Kendall Harmon has responded to my earlier comment that:
…it is far from clear to me exactly what alternative resolutions would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003. I can find no clear statement of an alternative proposal from them.
with a copy of the text linked here, and:
This document can also serve as a response to Simon Sarmiento’s strange assertion that “it is far from clear†to him “exactly what alternative resolutions [to those of the special Commission] would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003.†As the Anglican Communion Institute recognizes, that would be resolutions along the broad lines of the one above from January 2005 as well as four of the five 2005 resolutions of the Diocesan Convention of South Carolina.
Will somebody then be filing resolutions to this effect so that they will in due course appear here? It is the absence of any such submission as yet that I find puzzling. Perhaps I don’t understand the GC legislative process.
16 CommentsThe BBC’s Sunday radio programme has two items of interest for the last 14+ minutes of the programme. Using this link, go forward about 30 minutes, for the start:
Better, permanent links on Tuesday now here:
VGR interview 4 minutes
Chelmsford/Kenya interviews 9 minutes
The last report on TA about action at General Convention concerning the Windsor Report was here, on 1 May.
Since then, there has been much online discussion about the resolutions in the Special Commission report but it is far from clear to me exactly what alternative resolutions would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003. I can find no clear statement of an alternative proposal from them.
Some alternative resolutions have been filed by dioceses:
Diocese of Rochester C004 Response to Windsor Report
Diocese of Alabama C014 Response to Windsor Report
Diocese of Florida C025 Affirmation of Windsor Report
Diocese of Upper South Carolina C037 Affirming Windsor Report
The AAC analysis is here:“Moving Slowly with Caution Isn’t Stoppingâ€
And the NACDAP statement is here: More Than Twenty Bishops Issue Position Statement
The Anglican Communion Institute has issued this: What it will take
But by far the most detailed analysis of the Special Commission resolutions can be found in this document from PEP: “What Should General Convention 2006 Do?†which can be downloaded from this page as a PDF document. This 17 page document is well worth reading even if you don’t agree with its viewpoint.
1 CommentHere’s a column from the Northern Echo:
At Your Service: Giving succour to flocks of all kinds
In The Times Roderick Strange writes Forty days is an eternity which reminds us of a transcendent dimension. Also Sholto Byrnes reports on An agnostic happy to nurse the ‘vice’ of religion.
Stewart Dakers reflects in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about Christian Aid Week.
The Telegraph has Christopher Howse writing on intercessory prayer in Sun for the wedding, please.
0 CommentsFrom the IWPR a report by Trevor Grundy Zimbabwean Clerics to Seek Help from Archbishop of York
2 CommentsTwo Three more items:
Church Times Rachel Harden Kenya visit unravels over gays
The Times Ruth Gledhill OUT OF AFRICA: Bishop John Gladwin. Even allowing for this being in the features part of the paper, rather than the news columns, it seems a little odd to me to call Bishop John a “far-left liberal activist” and the comparison with Dr John Reid, who this week happens to be Home Secretary in the UK Government, escapes me entirely. But hey, it’s Friday.
And another comment piece, this one from the Nation in Nairobi, says Gay laws quite ambiguous.
8 CommentsHigh Court throws out Anglican case …Let it be solved at church level is the headline of the cover story in the Malawi Daily Times.
0 CommentsUpdate
Another report from Nairobi:
Nation 26 May Envoy sent to resolve gay row
The latest report from Nairobi:
Nation 25 May Request for sermon by gay rights bishop turned down
Today’s London reports:
Jonathan Petre Telegraph Kenyan hosts abandon bishop due to his liberal views on gays
Maxine Frith Independent Bishop of Chelmsford left stranded in Kenya in row over gay rights
Xan Rice in Nairobi and David Pallister Guardian Kenya’s Anglicans snub bishop over liberal view of homosexuality
And Fulcrum has this article: The Chelmsford Diocese/Mt Kenya link must not be allowed to die
Update Church of England Newspaper has Kenya Archbishop pulls the plug on Bishop Gladwins visit
Reuters Wangui Kanina Kenyan Anglicans reject UK bishop linked to gay group
Yorkshire Post Paul Whitehouse Bishop stranded over gay dispute
Ekklesia English bishop rejected in Kenya over gay row
EADT24 Bishop’s trip stopped over views on gays
Ruth Gledhill has a report in today’s Times Bishop is abandoned in deepest Africa
and now also this blog article: Kenya cancels guest programme for Chelmsford.
A further article has appeared in the Nairobi press:
Nation Anglicans disown bishop over gay claims
The Chelmsford Anglican Mainstream website is here. Their first press release announcement complaining about their bishop’s association with Changing Attitude is here: Bishop of Chelmsford new patron of ‘Changing Attitude’
Further reports are now published:
BBC Gay support bishop’s Kenya snub
Telegraph Gay-friendly bishop marooned in Africa
See also Dave Walker’s cartoon blog entry
21 CommentsThere has been a series of news reports from the Nairobi newspapers in the last few days about the visit of a delegation of Chelmsford Diocese to the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Nation
21 May Anglican gay lobby patron visits Kenya or this copy. Also this copy.
22 May Bishop denies gay lobby links or this copy. Also this copy.
East African Standard
22 May I have no gay links, says UK clergyman or this copy.
23 May ACK still opposed to gay marriages or this copy.
A series of press releases published on the Changing Attitude website sheds some light on the matter:
22 May John Gladwin falsely accused of lobbying for homosexuality in Kenya
22 May Archbishop of Kenya unable to “advance the lined-up activities†for Bishop Gladwin’s visit to Kenya (Anglican Church of Kenya press release)
23 May The Bishop of Chelmsford and the Anglican Church of Kenya (Diocese of Chelmsford press release)
23 May Senior Kenyan Anglican holds different views on homosexuality from the Archbishop
Also this copy of the second item above.
The explanation for all of this can be found in the following:
STATEMENT BY CHELMSFORD ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM
Today, the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain published Faithful Cities.
The website for this is at the Commision on Urban Life and Faith.
There has already been some press coverage of this:
Reuters Anglicans angered over destitute asylum-seekers
Press Association Narrow the poverty gap urges Church
BBC Church anger over asylum poverty
Earlier, Ruth Gledhill had this in Saturday’s Times Archbishop in call for action on age of false celebrity and this blog entry today.
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke in the House of Lords last Friday on a related theme.
0 CommentsThe Anglican Communion Office has published a document today.
See covering note: Towards an Anglican Covenant
And the actual document The Proposal for an Anglican Covenant
And in the Telegraph a letter No two-tier approach from Gregory Cameron is published, in response to the original news article.
0 CommentsNo cinema reviews here.
In The Times Stephen Plant Hope for the hereafter nourishes the urge to live better in a grime present
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse The lives and souls of the nation
In the Guardian Alec Gilmore writes in Face to Faith about religious liberty.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about The subtle sin of lay presidency
23 CommentsThis week, stories about the Windsor proposal for an Anglican Covenant resurfaced:
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Archbishop backs two-track Church to heal divisions
Ruth Gledhill That Petre ‘covenant’ story
Living Church Steve Waring Anglican Covenant Unlikely in Less than Five Years
Jim Naughton had this comment.
6 CommentsFirst, the Guardian’s blogsite, comment is free published Partners in prejudice by Peter Tatchell. This is described by Jim Naughton as a “searing attack” on the Archbishop of Canterbury. Tatchell is not polite about the Archbishop of Abuja either.
Second, Changing Attitude has issued a press release entitled IDAHO – the International Day Against Homophobia. This notes that the proposed Nigerian legislation will:
5 CommentsAny Nigerian bishop who tries to listen to homosexual experience in accordance with commitments made by the Anglican Communion will be labelled a supporter of homosexual people and be at risk of prosecution under the terms of the new bill, subject to a maximum prison sentence of 5 years.
The bill will make it impossible for any Nigerian bishop fulfil the commitment of the Anglican Church expressed in the Windsor report to listen to the experience of lesbian and gay people.
Changing Attitude Nigeria thanks the Canadian bishops who have spoken their mind robustly in criticising the Nigerian bill and disassociating from it.
A joint response to the Guildford report has been issued by:
Church Society, Fellowship of Word and Spirit, and Reform.
The response can be found either here, or over here.
1 CommentIn addition to their frosty response to AffCath/Watch, Forward in Faith has published TEA – the theological response. This complements the legal response previously published.
32 CommentsUpdate Wednesday
Forward in Faith has issued a press release in response to this.
Groups agree fundamental plans for women bishops in the Church of England
Joint press release by Affirming Catholicism and WATCH
A campaigning group and a network of Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England have agreed the fundamental principles by which women should be appointed as bishops. For the first time, the leadership and members of the Executive Committees of Affirming Catholicism and WATCH (Women and the Church), which between them represent nearly half the members of the Church of England’s General Synod, have jointly drawn up a list of key, non-negotiable principles for moving forward on women bishops.
Affirming Catholicism and WATCH had previously submitted separate proposals to the House of Bishops working party which consulted on proposals set out in the Guildford Report published earlier this year. The joint key principles draw heavily on their separate submissions and challenge the scope of the Guildford proposals which would, if implemented, provide a ‘women bishops free zone’ for those opposed to the ordination of women.
Christina Rees, Chair of National WATCH said: “The Church is currently discussing proposals which so limit the ministry of women bishops in order to take account of those who won’t accept them, that there is a danger of creating a second class of bishops who are women. Our principles – which we regard as non-negotiable – call for the Church to affirm unequivocally its confidence in the ordination of women by not discriminating against them.â€
The formal consultation process on women bishops began in 2000 with the setting up a House of Bishops’ Working Party on Women in the Episcopate, but the journey began over 30 years ago when General Synod agreed that there was ‘no fundamental objection to the ordination of women to the priesthood.’ There are now over 2,500 clergy women in the Church of England. For the past two years there have been equal numbers of women and men being trained for the ordained ministry in the Church of England.
The Rev’d Richard Jenkins, Director of Affirming Catholicism said: “The Church of England has always made room for different opinions. But the theology and law of the Church must give priority to the fact that we are a Church which has now joyfully accepted and overwhelmingly received the ordination of women. Our principles suggest ways in which those who are opposed can be given security and space, but still remain recognisably within one Church.â€
The groups now aim to discuss their principles with evangelicals and other groups in the Church in order to reach the widest possible agreement about how to move forward. The House of Bishops will meet again at the beginning of June to discuss the results of their consultation. The bishops will then produce a revised plan to be debated by the General Synod in July.
20 CommentsUpdated Wednesday
The Connecticut Six have issued a press release in response to this.
We, our priests, vestries and congregations, were shocked and gravely disappointed to learn of the Panel of Reference’s actions in causing the Archbishop of Canterbury to withdraw his referral of our applications to the Panel. Our congregations appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting he refer our situation to the Panel of Reference in July 2005 in light of the abusive and hostile actions of the Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith, Bishop of Connecticut….
…Bishop Smith reported at a clergy meeting on February 8, 2006, that the Panel of Reference had notified him of their review and requested a response from him in early January 2006. We received no word from the Panel regarding its communications with Bishop Smith. Now we read in a public document that the Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn the Connecticut reference to the Panel “until such time as the matter of the civil cases has been resolved.â€
Regrettably, the Panel of Reference did not consult with us or give us an opportunity to speak to their need for a stay of pending civil litigation. Through our counsel, we have repeatedly advised the Diocese of Connecticut that we are agreeable to a referral to the Panel of Reference. Accordingly, we can only assume now that the Diocese and the remaining defendants in the civil litigation have advised the Panel that they will not agree to the Panel’s request to stay the civil litigation. Once again, it appears that the Diocese of Connecticut has denied Parishes the relief and a fair hearing to which they are entitled by evading an acceptable process providing for dispute resolution. Presumably, the Diocese has concluded that it cannot persuade a disinterested mediator of the rectitude of its position…
ACNS has published a Communiqué from the Panel of Reference which reports on a meeting held in London from 9 to 12 May.
It reveals that only three cases have been referred to it so far. Of these:
1. The Diocese of Fort Worth, which does not ordain women to the priesthood, and appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the grounds that it is in serious theological dispute with the Episcopal Church, which at its 72nd General Convention in 1997 passed canons to make the ordination of women mandatory. The Panel considered the preliminary draft of its report, and hopes, after consultation with the parties, to publish its recommendations in the near future.
2. An appeal by six parishes in the Diocese of Connecticut against the oversight of their Bishop. Because the Panel decided last year as a matter of principle that it should not normally consider references where civil cases are proceeding, the Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn the reference to the Panel until such time as the matter of the civil cases has been resolved.
3. Parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada which have appealed for alternative episcopal oversight. The Panel has developed a preliminary draft of its report and representatives of the Panel would be visiting Vancouver in the immediate future in order to meet with both parties.
No mention at all of any other cases, such as Recife or Florida. However, it also says that two additional references were received in the course of the meeting, upon which work was undertaken.
The Panel has also revised its procedures.
3 CommentsGeoffrey Rowell writes about dance: Let us ignore the mantras of modernity and dance the sacred dances.
Michael Binyon writes about a tent: London opens its desert tent of timelessness.
Christopher Howse writes about the Hidden life of Charterhouse.
Bob Holman writes about obituaries in Face to Faith.
Earlier in the week, following this news report, Simon Jenkins wrote about church buildings: The most important financial appeal I know is new roofs for old churches. This caused some letters in response today.
7 Comments