In the Sunday Times David Starkey weighed in with The Pope wants his church back.
In the Sunday Independent Peter Stanford asked After 500 years, has the Pope outfoxed the Archbishop?
In the New York Times A.N.Wilson wrote Rock of Ages, Cleft by the Pope.
In the Telegraph George Pitcher says Sex is a stumbling block for Anglicans on the road to Rome.
Cif belief has started a Question of the Week series, So long and thanks for all the priests?
First up is Austen Ivereigh with A boost for Catholic-Anglican dialogue.
Global South Anglican has published A Pastoral Exhortation to the Faithful in the Anglican Communion.
This is signed by:
Global South Primates Steering Committee:
Chairman: The Most Revd Peter J. Akinola, Nigeria
Vice-Chairman: The Most Revd Emmanuel Kolini, Rwanda
General Secretary: The Most Revd John Chew, Southeast Asia
Treasurer: The Most Revd Mouneer Anis, Jerusalem and the Middle East.
Members:
The Most Revd Stephen Than Myint Oo, Myanmar
Bishop Albert Chama, Dean of Central Africa
The text is reproduced in full below the fold.
20 CommentsThe Observer has published a full-page article by Diarmaid MacCulloch which has been headlined Pope Benedict opens new front in battle for the soul of two churches.
…There has been a great deal of excited talk about this move: one hysterical front-page headline in the Times proclaimed that 400,000 Anglicans were poised to head for the Tiber. This turns out to be the self-estimated membership of a faction calling itself the Traditional Anglican Communion.
Equally extravagant claims that this could be the end of the Protestant Reformation need to be taken with several fontfuls of salt. It is in the interests of various discontented groups on the margins of Anglicanism to talk up the significance of the latest piece of papal theatre, while ignoring its wider context.
This much broader struggle within Christianity at first sight appears to be about sex. Throughout the world, the most easily heard tone in religion (not just Christianity) is of a generally angry conservatism. Why? I hazard that the anger centres on a profound shift in gender roles traditionally given a religious significance and validated by religious traditions.
The conservative backlash embodies the hurt of heterosexual men (or those who would like to pass for being heterosexual men) at cultural shifts which have generally threatened to marginalise them and deprive them of dignity, hegemony or even much usefulness. What they notice amid their hurt is that the sacred texts generally back them in their assumptions, and they therefore assert the authority of sacred scripture…
By coincidence, the same issue has a review by Christina Odone of A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch.
23 CommentsUpdated Sunday evening
Forward in Faith UK has been holding its annual assembly this weekend, Friday and Saturday, 23 and 24 October. There are podcasts of a number of the addresses at the assembly on FiF’s website here.
Reporting on the assembly Jonathan Wynne-Jones in the Telegraph writes that Senior Anglican bishop reveals he is ready to convert to Roman Catholicism.
The Rt Rev John Hind, the Bishop of Chichester, has announced he is considering becoming a Roman Catholic in a move that could spark an exodus of clergy.
The BBC reports this as Anglican group mulls Rome switch.
Here are some blog posts on the assembly.
Reflections on the Forward in Faith National Assembly, Day One
Early Anglican Responses
Back from FiF National Assembly
The Best Speeches of the FiF Assembly
Update
The Bishop of Chichester has issued this statement:
Statement from the Bishop of Chichester, the Right Revd. John Hind
October 25, 2009
An article has been published today in the Sunday Telegraph asserting that I have announced that I am about to become a Roman Catholic.
This is not the case.
The report appears to come from a misunderstanding of an answer I gave to questions from the floor at the recent ‘Forward in Faith’ assembly, at which I spoke.
A questioner had asked about the Papal condemnation of Anglican Orders. I responded by speaking about the subtlety of the position. I referred to the moment when it seemed as if the issue of how the Roman Catholic Church sees Anglican orders might be reopened but how the ordination of women to the priesthood and other developments have now made that impossible.
In the light of that I stated that in the event of union with the Roman Catholic Church I would be willing to receive re-ordination into the Roman Catholic priesthood but that I would not be willing to deny the priesthood I have exercised hitherto.
This is clearly a contentious and complex issue and one where it is easy to misunderstand the nuances of the debate. I think I made my position clear in my address at the Forward in Faith assembly. The text is available below and a podcast may be found on the Forward in Faith website.
+ John Cicestr:
25.10.2009
Link to PDF containing text of speech.
68 CommentsPress release from the Society of Catholic Priests and Affirming Catholicism
Saturday, 24 October 2009
NOT ALL CATHOLICS ARE TRADITIONALISTS
The current debate about the implications of the offer made by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to make provision for Anglicans who wish to join the Roman Catholic Church ignores one important fact. The majority of catholics within the church are in favour of women’s ministry and wish to remain loyal to the Anglican tradition within the Anglican Communion.
The Society of Catholic Priests, which has over 500 members in this country and is about to establish chapters in the American Episcopal Church and in Australia, and Affirming Catholicism which draws together clergy and laity in this country and throughout the Anglican Communion, are committed to the catholic nature and teaching of the Church of England. We are actively working to see women ordained to the episcopate and hold that this is entirely consistent with the teaching of the church and the historic nature of our orders. We are also convinced that the issues of human sexuality should not be ones that divide the church.
To suggest that the departure from the Church of England of those who hold more conservative views will remove the catholic wing and tradition from the church is entirely wrong. Churches and parishes which have a catholic tradition and are served by priests, both male and female, are growing and flourishing and look forward to the future with enthusiasm.
We welcome the offer made by the Pope to those of our brothers and sisters who no longer feel that the Anglican Communion is their spiritual home. We hope that this will not impede swift progress in the Church of England towards the ordination of the first women bishops in this land.
Fr Andrew Nunn
Rector General
The Society of Catholic Priests
Fr Jonathan Clark
Chair
Affirming Catholicism
Ruth Gledhill writes in the Times Lord Carey ‘appalled’ by Pope’s treatment of Dr Rowan Williams.
Andrew Alderson writes in the Telegraph Lord Carey: Pope should not woo disaffected Anglicans.
Riazat Butt in The Guardian writes Anglicans told to gather up wares on road to Rome
and Church politics: A way out for the archbishop.
Robert Pigott writes for the BBC Anglicans ponder Rome invitation.
Stephen Bates writes in The Guardian’s Comment is Free Backwards in faith – “Disgruntled members of the Church of England should remember that the road to Rome is rocky.”
Frank Skinner writes in the Times My Church is not a safe haven for bigots – “The road to truth should draw people to Catholicism, not its problematic moral cul-de-sacs.”
Robert Mickens and Elena Curti write in The Tablet New path to Rome – “As many as half a million Anglicans could take advantage of the new canonical structure announced by the Vatican this week allowing them into communion with the Catholic Church. But what form will such a new grouping take?”
Robert Mickens also writes in The Tablet Vatican opens door to groups of conservative Anglicans.
From Uganda, we have ‘Pope’s offer not vital for Africa’ – Orombi.
Religious Intelligence has two reports, Vatican opens the doors to Anglican traditionalists and also Rome converts urged to decide by February 22.
From the first of these:
The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Christopher Hill, also appeared at the announcement. He said: “I don’t actually anticipate vast numbers of my clergy wishing to take up this option.
“As an Anglican I welcome any pastoral outreach to those who find they can no longer remain within the Churches of the Anglican Communion. I’d much rather they came into Communion with the Roman Catholic Church than set up their own.”
And from the second:
Bishop Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop in Europe, said that the combined statement issued by the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was a historic statement which was highly significant.
“I think this should be seen as a much wider journey into unity,” he said. “We are so much further down the road into unity than people even 40 years ago would have believed. However, at the same time, there are new issues which have come up which were not there in the earlier days.”
He added: “Of course there are doctrinal differences which remain and again I would want to see the apostolic constitution.”
Also, Bishop David Hamid, Suffragan in Europe wrote on his blog, Apostolic Constitution: Ecumenical Reflections.
…as the former Anglican co-secretary of our international bilateral dialogue, ARCIC (the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission) as well as a consultant to the more recent IARCCUM Commission (International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Mission and Unity) I offer below some initial reflections on the ecumenical implications of the announcement on 20 October from the Vatican.
Lord Carey writes for the Washington Post’s On Belief website, Cause for sadness and celebration.
20 CommentsFour items available today:
Be Anglicans with us, Rome tells traditionalists by Bill Bowder (Scroll to the bottom for a sidebar of Q and A)
Traditionalists “warmly welcome” Vatican move by Pat Ashworth and Bill Bowder
Leader: On the road to Rome
…For Anglicanism to work in the absence of authoritarian sanctions requires tolerance of, and respect for, the many ways in which believers interpret the central tenets of Christianity. Without this tolerance, as history has shown repeatedly, separations are hard to avoid. Given the drift towards interrogation and confrontation within the Communion (the production of the Anglican Covenant is part of this process), the hierarchy has rejected quasi-separations — parallel jurisdictions, alternative oversight, and the like. But suddenly this proposal is on the table, and from a Church that supposedly brooks no interference with its pattern of authority. The ordinariates in question appear to be nothing less than parallel jurisdictions set up to protect the integrity of the majority as well as the minority, but this time over the issue of priestly celibacy rather than women bishops…
And, an analysis by Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford: Look at what it says on the box.
…What does the Apostolic Constitution, about to be finalised, entail? What is a “Personal Ordinariate” for former Anglicans? What is clear is that it won’t be all that such individuals or groups have been looking for. It is not a diocese or Anglican-rite Church in communion with Rome.
A Personal Ordinariate is a pastoral provision in juridical form which will allow some continuing Anglican heritage to be expressed. But it is what it says on the box: it is personal, that is to say, for a network of individuals and groups rather than the norm of a territorial diocese…
This analysis is also available on the Church of England website. See Commentary on ‘Personal Ordinariates’ by the Rt Revd Christopher Hill.
25 CommentsUpdated
The Guardian has a leader article today, Church of England: Imperial Rome.
“It is not an act of aggression,” the Archbishop of Canterbury insisted as the Vatican’s metaphorical tanks drew up outside Lambeth Palace on Tuesday. Not even his admirers quite believed him…
The Telegraph has a news report by Damian Thompson The Vatican opens its arms to Anglicans – and tightens its grip.
The Pope’s dramatic invitation to disaffected Anglicans will have a huge impact…
And also, Archbishop Vincent Nichols welcomes Anglican convert plan as an ‘opportunity’ by Stephen Adams.
The Times has 400,000 former Anglicans worldwide seek immediate unity with Rome by Ruth Gledhill and others and also Priests in London and Yorkshire say they are tempted to join Rome and Converts may choke on raw meat of Catholicism by Libby Purves.
(Purves) The welcoming of Anglican clergy into the Catholic Church highlights the differences, and difficulties, of approach. Attack is the best form of defence. On the eve of another damning report on clerical abuse and cover-up in Ireland, that seems to be Pope Benedict’s tactic…
The Times also has A catholic approach to weirdos is fine with me by Matthew Parris.
The Independent has The Big Question: Why is the Catholic church offering a home to congregations of Anglicans? by Paul Vallely.
52 CommentsAlan Wilson wrote Small Earthquake in Rome?
Bosco Peters wrote End of Anglican Communion?
Kendall Harmon wrote Comments on the Latest Move from Rome.
More to follow, probably.
33 CommentsUpdated again Thursday morning
The Anglican Church in North America has posted this press release from Archbishop Robert Duncan.
CANA has this response from Bishop Martyn Minns Vatican Move Recognizes Reality of Anglican Divide.
Bishop Jack Iker in Fort Worth has Response to Vatican announcement of “personal ordinariates” for Anglicans available here.
Reform in the UK has Reform Initial Response To ‘Apostolic Constitution’ Announcement.
Affirming Catholicism has issued this:
Affirming Catholicism shares the desire of all Christians, and especially Catholic Christians, for the full and visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ. We also value our Anglican tradition as one which has its own distinctive contribution to make to the life of the whole Church, a gift of the Spirit which is an important part of the richness of God’s work in the world.
We recognise that Pope Benedict’s announcement may be of great comfort to some who combine deep attachment to Anglican patterns of worship with acceptance of the claims of the Roman Catholic Church as regards doctrine and church order. We affirm, though, that there is an authentically Catholic tradition within Anglicanism which seeks unity through a process of mutual learning. In such a process, each church will have something to give and to receive at every level of its life.
It is for that unity that we continue to pray.
The Bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough have this statement.
The Society of the Holy Cross has issued a statement, see here, or in the comments below.
The Traditional Anglican Communion, which is probably the main beneficiary of this development, has issued this statement.
34 CommentsUpdated again Wednesday evening
In the Guardian Riazat Butt and John Hooper have Pope opens gates to Anglicans disaffected over women clergy.
In The Times Ruth Gledhill has Pope’s gambit could see 1,000 quit Church of England. And also Desperate bishops invited Rome to park its tanks on Archbishop’s lawn.
Tim Bradshaw writes Pope’s move will harm dialogue and weaken Church of England.
Edwin Barnes writes that The Catholic Church offers us a warm welcome.
And yesterday there was also Vatican plan to allow Anglican groups to convert dates back a decade.
In the Telegraph there is a leader comment, Half way to Rome.
Updates
The Times also has Q&A: what happens to the Catholic Church and Church of England after Rome decision? by Ruth Gledhill.
And Ruth has a further blog entry, headed Will Michael Nazir-Ali go to Rome? which includes his statement in response to the Vatican.
Washington Post Vatican fishing for disgruntled Anglicans
New York Times Vatican Bidding to Get Anglicans to Join Its Fold and see also Why the Vatican Wants Anglicans
Reuters Disaffected Anglican dioceses may switch to Rome
The Times Ruth Gledhill Hundreds of Anglican clergy to meet after Vatican offer.
And in tomorrow’s paper, 400,000 former Anglicans worldwide seek immediate unity with Rome.
20 CommentsUpdated Tuesday lunchtime, afternoon and evening
In a joint statement issued today the Archbishop of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury have said
Today’s announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.
Pope Benedict XVI has approved, within the Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.
There is also a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to “the Bishops of the Church of England, and the members of the Primates Meeting of the Anglican Communion”.
Read the full statement and the letter below the fold.
Damian Thompson in the Telegraph reports this as Pope announces plans for Anglicans to convert en masse.
Also in the Telegraph George Pitcher has Pope throws a lifeline to the Church of England for women bishops.
Yet again in the Telegraph Martin Beckford and Nick Squires have Pope Benedict XVI paves way for thousands of disaffected Anglicans to cross over to Rome.
Reuters has Pope approves document on Anglicans joining church.
Associated Press has Vatican creates new structure for Anglicans, and, more extensively, Vatican creates new structure for Anglicans.
John Hooper in The Guardian has Roman Catholic church to receive Anglicans.
Also in The Guardian Riazat Butt and John Hooper write Roman Catholic church to receive Anglicans.
Austen Ivereigh in America has Rome offers new home to Anglican trads.
Ruth Gledhill in her Times blog has Pope unity move ‘not act of proselytism or aggression’ says Rowan Williams. This includes the text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter, and also a letter from the Bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough (two of the “flying bishops”).
Update – Ruth Gledhill has updated her blog with video and audio from this morning’s press conference.
Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen have the Times news article on this story: Vatican moves to poach traditional Anglicans.
Forward in Faith UK has issued a brief statement FiF reacts to Statement from Rome.
At The Guardian Andrew Brown writes in his blog about The end of the Anglican Communion.
Jim Naughton at Espicopal Café writes Vatican offers home to traditional Anglicans
Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia writes For Canterbury Exiles, Rome Builds a Bridge.
Episcopal Life Online has Pope announces special provisions to accept former Anglicans in Roman Catholic Church.
The US Episcopal church has issued this statement From The Episcopal Church on the recent statement from the Vatican.
The Catholic Church in England and Wales also has the statement on its website along with a Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) press release: Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church.
There is a longer version of the CDF press release here.
Bishop Peter Selby spoke at the Inclusive Church residential conference this week.
There is a press release from Inclusive Church reproduced below the fold.
The full text of his lecture is available here: When the Word on the Street is Resist.
The Church Times has a news report (on the website only) see Covenant would not be Anglican, says Selby.
15 CommentsENS reports Executive Council notes concern with covenant’s disciplinary section.
The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council said October 8 that the majority of the General Convention deputations and individual deputies that expressed an opinion do not support the disciplinary process outlined in the latest draft of a proposed Anglican covenant.
The comment came in the council’s official response to the Ridley Cambridge Draft, which the members said addresses “some of the most difficult matters and substance relating to such a covenant.”
The Anglican Communion’s provinces were asked for specific comments on the draft’s Section Four, which contains a dispute-resolution process…
The Executive Council said that the comments it received on Section Four were “so interwoven” with comments on the covenant as a whole that “separating the two is difficult.”
“The majority of deputations and individual deputies that responded are not convinced that the covenant in its current form will bring about deeper communion,” the council said. “Several stated that the overall idea of a covenant is ‘un-Anglican.’ One went as far as to say that the ‘document incorporates anxiety.’”
On the other hand, the council noted, another deputy called the covenant “a presentation of the Christian community as a dynamic spiritual body in which God-given freedom is inextricably bound up with God-given accountability.”
…The council also said that it was “grateful” for the opportunity given to provinces to consider the Ridley Cambridge Draft “in the hopes of realizing a fully matured Anglican covenant.” It also pledged that its ongoing participation in the covenant development process would be entrusted “to the leading of the Holy Spirit” and that it “look[s] forward to the next three years as we grow more deeply into our common life in the Anglican Communion.”
The actual text of the response, linked in the above report as a Word file, can be read in html here.
1 CommentLionel Deimel, who is an American in Pittsburgh, has written two articles (so far) with this title.
Why No Anglican Covenant: Part 1
I want to begin by considering how the notion of an Anglican covenant has been promoted and the actual nature of the covenant drafts that have been proposed. Everyone else seems to capitalize “covenant” in the phrase “Anglican Covenant,” by the way. I will do so when it makes sense to talk about the Anglican Covenant. We are not there yet…
Why No Anglican Covenant: Part 2
6 CommentsThere is much to be said about what is in the Ridley Cambridge Draft proposed as an Anglican covenant. Too little attention has been paid to what is not in the draft, however. In this essay, I want to discuss an important provision that is missing…
The Revd Dr Bruce Kaye is an Australian scholar, and editor of The Journal of Anglican Studies.
He has written an article titled Why The Covenant is a Bad Idea for Anglicans. (H/T Mark Harris)
In summary:
3 CommentsThere are four reasons why this covenant is not a good idea for Anglicans.
- It is against the grain of Anglican ecclesiology (what we think the church is)
- It is an inadequate response to the conflict in the Anglican Communion
- In practical terms it will create immense and complicating confusion about institutional relationships and financial obligations.
- It does not address the key fundamental issue in this conflict, how to act in a particular context which is relevant to that context and also faithful to the gospel.
Updated yet again Friday afternoon
Back in October 2007, Rowan Williams answered a question from John Howe, Bishop of Central Florida. See the full text of his letter here.
I would repeat what I’ve said several times before – that any Diocese compliant with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the Communion, whatever may be the longer-term result for others in The Episcopal Church. The organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such. Those who are rushing into separatist solutions are, I think, weakening that basic conviction of Catholic theology and in a sense treating the provincial structure of The Episcopal Church as if it were the most important thing – which is why I continue to hope and pray for the strengthening of the bonds of mutual support among those Episcopal Church Bishops who want to be clearly loyal to Windsor. Action that fragments their Dioceses will not help the consolidation of that all-important critical mass of ordinary faithful Anglicans in The Episcopal Church for whose nurture I am so much concerned. Breaking this up in favour of taking refuge in foreign jurisdictions complicates and embitters the future for this vision.
Almost two years later, there has been further correspondence between the same two people. We do not yet have the full text, but there is this report for the Living Church by George Conger Archbishop: Covenant Adoption Limited to Provinces.
Update This report has now been revised and republished at the same URL under the new headline Archbishop Says Central Florida Act a Positive Step. An explanation by Christopher Wells appears as a comment on TitusOneNine.
A further explanation by Dr Wells appears as a comment below the revised article in the Living Church.
As originally published:
In a Sept. 28 letter to the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, Archbishop Williams called the diocesan bodies’ endorsement a step in the right direction. However, he stated, “as a matter of constitutional fact, the [Anglican Consultative Council] can only offer the covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies (the provinces).”
The archbishop added that “I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ‘endorsement’ of the covenant.” Such an action would not have an “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider communion, he said.
As revised:
In a Sept. 28 letter to the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, Archbishop Williams called endorsement from the diocesan bodies a step in the right direction. “As a matter of constitutional fact, the [Anglican Consultative Council] can only offer the covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies (the provinces),” the archbishop noted. But “I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ‘endorsement’ of the covenant.” Such an action may not have an immediate “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider Communion, he said.
As John B. Chilton noted elsewhere (before the Living Church revision took place) :
In his post General Convention Reflections, Rowan Williams wrote, “But in the current context, the question is becoming more sharply defined of whether, if a province declines such an invitation, any elements within it will be free (granted the explicit provision that the Covenant does not purport to alter the Constitution or internal polity of any province) to adopt the Covenant as a sign of their wish to act in a certain level of mutuality with other parts of the Communion. It is important that there should be a clear answer to this question.”
Has he now provided a clear answer? Or is his latest to Howe merely a statement about the meaning of a diocese signing while a province has neither accepted or declined but instead is in the process of deciding? Or in his reflections did he never mean to be saying that when a diocese endorses the covenant it would have ‘institutional effect.’ What is institutional effect anyway?
Update
Another report on the same subject filed by the same reporter for the Church of England Newspaper has been titled Dioceses ‘can adopt Covenant,’ says Archbishop of Canterbury. Also available on Religious Intelligence.
Note: this is NOT the article which appears today in the paper edition of the CEN.
Dioceses and other ecclesial bodies may endorse the Anglican Covenant, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams said this week, but noted the current process is geared toward adoption of an inter-Anglican agreement by the provinces of the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion Institute has issued its statement of approval, see Dioceses’ Endorsement of the Covenant.
26 CommentsThe Living Church ran an article at the beginning of last week which reported Trio of Bishops Seek to Strengthen Communion Ties.
The initial meeting between Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of the Diocese of El Camino Real and Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester, England, at the 2008 Lambeth Conference was an auspicious one. When a protester jumped up and called Bishop Gray-Reeves “a whore of the church,” Bishop Perham stepped in to help his new American acquaintance around the protesters and on to safety.
This frightening encounter brought together two parts of what has become a trio of bishops — the third is Bishop Gerard Mpango of the Western Tanganyika Diocese in Tanzania — who have linked up as companion dioceses. The combination of American, British and African dioceses is intentional. The three locations encompass three regions of discontent in the Anglican Communion. By meeting, talking and working together, the three bishops hope to show that people of different cultures, and these three cultures in particular, can maintain civil relations and look for answers to divisive issues…
A week later, ENS has also published an article on the same topic, EL CAMINO REAL: Visit from African, English bishops deepens partnerships.
Three bishops who met by chance during last year’s Lambeth Conference spent a week in California recently, planning very intentional, international ministry together.
At first glance their dioceses — Western Tanganyika, Tanzania; Gloucester, England; and El Camino Real, California — couldn’t have seemed more different.
And then each decided to take a closer look.
“We have more in common than might first appear,” said Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real, who hosted Bishop Gerard Mpango of Western Tanganyika and Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester September 20-25 in the Central California diocese…
You can find reports and pictures of the most recent event over here.
Diocese of Gloucester and read more about their international links here
Diocese of El Camino Real and their companion dioceses page
Diocese of Western Tanganyika (This is a page from the Tanzania provincial website, no diocesan website yet.)
8 CommentsTobias Haller has written about a shift in the understanding of subsidiarity, from the time of the Virginia Report until now.
See The Upside-downity of Subsidiarity.
Pierre Whalon, Bishop in charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, has written an article about the need for a covenant.
5 Comments