Dr Rowan Williams is holding two days of crisis talks in New Orleans in an eleventh-hour effort to persuade the bishops of the American branch of Anglicanism to reverse their pro-gay agenda.
But insiders said that a number of the liberal bishops were in no mood to capitulate, and any compromise that they might eventually accept was unlikely to placate conservatives who want them ousted.
Documents leaked to the Daily Telegraph suggest that they may agree on an ambiguous form of words that will fall far short of the unequivocal reassurances demanded of them, leaving Anglicanism on the brink of collapse. Insiders in the often emotive private meeting in a New Orleans hotel said that Dr Williams rapped the Americans over the knuckles for triggering the crisis by consecrating Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
He told them that they had to balance their fidelity to gay and lesbians with fidelity to their fellow members in the 77-million strong Anglican Communion, the vast majority of whom believe homosexuality is sinful a ndunbiblical.
But Bishop Robinson, who is attending the six-day House of Bishops meeting with his partner Mark Andrews, said that though he had always publicly supported Dr Williams, he now "had to tell the truth."
According to witnesses, he said that for Dr Williams to present the situation as a choice between fidelity to gays and fidelity to the Communion "is one of the most dehumanising things I have heard in a longtime" and he wanted no part of it.
Another liberal, the Bishop of Massachussetts, the Rt Rev Thomas Shaw, also criticised the Archbishop for failing to honour the American Church's "prophetic discernment" in consecrating Bishop Robinson.
One insider said: "The speeches we heard suggested that the tide was running heavily in the direction of saying to the Archbishop, thank you for your concern but we have made up our minds and we are going forward."
Read the rest of Petre's article here.
So here's my two cents: GO +GENE!!!
.
It is SOOOOO long past time for these particular truths to be spoken to these particular powers.
It is time for the Archbishop be called on the dehumanizing impact on gay and lesbian people of their lives and vocations continuing to be reduced to "issues."
It is time to name it as unconscionable for a people of God committed to seeking and serving Christ in all persons and repecting the dignity of every human being to continue to perpetuate a defacto sacramental apartheid precluding the full inclusion of the gay and lesbian baptized in the Body of Christ.
And it is time to recognize the clear truth that there is no compromise short of our explusion which will satisfy the Tribal Council convening to vote us off the Anglican Island.
Those are my two cents.
For now.
Stay tuned.
6 comments:
I want to applaud +Gene for speaking truth to power. It can not be easy for him to bear the sole brunt of the mean, petty, stupid, unwarranted and unChristian attacks from the schismatics. He has been silent long enough. It's time every one of our voices challenge the ABC as +Gene did. They can no longer dehumanize gays and lesbians and get away with it. They can no longer hold their Bibles in one hand and their bigotry in the other and not be called on it. Let's not leave +Gene out in the cold any longer.
I cannot imagine being Bishop Robinson. His courage is enormous, and the toll it must take on him must be enormous, as well. I'm reminded of the little children who were the first black students to be admitted to white public schools after Brown v. BOE. The fear and anxiety they must have felt as they walked through crowds of red-faced, angry, chanting protesters had to be nearly overwhelming. But they took their books, held their heads high and walked through the doors anyway.
Whew. Incredible. God bless +Gene and give him strength. I do not envy him.
Thank you +New Hampshire! Thank you +Massachusetts! Thank you ++Wales! Thank you ++Mexico!
The Mississippi is a mighty river which starts as runoff into little streams whose contributions join to create one of the mightiest forces on the No. Am. continent.
May those voices which are starting to be heard around the AC also join to become legion!
Dios Todopoderoso, in your love for all humanity, Hear out prayer.
Many of us from UFMCC, from many nations, join with you in this hour of discernment.
I expect some day we will see Bishop Robinson's name in the Book of Common Prayer under saints' days. Perhaps in the 2100 Prayer Book?
include the people, not the behavior
-- a schismatic
Perhaps it is time for the other gay, partnered (and closeted) bishops throughout the Anglican Communion and in the Episcopal Church to publicly stand with their courageous brother so this isn't just a +Gene matter.
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