Monday, June 04, 2007

From England

In my email inbox this week ... shared with permission:

To: president@integrityusa.org
Subject: From England
Dear Susan,

Please allow a priest from England who has looked at your site to give you some support in the present dreadful situation in the Anglican communion. I am 57, and had hoped before I die to see gays celebrated in the Church as a vital and colourful part of the Christian family. Never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined the descent into biblical fundamentalism, unreason and sheer bigotry which we have now. Of course, for the fundamentalists this really is a last ditch situation. If their literalist abuse of scripture is rejected, they are finished. But once again it is gays, their families and friends, who are made to suffer while this goes on.

Many of us had dared to have reasonable hopes for movement forward with the appointment of Rowan Williams to Canterbury. He has failed us dismally, prepared to pander to the homophobic bullies at every turn. Never can an Archbishop have squandered so much goodwill so quickly. We hoped for a Churchill and got a Chamberlain. The Lambeth Conference invitations affair is the last straw. I hope so much that the Episcopal bishops from the States will refuse to come unless Gene Robinson is invited as a full member of the Conference.

Do encourage people to send protests to Canterbury - and not to be TOO polite about it! But I fear that Williams will hear little of such comments. Over here it is a constant complaint now that he is surrounded by "minders" at Lambeth who feed him what they want him to hear and prevent almost anyone from having easy access to him. Whether or not this is literally the case,
it is the perception.

Above all, let us pray for each other.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

He really is very abusive isn't he? Do you think he sent you this on a bad day, or do you think he is always this narrow minded and unthinking in his approach?

MadPriest said...

I know I have said this many times, and I'm probably boring everybody, but this email shows once again that the faithful of TEC are fighting, not only for their future and the integrity of their church, but also for every other province in the world who do not have your strength or, like us in England, are too frightened to raise our concerns in anything more than a whisper. I realise this adds another great weight to your already almost unbearable burden, but if you wish to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and share in his sacrifice, then it is a burden you must accept willingly.

I promise you it will be appreciated.

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

anonymous ... Hmmmm ... that's kind of a "when did you stop beating your wife?" question, isn't it? A

Actually, I think he is spot on and found him neither narrow minded nor unthinking ... rather more open minded than those with power at Lambeth Palace and willing to "think" beyond the bounds of the anglo-centrism that constricts so much of the the thinking that comes from "That Sceptered Isle" ... Mad Priest being a notable and deeply appreciated exception!

Anonymous said...

I do wonder what the response of the TEC bishops will be. After all, unless I've mistaken (please advise) TEC can neither prevent nor require it's Bishops to attend Lambeth. I imagine that quite a few will go. i imagine that at least some will not, out of protest. And various of them will present various rationales for going or not going. It'll be interesting to see.

I wonder what our Presiding Bishop is going to say about this. She'll have to say something. At some point she'll either have to make plane reservations or not. Nothing that she'll do will make everyone happy.

RonF

Anonymous said...

Really Susan?? I don believe you that you publish a email that said what he has said if it were about gays

"Never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined the descent into intolerance, unreason and sheer bigotry by gays which we have now. Of course, for the gays this really is a last ditch situation. If their cause is rejected, they are finished. But once again it is Christians, their families and friends, who are made to suffer while this goes on."

All I have done is a very slight edit to change the word "fundamentalist" to "gay" -- and you can see what I mean

He is very abusive - and narrow-minded and unthinking -- I hope it is not his normal mode of thinking -- nor yours.

But then again if you couldn't see his abusiveness then it might be.

MarkBrunson said...

Just keep saying it enough and it may be true, eh, anonymous? Those bad, bad liberals and their close-mindedness!

We had hoped that bigotry and dishonesty weren't the core beliefs of conservatism, but, if you can't see its presence, maybe it is.

Anonymous said...

It is not the fundamentalists who are being denied housing, taunted in schools, kicked out of the armed services, attacked on the streets, denied the right to see their loved ones in hospitals, labeled as "disordered," or threatened with death if they attend their own ordination as a duly elected bishop.

Is the Holy Spirit calling on us to welcome and include LGBTs into the Anglican Communion? Or is it calling on us to continue the historical scapegoating of LGBTs?

Anonymous said...

No ... they are just the ones who got the full blast of the abuse hurled in this post .... which is after all what we are commenting on.