New Orleans Becomes the accidental backdrop for a high-stakes meeting to save Anglican Communion

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The bishops' schedule calls for closed-door meetings with Williams all day Thursday and Friday morning. First among the Episcopal bishops will be Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a defender of faithful gays and lesbians, who was elected last summer.

Representatives of overseas primates demanding change also will sit in on the talks, according to a schedule the church released.

"It seems now the way it's going to work is they're going to have to go home and digest what they've heard" before declaring their response to whatever the Americans put forward, [Louisiana Bishop] Jenkins said.

Few observers expect the Episcopal bishops to retreat from their steady course of the past 30 years.

"We expect the House of Bishops will continue the direction they've already set," said Peter Frank, a spokesman for the Anglican Communion Network, a fellowship of nine conservative dioceses and 650 to 700 congregations. He said conservative bishops will leave the New Orleans meeting when Williams leaves. The meeting is scheduled to continue until Tuesday.

[Louisiana Bishop] Jenkins said he and 10 co-signers will offer a resolution that tracks the overseas primates' wishes: banning same-sex rites, ending ordination of gay bishops, and establishing some kind of alternative Episcopal leadership for conservative congregations.

But he said his highest priority is to hold the communion together even with its divisions.

Read it all.

Update: Here's a better link to get the whole article on one page.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Primates • Primates Mtg Dar es Salaam, Feb 2007 • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • TEC Conflicts • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings

9 Comments
Posted September 19, 2007 at 4:17 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. John B. Chilton wrote:

Bishop Charles Jenkins of the Diocese of Louisiana asked each to bring a gift of $10,000 to be divided between Louisiana and Mississippi. Many will, he said Tuesday—and Bishop[-elect] Mark Lawrence of South Carolina has pledged to arrive with a gift of $100,000, Jenkins said.

Very glad to read this. South Carolina is a class act.

September 19, 4:35 am | [comment link]
2. Kendall Harmon wrote:

Thanks for the comment, John.

September 19, 4:39 am | [comment link]
3. John316 wrote:

Bishop Charles Jenkins of the Diocese of Louisiana asked each to bring a gift of $10,000 to be divided between Louisiana and Mississippi. Many will, he said Tuesday—and Bishop[-elect] Mark Lawrence of South Carolina has pledged to arrive with a gift of $100,000, Jenkins said.

Thanks be to God!

September 19, 4:49 am | [comment link]
4. pendennis88 wrote:

There is also an interesting reference to Bishop Jenkins’ proposal to include some sort of parallel governance structure akin to some catholic orders.  It will be interesting to see the details on that.  It has always been that any adequate alternative oversight must have real protections for the orthodox and not just be a trap, or it is an nonstarter.

September 19, 9:42 am | [comment link]
5. Daniel wrote:

Please excuse what may be an uninformed question, but if TEC agrees to unequivocally stop consecrating GLBT bishops, will everyone be O.K. if they continue to ordain GLBT priests?

September 19, 9:45 am | [comment link]
6. NWOhio Anglican wrote:

Daniel,

The AC has existed for quite some time in a state where many bishops did not trust the theology of priests from certain provinces. I believe a southeast Asian bishop made a comment that he would not accept a US or Canadian priest without an extensive theological cross-examination, but that he could trust an African priest to be orthodox.

Priests are not priests for the whole church, but are agents of their bishops and must be licensed to celebrate the sacraments outside their home diocese. Consider the situation with WO: it’s adiaphora, but women priests won’t be licensed in certain dioceses where the bishop believes “woman priest” to be a contradiction in terms.

That’s a long answer to your question. The short answer is “probably yes, though some primates have demanded that any ordination of unrepentant gays be stopped.”

September 19, 10:08 am | [comment link]
7. miserable sinner wrote:

Bishop[-elect] Mark Lawrence of South Carolina has pledged to arrive with a gift of $100,000, Jenkins said.
Nice to see.  On many levels.

September 19, 11:10 am | [comment link]
8. evan miller wrote:

Daniel,
It’s an excellent question.  Of course active homosexuals or lesbians should not be ordained.  They are unfit for the same reasons and to the same extent as are gay candidates for bishop.  It is ludicrous to have one without the other and, obviously, if we follow Scripture and holy tradition, we should allow neither.

September 19, 11:21 am | [comment link]
9. w.w. wrote:

“Representatives of overseas primates demanding change also will sit in on the talks, according to a schedule the church released.”

The only one on the primates’ Standing Committee who comes close to that description is Mouneer Anis of Egypt, Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Abp Orombi of Uganda has said he will not be there. Without his presence, I suspect Abp Anis will be somewhat passive in those two days of discussions.

With the members of the Anglican Consultative Council and the members of the primates’ SC who will be there with ABC Rowan Williams, can any good be expected to come out of New Orleans?

w.w.

September 19, 10:17 pm | [comment link]
Registered members must log in to comment.



Next entry (above): Bishop Wolf of Rhode Island on the House of Bishops Meeting

Previous entry (below): A Letter to the TEC Bishops from Bishop David McCall, Diocese of Bunbury, Australia

Return to blog homepage

Return to Mobile view (headlines)