Friday, May 04, 2007

Canterbury to Nigeria: Please Stay Home!


Lambeth Palace today confirmed the Archbishop of Canterbury has written to the African Primate asking him to cancel his trip to Virginia to carry out the service. A spokesman for Dr Rowan Williams confirmed a letter had been sent to the Archbishop of Nigeria ....
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Not holding my breath on this one. Had a call from a reporter yesterday who wanted to know if I'd be in Virginia on Saturday ... ??????????? No -- I told her -- my vocation isn't lurking around other people's events/meetings ... I've got plenty of my own work to do here at home.
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Besides, it's Cinco de Mayo so I'll be eating nachos and hoping for a Margarita somewhere along the day which will include a Garden Party at our bishop's lovely home to celebrate the ministry of the Bishop's Commission on Gay & Lesbian Ministry.
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Do I have a COMMENT about Saturday's CANA happenings? Sure -- it's one more indication that those hell-bent on creating a church in their own image and calling it "Orthodox Anglicanism" will stop at nothing to make that happen. Our job in this Episcopal Church USA is to get on with OUR vocation -- and that's about proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ Jesus available to ALL.
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UPDATE: Mark Harris makes this important point over at PRELUDIUM:
What will happen on Saturday is not just about the installation of BISHOP MINNS. What will happen on Saturday is not just about ARCHBISHOP AKINOLA acting across boundaries and other ecclesastical no-no's.
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What will happen on Saturday is that a CHAIR - an outward and visible sign - will have someone seated in it (INSTALLED) and the CHAIR belongs to some body, in this case the Church of Nigeria.
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And most importantly, that CHAIR will be in the United States, a geographical territory in which The Episcopal Church has jurisdiction. In putting his chair in this new place, namely the Diocese of Virginia and in the Province of The Episcopal Church, Archbishop Akinola is not simply installing a bishop, he is inaugurating a diocese or a proto-diocese, or a missionary diocese.
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He is, in other words, staking a claim on the soil of The Episcopal Church, putting his chair there, and welcoming someone (Bishop Minns) to sit there. Saturday is the inauguration of a new diocese-like thing, and by all accounts a province in waiting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just have to wonder why it took so long for Lambeth to get involved.

Anonymous said...

Asleep at the wheel, too little to late, nip it in the bud, or? Looks like Rowan is rowin down the river. Why wait till the last minute? Oh, well we will survive, as TEC, whom love God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, willing and wanting to bring all people to the table! Only the strong can survive, and love is better than hate, always was, and always will be. "Go Tell It On The Mountain", "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love". I wonder if the Archbishop of Nigeria, ever heard of loving his neighbor? I think Christians should unite as one, only God can judge. Jesus wandered all over, so did Abraham, and they wanted us to unite, to love and to serve the Lord, with all our heart, mind, body and soul.
Joe Omar Gonzales