theological education must we have? How can we now best network with each other? Who is going to care for Episcopalians in other western provinces who are going to be objecting to the official acceptance of non-biblical practices? The need for high level discussion of these issues is urgent.
As an initial step I look to the Global South leadership to call for another ‘Blast of the Trumpet.’ The ensuing consultation must start with the reality of where we are now, and look steadfastly to a future in which the bonds of Communion have been permanently loosened. It has to strengthen the fellowship by which churches will help each other to guard their theological good health while engaging together with the task of preaching the gospel to an unbelieving world…
National Public Radio has a 6 minute report: Foreign Archbishops Flock to U.S. Congregations.
Those interviewed include Miranda Hassett and Jim Naughton.
The NPR blurb is:
14 CommentsThe U.S. Episcopal Church has been estranged from parts of the global Anglican church since a church in New Hampshire consecrated a gay bishop. The controversy has abated somewhat, but many in the church now worry about another potential divide. Depending on your point of view, African bishops are either stealing American worshippers — or rescuing them.
Just as Western missionaries spread the Christian message to Africa, African and other Anglican leaders are staking claims in the United States.
In the past two years, there’s been a flurry of reverse colonization as archbishops from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Bolivia and Singapore have taken conservative Episcopal churches under their wings.
The Anglican Communion Institute which on this occasion appears to mean:
Archbishop Drexel Wellington Gomez, Bishop Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop N.T. Wright, Bishop Edward L. Salmon, Bishop John W. Howe, Bishop James Stanton, Christopher Seitz, Philip Turner, Ephraim Radner, Andrew Goddard
has published:
Response to the New Orleans House of Bishops Statement
With brief reflections on the report of the Joint Standing Committee
The ACI copy is here, but the one linked above is easier to read.
63 CommentsJane Shaw writes in the Guardian about why the bond of baptism means we have no need for a new ‘essential’ Anglican covenant, in Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Worshipping God through icons.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Ambition: the spiritual battle in the dark.
Harriet Baber writes in the Church Times that Most Episcopalians just don’t care.
Pat Ashworth writes in the Church Times about how Bishops wade in as Hurricane Katrina aid dries to a trickle.
76 CommentsThe Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, has commented on the New Orleans statement of the American bishops and on the JSC report. See the Living Church reportby Steve Waring: Primate of Uganda: Episcopal Bishops Were Coached.
…“The report is severely compromised and further tears the existing tear in the fabric of our beloved Anglican Communion,” Archbishop Orombi wrote. “It is gravely lamentable that our Instruments of Communion have missed the opportunity in this moment to begin the healing that is so necessary for our future.”
Archbishop Orombi said the primates never asked the House of Bishops to make new policy for The Episcopal Church. Given that General Convention would not meet again for three years, he said the primates wanted the Episcopal bishops to clarify parts of two General Convention resolutions which the primates believed could be interpreted several different ways.
“TEC has lost the right to give assurances of their direction as a church through more words and statements,” Archbishop Orombi said. “They write one thing and do another. We therefore cannot know what they mean by their words until we see their meaning demonstrated by their actions.”
Some comparisons with earlier events are made at Episcopal Café see Abp. Orombi criticizes the New Orleans report.
Meanwhile, CANA bishop-elect David Anderson had this to say about the process in an email to the AAC mailing list:
When a Father Betrays the Family, All Suffer
This cannot be said in a few words. What is really going on in the Anglican Communion? Is there more going on than meets the eye? The answer is shocking and disappointing. A number of events are coming together to change the fundamental character of the Communion and re-establish the hegemony of the spiritually revisionist West.
Why has Rowan Williams overlooked the facts given him and welcomed the Episcopal Church to Lambeth anyway? The AAC provided Archbishop Williams with comprehensive documentation of the Episcopal Church’s words and actions relating to compliance with Dar es Salaam, usually in their own words, in direct quotes, with sources footnoted and internet weblinks. Did he bother to read it? Some pundits and commentators expected the Archbishop of Canterbury to actually review the facts, weigh the facts fairly and accurately, and properly discipline the current official branch of American Anglicanism, TEC.
Williams not only came to New Orleans with a closed mind to the provable facts, he came with a plan to swiftly undercut the orthodox Global South and those orthodox Americans whom they have supported. Within days, the optimistic pundits and commentators who thought that Dr. Williams cared about the morality and integrity of the Communion, cared about the Windsor Report, cared about the Dromantine and Dar es Salaam Communiques, were shown to be mistaken. What Dr. Williams cares about is holding onto American financial support, holding onto the revisionist provinces of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and allowing the pantheistic and homosexual agendas to continue their unfolding and flourishing.
Dr. Williams took two important actions upon leaving New Orleans: launching the Joint Standing Committee Report (very likely written before New Orleans by the Rev. Canon Dr. Gregory Cameron of the Anglican Communion Office); and immediately commencing a telephone campaign, phoning Anglican Primates to ask (read convince or coerce) their agreement that the Episcopal Church had substantially met the standards of the Dar es Salaam Communique.
With ears carefully turned to Lambeth, we find that Rowan Williams is determined that Lambeth 2008 will absolutely take place, and on his terms.
The AAC has been advised from trustworthy sources that Dr. Williams is already obligated for Lambeth Conference costs in Canterbury next summer, which means that if he cancels it, he is still responsible for most of the costs of the conference anyway. In order to secure their booking for the University of Kent, which is the venue for the Lambeth Conference of Bishops, one deposit of £440,000 (about $880,000 USD) was due on October 1, with a second payment for the same amount due on December 1. Did he receive the amount of money needed for the first payment in time to meet the October 1 deadline? Was this why his actions to secure a blessing for TEC were so frantic?
Perhaps he already had the down payment in hand for the October 1 installment, but he knows that the next deadline is December 1 when he will need another £440,000 (or $880,000 USD). Where will he acquire such enormous funds? If TEC is neither invited to Lambeth nor given a passing grade, the Lambeth Conference would be in as much trouble financially as a well known bank in the UK which had to be suddenly rescued. Who will rescue Lambeth and Rowan Williams? Would TEC put the envelope in the mail if they were treated favorably? The New Orleans Statement pressed for an invitation to Lambeth for Bishop Gene Robinson and offered to help the Archbishop of Canterbury achieve that. What might this help be? Stressors and motivations like these, though unseen by the public, are constant factors in the relationship between Canterbury and TEC. Sadly, that relationship is determining the direction and focus of a 77 million member church.
His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, contacted the Primates quietly and individually, ostensibly to gather their views on whether TEC had passed the test. It is imperative to Dr. Williams that a substantial number of the Primates, no matter how small their province, agree that TEC has at least tried hard enough for a further chance. Dromantine and Dar es Salaam were unanimous, and he knows his best chance is to keep the Primates separated and unable to confer together in a meeting. We note that several members of the Joint Standing
Committee did not attach their names in agreement to the railroaded text, and the AAC applauds the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis (President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East and a member of the Primates Standing Committee) for his courageous and accurate minority opinion to the JSC report, as well as his cogent observations based on his experience in New Orleans.Let’s watch the news carefully over the next eight weeks. Will Dr. Williams coerce a slight majority of Primates to agree favorably towards TEC? Will Dr. Williams find the £440,000 for the next installment due December 1 and save both face and the Lambeth Conference – at least until the next installment is due? Follow the money and watch for updates as answers to these questions become available. Watch for the official announcement from Dr. Williams that TEC is OK, and then later, that Gene Robinson is coming to Lambeth. Am I wrong on this analysis? I believe I am spot on, but I am willing to issue a challenge to Lambeth Palace: prove me wrong…
There is more, read it all here.
Update Still more opinions from David Anderson here.
22 CommentsThree statements have been issued from the meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) :
CAPA Communique, Mauritius, Indian Ocean, October 2007
Eleven of the twelve provinces of CAPA were represented: Burundi, Central Africa, Congo, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Southern Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and West Africa.
African Archbishops respond to New Orleans, October 2007
Here is part of that:
4. While meeting in Mauritius we received a copy of the report of the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council. On first reading we find it to be unsatisfactory. The assurances made are without credibility and its preparation is severely compromised by numerous conflicts of interest. The report itself appears to be a determined effort to find a way for the full inclusion of The Episcopal Church with no attempt at discipline or change from their prior position.
5. We are convinced that what is at stake in this crisis is the very nature of Anglicanism – to understand it simply in terms of the need for greater inclusivity in the face of changing sexual ethics is a grave mistake. It is not just about sexuality but also about the nature of Christ, the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Bible. We see a trend that seems to ignore the careful balance of reformed catholicity and missionary endeavor that is our true heritage and replace it with a religion of cultural conformity that offers no transforming power and no eternal hope.
6. In our considered opinion, however, there is a possible way forward. The Anglican Communion Covenant is the one way for us to uphold our common heritage of faith while at the same time holding each one of us accountable to those teachings that have defined our life together and also guide us into the future. We therefore propose the following actions:
a. Call a special session of the Primates Meeting.
We believe that meeting together is essential if we are prayerfully to allow the Holy Spirit to work through our interactions and bring us to a common mind. We would need to:
i. Review the actual response made by The Episcopal Church – both their words and their actions.
ii. Finalize the Covenant proposal and set a timetable for ratification by individual provinces.b. Postpone current plans for the Lambeth Conference
We recognize that such an action will be costly, however, we believe that the alternative – a divided conference with several provinces unable to participate and hundreds of bishops absent would be much more costly to our life and witness. It would bring an end to the Communion, as we know it. Postponement will accomplish the following:
i. Allow the current tensions to subside and leave room for the hard work of reconciliation that must be done.
ii. Ensure that those invited to the Lambeth Conference have already endorsed the Covenant and so can come together as witness to our common faith.7. We make these proposals in good faith believing that they provide an opportunity for us to reunite the Communion consistent with our common heritage and give us a way forward. We also stand ready to work with the various instruments of the Communion to ensure their success.
The signatures on this statement are:
The Most Rev’d Peter J. Akinola, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
**The Most Rev’d Justice Akrofi, The Church of the Province of West Africa
The Rt. Rev’d Philip Baji*, The Anglican Church of Tanzania
The Most Rev’d Fidele Dirokpa, Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo
The Most Revd Ian Ernest, The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
The Most Rev’d Emmanuel Kolini, L’Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda
The Most Rev’d Bernard Malango, The Church of the Province of Central Africa
The Rt Rev’d Trevor Mwamba*, The Church of the Province of Central Africa
The Most Rev’d Bernard Ntahoturi, The Anglican Church of Burundi
The Most Rev’d Benjamin Nzimbi, The Anglican Church of Kenya
The Most Rev’d Henry Orombi, The Church of the Province of Uganda
**The Rt Rev’d Johannes Seoka*, The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
The Rev’d Canon Dr. Sami Fawzy Shehata*, Diocese of Egypt
*Representing the Province
** Absent during discussion of Communiqué due to travel schedule
A Statement from the Most Rev’d Ian Ernest, Bishop of Mauritius, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, the newly-elected Chairman of CAPA
For some background on Archbishop Ernest, see Episcopal Café African Primates wrap up meeting.
28 CommentsThe Church Times has a report by Bill Bowder Wycliffe Hall criticised by resigning governor.
33 CommentsCLARE MACINNES, a member of the Council of Wycliffe Hall, the increasingly troubled Evangelical theological college in Oxford (News, Letters, 28 September), wrote to its chairman on Monday to resign and explain her reasons.
She said on Tuesday that she had also written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the college’s Visitor, and to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. “My responsibility is to tell my story,” she said. “I am deeply saddened by this, and it gave me no pleasure to write this letter.”
The chairman of the Council of Wycliffe Hall, the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd James Jones, had replied immediately, “which I appreciated”, but she declined to give any details of his reply…
Today’s Church Times has coverage of recent events and due to a postal strike in the UK, the whole newspaper is available this week without subscription.
Pat Ashworth Official support for US Bishops, while others doubt
And ‘Parallel Church’ for North America
Barry Morgan New Orleans: the inside story
Andrew Brown Press: Staying at home for the schism
Letters:The Pittsburgh traditionalists are unlikely to be united for long
29 CommentsThe Diocese of Fort Worth has published documentation for its annual convention to consider:
“Today the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth announced its decision to sponsor five proposed amendments to the Diocesan Constitution and Canons for consideration at the diocese’s 25th Annual Convention on November 16 and 17, 2007. [PDF document below]
If adopted, the Diocese would take the first step needed to dissociate itself from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and to begin the process of affiliating with another Province of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Since constitutional changes do not go into effect until they are approved by two successive diocesan conventions, the second, ratifying vote would come at the annual meeting in 2008. Under the proposals, the Diocese would reaffirm its position as “a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, a Fellowship of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, consisting of those duly constituted Dioceses, Provinces and regional churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.”
Read the full announcement here.
See also the full report of the Committee on Constitution and Canons as a PDF file here.
Read the Episcopal News Service story: FORT WORTH: Standing Committee proposes severing Episcopal Church ties.
And the Living Church story Fort Worth Will Vote on Affiliations at Convention.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported it as Panel advises splitting from U.S. Episcopal Church.
The Dallas Morning News had Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese proposes break from church.
35 CommentsNew York Times Neela Banerjee Panel Says Episcopalians Have Met Anglican Directive
Los Angeles Times Rebecca Trounson Anglican leaders urge unity
Associated Press Rachel Zoll Anglican Panel Praises Episcopalians
Religious Intelligence Ed Beavan Primates give green light to Episcopal Church
Living Church Joint Standing Committee: Bishops ‘Clarified All Questions’. Also, George Conger Primates Asked to Critique Bishops’ Response.
The Times Ruth Gledhill Church needs to get ‘closure’ on gay row, says report to Archbishop of Canterbury
Episcopal News Service Matthew Davies House of Bishops provides necessary clarifications, Joint Standing Committee report finds
40 CommentsThe PDF file that contains the report of the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates of the Anglican Communion on The Episcopal Church House of Bishops of Meeting in New Orleans has been amended. It now includes as an addendum the text of the submission of Bishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
The report has this statement:
6 CommentsThe present text was developed from the remarks of JSC members in New Orleans and in consultation with them.
In electronic correspondence, the following members of the Joint Standing Committee have signified their assent to this text:
- Phillip Aspinall, Primate of Australia, Primates’ Standing Committee
- Barry Morgan, Primate of Wales, Primates’ Standing Committee
- Katharine Jefferts Schori, Primate of The Episcopal Church, Primates’ Standing Committee
- John Paterson, Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council and of the ACC Standing Committee
- George Koshy, Vice-Chair, ACC and Standing Committee
- Robert Fordham, ACC Standing Committee
- Kumara Illangasinghe, ACC Standing Committee
- Elizabeth Paver, ACC Standing Committee **
- Nomfundo Walaza, ACC Standing Committee
The following members have signified dissent:
- Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Primates’ Standing Committee . (The text of Bishop Mouneer’s submission is attached as an addendum.)
Responses have not yet been received from:
- Philippa Amable, ACC Standing Committee
- Jolly Babirukamu, ACC Standing Committee
** Following communication from Canon Paver her name has been moved to those who assented to the document.
Revised. Thursday, 4th October, 2007
Religious Intelligence has reported that there is a New crisis for Anglican college as council member resigns by Ed Beavan.
A COUNCIL member of the under-fire Oxford theological college Wycliffe Hall has resigned because of her concerns over failures by the body to ‘respond to allegations of bullying, intimidation of Council members and a lack of transparency in its decision making’.
Clare MacInnes announced her resignation in a letter to the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, who is chair of the Council of Wycliffe Hall, which she also sent to The Church of England Newspaper.
Mrs MacInnes said she had decided to put the letter in the public domain because of the ‘importance of the issues for the ongoing welfare and governance of the Hall and the wider church’.
In the letter she says that that the Council had ‘failed to observe due process’in the areas of terminating staff employment, staff recruitment, the Listening Process, records of Council discussions, and Council membership…
The story is also reported in the Guardian by Stephen Bates under the headline College council member quits over ‘bullying’.
42 Comments…In her letter of resignation this week, council member Clare MacInnes told the Rt Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, who is chairman of governors: “I am disturbed by the council’s failure to respond to allegations of bullying, intimidation of council members and a lack of transparency in its decision-making … I regret I have no confidence in the chair, the principal or the council as a whole to address these serious matters of governance, employment practice and simple human relationships.” Her letter suggests that a decision to pay Dr Turnbull a salary thousands of pounds above national pay scales was not properly appraised by the council when he was appointed two years ago.
According to Jonathan Wynne-Jones in the Sunday Telegraph:
Conservative Christians will throw down the gauntlet to the Archbishop of Canterbury this week by demanding that he openly disowns the American church over gay bishops.
A letter to be sent to Dr Rowan Williams tomorrow by Reform, an evangelical group representing 1,000 parishes, urges him to make it clear that he opposes the American position
The group warns that his failure to do so would split the Church of England from “top to bottom” and lead to a further demand that the US church is barred from the Lambeth Council, the annual gathering of bishops…
Read the whole article, Ultimatum on Anglican church gays.
Read a statement from Reform at Anglican Mainstream Response from Reform to New Orleans Statement by TEC Bishops.
138 CommentsThe New York Times has Groups Plan New Branch to Represent Anglicanism by Neela Banerjee.
Associated Press had Breakaway Episcopalians Form Partnership.
Reuters had Conservative Episcopalians plot separate church.
The Washington Times has Episcopalians plan to leave denomination by Julia Duin.
21 CommentsTwo opinions on New Orleans:
The Tablet has a leader: Fragile compromise:
…Some evangelical bishops in Africa in particular seem keen to impose something akin to provincial uniformity on the American Church, where no deviation from their own hard line regarding homosexuality is permitted and those who ever thought differently are required to repent. But such intransigence is not the Anglican way, and if they push much harder it is they who will be in schism. Dr Williams will have to be as firm with these African bishops recklessly fishing in troubled Episcopalian waters as he has been with the Episcopalian leadership itself.
In the longer term, however, the New Orleans compromise itself looks unstable. The majority of American Anglicans still see discrimination against gay men and women as incompatible with the Gospel, and that includes discrimination against candidates for the priesthood or episcopacy. And they no longer accept the distinction that has helped the Catholic Church handle these tricky issues, between celibate and sexually active homosexuals. So, although a dam has been built, the rising waters may burst through again.
The Anglican Communion has often been a powerful force for good in the world and the cause of Christianity itself would be damaged if it broke up, not least because of the bitterness that would result. Catholics in particular can appreciate the belated realisation in the American Church that unity carries a price that can sometimes be irksome, and a Communion in which every part is entirely free to do whatever it thinks best is not worthy of the name. That acknowledgement now needs to be hammered home and made a central tenet of Anglican identity, not treated as a temporary local compromise to overcome a particular difficulty.
Fr Tony Clavier has a view: A Minor Miracle:
58 Comments..The bishops go to Lambeth first of all as individuals, individually invited, and only secondly as provincial affiliates. This is a fact both they and the rest of us should stress and take in deadly earnest. They are given the opportunity to seek to shed for a space of time, jurisdictional and ethnic pride and to live into the baptismal promise the American Church constantly trumpets. Each bishop will go to Kent primarily as a baptized Christian, called to exercise episcopacy in a context. That context is both universal and local. As the late Eric Mascall suggested, they are Apostolically incorporated into the College of the Apostles, a rather more important concept than mere “succession.” They are locally appointed to an area in which they serve as proclaimers of the faith and unity of the church…
The official announcement about the tribunal decision is here:
Appellate Tribunal determination on Women Bishops:
The Anglican Church’s highest legal authority, the Appellate Tribunal, has cleared the way for the consecration of women as diocesan bishops across Australia.
In a majority decision the Tribunal has ruled that there is nothing in the Church’s Constitution that would prevent the consecration of a woman priest as a diocesan bishop in a diocese which by ordinance has adopted the Law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992. Not every diocese has done so.
The ruling impacts only on diocesan bishops and not assistant bishops most of whom are elected and confirmed under provisions of the Assistant Bishops’ Canon 1966 which seems to retain the requirement for candidates to be male.
One of the central issues in the ruling allowing women to become diocesan bishops concerned the definition of ‘canonical fitness’. In the Church’s Constitution, adopted in 1962 it was clear at that time canonical fitness included a requirement for ‘maleness.’
The ‘maleness’ requirement was removed in a process that began in 1989 when a canon (church law) was passed that amended the Constitution to redefine ‘canonical fitness.’ The canon came into effect in 1995 after 75% of dioceses, including all metropolitan dioceses, adopted it…
The full text of the decision can be read as a PDF file here.
20 CommentsPeter Selby writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column and reflects on how wars have challenged the modern church.
Jonathan Romain writes in The Times that Jews don’t have to believe – if they do what He says.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about A (Muslim) duty to prevent wrongdoing.
Bill Countryman writes in the Church Times about A weakness in the US Constitution.
Giles Fraser spoke on the radio yesterday about the Levellers and Burma.
5 CommentsFulcrum has responses to what the American bishops said.
Fulcrum Response to the Statement from the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church
Fulcrum Comparative Study of Statements From Dar es Salaam and New Orleans
Andrew Goddard ‘Half Empty, Half Full, Too Little, Too Late?’
26 CommentsThe Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDAP) announces Anglican Bishops Take First Steps to New Structure.
Anglican bishops from ten jurisdictions and organizations pledged to take the first steps toward a “new ecclesiastical structure” in North America. The meeting of the first ever Common Cause Council of Bishops was held in Pittsburgh September 25–28.
The bishops present lead more than 600 Anglican congregations. They formally organized themselves as a college of bishops which will meet every six months. They also laid out a timeline for the path ahead, committed to working together at local and regional levels, agreed to deploy clergy interchangeably and announced their intention to, in consultation “with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted,” call a “founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union,” at the earliest possible date agreeable to all of the partners…
Read on for the full text of “The Articles of The Common Cause Partnership”.
Episcopal News Service reports Common Cause bishops pledge to seek Anglican recognition and lists the bishops of the Episcopal Church, USA who took part in this:
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan convened the meeting in his role as moderator of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDP), also known as the Anglican Communion Network.
Thirteen active or former diocesan Episcopal Church bishops attended the meeting, including Keith Ackerman (Quincy), James Adams (Western Kansas), Fitz Allison (formerly of South Carolina), Peter Beckwith (Springfield), David Bena (formerly of Albany), Alex Dickson (formerly of West Tennessee), Andrew Fairfield (formerly of North Dakota), John Howe (Central Florida), Jack Iker (Fort Worth), William Love (Albany), Donald Parsons (formerly of Quincy), Henry Scriven (assistant, Pittsburgh) and William Wantland (formerly of Eau Claire).
Duncan and others compared the steps taken during the meeting to those of the Reformation, the American Revolution, the U.S. Civil War and martyrdom.
Scroll down for a complete list of participant bishops and other leaders from all jurisdictions.
The “Common Cause College of Bishops Statement” also appears on the website of the Diocese of Pittsburgh: Anglican Bishops Take First Steps to New Structure.
A list of participating bishops now appears on the Network website.
42 Comments