If asked my opinion, I would strongly advise the orthodox Primates to 1) organize before the Primates' meeting, and 2) attend and remove by force of numbers the Presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church (not physically, but by either voting her off the "island," or recessing to another room and not letting her in). The meeting is a place to gather and potentially to settle some of the issues that are pulling the Anglican Communion apart, and to begin to restore health to a most wonderful communion.
In the above case, if Dr. Williams did not go along with Jefferts Schori's exclusion, then I would suggest having the next-door-meeting without him. I just don't believe staying home from the field of battle helps win a war over the truth and nature of Christianity within Anglicanism.
My principle question is, whatever happened to "What touches all?" — the principle misapplied by the Windsor Report, but actually helpful if employed in its original sense. If the minority presence is to be "voted off the island" then we no longer have anything approaching a comprehensive communion, but something more like Lord of the Flies. Thanks for that image, David Anderson, you may now pass the conch to the next speaker.
The imagery of warfare and spiritual battle — clad in the armor of pure self-righteousness — is only imagery after all, more schoolyard bluff and bother. I don't know what the "force of numbers" implies, but the hustling off to another room or venue next-door sounds familiar. If the Global South cannot even bear the presence of those with whom they disagree, then perhaps it is time for them to walk apart, from the other Primates, from Rowan, and from the Anglican Communion.
h/t to Thinking Anglicans
Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG
Well, that´s how it´s done in Abuja these daze...just blow it up if you don´t like what happening around you...no sense yakking with anyone about anything when one ¨likes a good fight¨ and the ring of your own clanging voice has damaged your ears.
ReplyDeleteMakes me think of this.
ReplyDeleteTobias,
ReplyDeleteAs you really surprised? The zero-sum game has been in play since December of 2007.
recessing to another room and not letting her in
ReplyDeleteThere's already Someone Else who "stands at the door and knocks", Whom they refuse to allow in---so ++KJS would be in the BEST Company!
[I have to admit: the imagery of Anderson's proposal is pretty hysterical---in a very SICK way...]
Leonardo, it is a tired and false technique (as opposed to tried and true!). It accomplishes nothing, but prevents anything. It is a brake rather than an engine.
ReplyDeletePsP... striking likenesses!
Fred, sadly, not surprised. WMDs are all the rage with the Global South, in this game of winner take nothing...
JCF, not just knocking but ringing Westminster Chimes! What interests me about Anderson is how he just falls off the radar and then reappears -- not quite like the more visible Duncan, who can't get enough of the grandstand. But then, HE is archbishop of North America... I used to have a man in my parish who thought he was Archbishop of New York. It said so on his baseball cap.
Tobias,
ReplyDeleteMe thinks that Mr. Anderson goes to the IRD to fill up his tank every now and again and the nonce primed goes for a while until he runs out of gas (Ahmanson money).
I wonder when the well will go dry? I foresee a fuel shortage...
ReplyDelete