There is a Future for the Episcopal Church, but is there Hope?
At the gathering of the Anglican Communion Network in Pittsburgh this weekend, participants are being prepared to make a decision about the Episcopal Church.
Archbishop Gomez: "I am a member of the Windsor Report Team, and I do not think ECUSA has even started to apologize for what they have done."
Archbishop Akinola: "Bishops of the network must realize time is no longer of their side -- this is your Kairos moment to make up your mind what to do. Some of you have one leg in ECUSA and one in the network —well as we [pointing to the other archbishops present] have broken communion with ECUSA: “Are you ECUSA or Network?."
Next summer the General Convention of the Episcopal Church will be the test. If they fail to back off on the matter of homosexuality, there will be a split.
In Egypt the Archbishop of Canterbury remarked that it is a tragedy when the church creates facts on the ground that foreclose discussions. I commented on this over at Global South: http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/index.php/article/questions_to_the_archbishop_of_canterbury_q_a_transcribed/
One of the facts on the ground that is abundantly clear is that The Network, The Global South, The Windsor Report, and all that, is not about the earlier problems which alienated about a million people from the Episcopal Church, myself included. No, at Pittsburgh today the changes brought about by the General Convention of 1976 are triumphant. Take a look at all the women in vestments in this procession: http://www.ctsix.org/1/2005/11/Procession-From-Thursday-Night.cfm
The realignment of Anglicanism is clearly well under way, and it is now just an argument about what it means to be Anglican. If Archbishop Akinola can be Anglican without being in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury (This is where it is headed), then I can be Anglican while being in full communion with the Pope. I don't think it has become meaningless to be Anglican yet, however.
The sad tragedy of all of this is that it is so easy to overlook the fact that Christians should be united and in full communion with each other. This is clearly our Lord’s will for us, and it is one of the things I learned as an Anglican. When I made my decision to go with the Saint Louis crowd, and later with the Pastoral Provision crowd, I was acting for the sake of the unity of Christians. For me it was clear that The Episcopal Church had created facts on the ground that millions of catholic-minded Christians, Roman, Anglican, and Orthodox, simply could not accept; even some Protestant groups were against the ordination of women. So with a quick remembrance of St. Vincent of Lerins and the Fathers of the Church, I sided with the majority down through time.
My advice to those who are struggling with church division today, whether in ECUSA or in the Continuum, is to do the same. Unity in the Church can not be had without the See of Saint Peter. Sadly, the future for ECUSA and even for the Network may be somewhere different.
C. David Burt
At the gathering of the Anglican Communion Network in Pittsburgh this weekend, participants are being prepared to make a decision about the Episcopal Church.
Archbishop Gomez: "I am a member of the Windsor Report Team, and I do not think ECUSA has even started to apologize for what they have done."
Archbishop Akinola: "Bishops of the network must realize time is no longer of their side -- this is your Kairos moment to make up your mind what to do. Some of you have one leg in ECUSA and one in the network —well as we [pointing to the other archbishops present] have broken communion with ECUSA: “Are you ECUSA or Network?."
Next summer the General Convention of the Episcopal Church will be the test. If they fail to back off on the matter of homosexuality, there will be a split.
In Egypt the Archbishop of Canterbury remarked that it is a tragedy when the church creates facts on the ground that foreclose discussions. I commented on this over at Global South: http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/index.php/article/questions_to_the_archbishop_of_canterbury_q_a_transcribed/
One of the facts on the ground that is abundantly clear is that The Network, The Global South, The Windsor Report, and all that, is not about the earlier problems which alienated about a million people from the Episcopal Church, myself included. No, at Pittsburgh today the changes brought about by the General Convention of 1976 are triumphant. Take a look at all the women in vestments in this procession: http://www.ctsix.org/1/2005/11/Procession-From-Thursday-Night.cfm
The realignment of Anglicanism is clearly well under way, and it is now just an argument about what it means to be Anglican. If Archbishop Akinola can be Anglican without being in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury (This is where it is headed), then I can be Anglican while being in full communion with the Pope. I don't think it has become meaningless to be Anglican yet, however.
The sad tragedy of all of this is that it is so easy to overlook the fact that Christians should be united and in full communion with each other. This is clearly our Lord’s will for us, and it is one of the things I learned as an Anglican. When I made my decision to go with the Saint Louis crowd, and later with the Pastoral Provision crowd, I was acting for the sake of the unity of Christians. For me it was clear that The Episcopal Church had created facts on the ground that millions of catholic-minded Christians, Roman, Anglican, and Orthodox, simply could not accept; even some Protestant groups were against the ordination of women. So with a quick remembrance of St. Vincent of Lerins and the Fathers of the Church, I sided with the majority down through time.
My advice to those who are struggling with church division today, whether in ECUSA or in the Continuum, is to do the same. Unity in the Church can not be had without the See of Saint Peter. Sadly, the future for ECUSA and even for the Network may be somewhere different.
C. David Burt
posted by C. David Burt | 6:59 AM
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