Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Hail to the Chief: Bonnie Anderson on Lambeth Invitations

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson issued a short statement saying that "the Episcopal Church elects bishops and consents to the election of bishops in a democratic and participatory manner. The process is carried out within our Constitution and Canons, both at the General Convention and in our dioceses. The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson is a duly elected and consecrated bishop of this Church. Not inviting him to the Lambeth Conference causes serious concern to The Episcopal Church."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for Bonnie! I do wish our beloved ++Katherine would also step up to the plate. I suppose she has her reasons for "no further comment" at the moment, but the whole world is watching and listening and waiting.

DBW said...

I don't know what TEC expected to happen, they have been, consistently, saying that they will act unilaterally because their polity allows them to, and then ignoring (or reveling in) the fact that their unilateral actions are going to have consequences in the worldwide church. What did we expect to happen?

Kirstin said...

Thank you, Bonnie!

Anonymous said...

So, just out of curiousity; if Gene Robinson was elected and consecrated/installed by being "duly elected" by a majority, and the bishops respond to any dissenters "they did it by the rules" (to loosely quote Bp Lee); and now Bonnie Anderson tells Canterbury the same thing, how come the >>duly elected<< candidate for Bp of S. Carolina got shot down????? Almost seems like hypocrisy, here...

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

anonymous: Thanks for the opportunity to play "Apples And Oranges" ...

The "rules" also include the whole church CONSENTING to the election of a bishop in the The Episcopal Church. Mark Lawrence failed to receive sufficient consents because he failed to reassure the necessary number of bishops and standing committees that he would operate within the doctrine and discipline of The Episcopal Church (see also: THE CANONS).

+Gene received the necessary consents from the whole church. (Apples)

Mark did not. (Oranges)

But it looks like he's going to have another shot ...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the respone... And I guess that's how I'm confused, as I read (again from Bp. Lee), that consents were given, not primarily of a particular stance, but "because he was duly elected"...

sigh.... I hate politics...

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

anonymous -- A little more clarification: it's not about "a particular position" it's about vowing to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Episcopal Church.

Mark couldn't -- or wouldn't -- convince the necessary majority that he would abide by the canons and not attempt to take the Diocese of SC out of the Episcopal Church.

David said...

Bonnie. Anderson. Rocks.

God bless her, and keep her courageous.

Anonymous said...

Mark couldn't -- or wouldn't -- convince the necessary majority that he would abide by the canons and not attempt to take the Diocese of SC out of the Episcopal Church.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC he actually did; the sticking point is that some dioceses submitted their approvals in a non-approved format.

I'm not going to challenge the correctness of disallowing that. The rules must be followed, although it seems rather odd that a Standing Committee would mess up something like that. But the intent of those dioceses was clear, certainly.

Apparently the Diocese is now stating that the convention was only recessed, not dismissed, and they're going to reconvene, presumably vote him up again and put his name forward for consents. That should be interesting.

RonF