The Bosque Boys

Episcopalians, the U.S. branch of world Anglicanism, recently told the rest of Anglicanism to take a flying leap.

Story.

The Episcopal House of Bishops has, with minor amendment, adopted a resolution (D025) essentially repealing a moratorium (B033) on the consecration of gay bishops. The resolution, D025, had previously cleared the Episcopal House of Deputies on Sunday and was quickly picked up by the Bishops on Monday afternoon. It passed the House of Bishops 99-45 in favor, with two abstentions.

At their convention this week, not only did Episcopalians remove a moratorium on consecrating more openly self-affirming and practicing homosexual bishops, but also authorized the blessing of same-sex unions. Story.

These actions put further pressure on the relationship with Anglicanism world-wide, where African and Asian bishops--the growing part of Anglicanism--already regard their American kin as heretical.

Episcopalian leadership seems to have redefined "God" into a cosmic Barney, with love and hugs for all, no wrath, and no firm standards, except for "I'm OK, You're OK."

Theologically, there seem to be two basic errors in Episcopal thinking here: 1. there is no conception that the Fall has lasting effects on humanity such that we are born with problems--from physical birth defects to abnormal brain chemistry affecting our mentality to the impulse to sin, so that to say "God made me this way and that's OK" is at best naive; 2. there seems to be no conception of God's holiness, righteousness, and wrath, so that God is fine with us however we are.

I have posted before about the slow schism in the Episcopal Church, and the tensions between the Episcopal Church and the world-wide Anglican communion, of which it is a part. For example, here. Especially upset are third-world Anglicans, particularly in Africa, where the U.S. branch of Anglicanism is views as heretical.

This coming week the Anglican Primates (Archbishops serving as national leaders) will gather in Tanzania. Perhaps the focal point will be the address by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh. From an article on the upcoming meeting:

A group of conservative Episcopalians, who represent about 10 percent of the 2.2-million member Episcopal Church, is angling to be recognized as the true U.S. branch of the communion.

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, who has been invited to address the primates in Tanzania, said he will argue that the Episcopal Church has actually walked away from traditional Anglicanism. The 10 dioceses and 900-odd U.S. parishes in his Anglican Communion Network, meanwhile, have remained orthodox, Duncan said.

Full story from the Dallas Morning News here. I'll be surprised if anything so radical happens quickly. But, the numerical center-of-gravity of Anglicanism has shifted to Africa, and the African Archbishops will expect to be heard. What they will have to say will not please the Episcopal Church.

The Anglican Journal has the story. The schism in world-wide Anglicanism continues to be felt following the action of the Episcopal Church (Anglicanism in the U.S.) in consecrating an openly gay bishop.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has invited all bishops in North America, except Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, to the Lambeth Conference of the world’s Anglican bishops scheduled next year in the United Kingdom.

The Lambeth conference is a regular gathering of Anglican bishops world-wide held every ten years. Official Lambeth website.

The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, is splitting over the issue of same-sex sex. Now, it appears that the world-wide Anglican Communion may itself be split by the U.S. and Canadian liberal positions. Story here.

More news here on the slow schism of the Episcopal Church.

The installation of a local minister who recently broke with the Episcopal Church and will now oversee other breakaway congregations was a unique and historic event and one that the Nigerian Anglican leader called "just the first step."

Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican Church of Nigeria makes remarks after his installation of Rev. Martyn Minns (standing, L) as the Missionary Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America by in Woodbridge, Virginia, May 5, 2007. The convocation represents a group of congregations who have broken from the Episcopal Church over various social and church issues and have now officially become part of the Nigerian church body.

In the West the Anglican Communion is withering away. Here in the U.S. the Episcopal Church (Anglicans in the US) fights among themselves, primarily over stands taken by the U.S. bishops on same-sex practice and marriage, and fidelity to Scripture. In Africa Anglicanism is growing and is conservative. Perhaps we have here a blessed irony, the children of the Western missionary movement returned to save the parent church.

Here is the letter Episcopal Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori sent to Archbishop Akinola. (from the official Episcopalian website) I want to highlight this paragraph from her letter:

First, such action would violate the ancient customs of the church which limits the episcopal activity of a bishop to only the jurisdiction to which the bishop has been entrusted, unless canonical permission has been given. Second, such action would not help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole. Third, such action would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all.

What a howler! What unblessed irony. "violate ancient customs of the church . . ." that is exactly what the Episcopal church in the U.S. is doing with regard to same-sex practice and Scripture; "would not help the efforts of reconciliation" the Presiding Bishop herself has said that the Episcopal church would not back down on same-sex ordination and marriage, and condescendingly predicted that the rest of Anglicanism eventually would catch up; "would display to the world division" well, who started the division? not Nigeria.

Why are liberals always so irony-impaired?

Recent comments by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore leader of world-wide Anglicanism, show a tremendous lack of critical intellect. Story from The Mail online.

Dr Rowan Williams also criticised Christianity's history for its violence, its use of harsh punishments and its betrayal of its peaceful principles.
His comments came in a highly conciliatory letter to Islamic leaders calling for an alliance between the two faiths for 'the common good'.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has admitted that Christian doctrine is offensive to muslims
But it risked fresh controversy for the Archbishop in the wake of his pronouncement earlier this year that a place should be found for Islamic sharia law in the British legal system.

(Sigh), where to begin? He seems to assume that Christianity is pacifist, a point that is at least debatable. And, Anglicanism has never been pacifist. And finding a place for Sharia in the British legal system? How can one have a nation if more than one system of Basic Law is in place? Sharia? a blueprint for the oppression of women, punishment of "apostates," discrimination against non-Muslims, etc.

The Archbishop's letter is a reply to feelers to Christians put out by Islamic leaders from 43 countries last autumn.
In it, Dr Williams said violence is incompatible with the beliefs of either faith and that, once that principle is accepted, both can work together against poverty and prejudice and to help the environment.

What? Islam spread by force of violent conquest. The Q'uran advocates violence against unbelievers. Muhammad, the exemplar of how to live, engaged in acts of violence in consolidating his power. Islam and violence are extremely compatible. What a ninny.

He also said the Christian belief in the Trinity - that God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost at the same time - 'is difficult, sometimes offensive, to Muslims'.
Trinitarian doctrine conflicts with the Islamic view that there is just one all-powerful God.
Dr Williams added: 'It is all the more important for the sake of open and careful dialogue that we try to clarify what we do and do not mean by it, and so I trust that what follows will be read in this spirit.'

What does he mean "sometimes offensive, to Muslims?" The Doctrine of the Trinity is inherently offensive to Muslims who believe Allah to exist in splendid unitary isolation. And why do I think that Williams call "to clarify what we do and do not mean by it" will involve backpedaling on this most fundamental Christian doctrine.

He told Muslim leaders that faith has no connection with political power or force, and that Christians have in the past betrayed this idea.

What? Only if Christianity is to have absolutely no relationship, directly or indirectly with government, which as St. Paul said, has been given the sword by God. I was not aware that Anglicanism had secretly been Anabaptist all along.

'Religious identity has often been confused with cultural or national integrity, with structures of social control, with class and regional identities, with empire: and it has been imposed in the interest of all these and other forms of power,' he said.

Such as when the Royal Navy in the nineteenth century unilaterally ended the slave trade across the Atlantic, a projection of power rooted in evangelical Christian conviction.

As Bugs Bunny says, What a Maroon!

As posted here before, the Episcopal church has alienated much of the Anglican Church by actions supporting same-sex practice. The Episcopal Church (the U.S. branch of Anglicanism) essentially gave the rasberry to the call for repentance issued by the Primates of the Global South. These Third-World national Anglican leaders had demanded The Episcopal Church repent by September 30.

Now, at a recent meeting, the Global South Primates have issued another communique, dated October 30. Here are some interesting excerpts:

3. Since the colonial past, no consolidation of the essence of communion has been made on the part of the Mother Church and of the churches in the West. What is at stake is the very nature of Anglicanism – not just about sexuality but also about the nature of Christ, the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Bible. We reject the religion of accommodation and cultural conformity that offers neither transforming power nor eternal hope.

6. It is clear to us that the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC) has not given an unequivocal response to the requests of the Primates at Dar es Salaam. Therefore we affirm the conclusion that the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) has reached in the communiqué of their meeting in Mauritius in October 2007 that “a change in direction from our current trajectory is urgently needed” because “we want unity but not unity at any expense”.

Can these Anglican Primates save the U.S. Episcopal Church from itself. I am not optimistic.

The slow schism in the American Episcopalian church may be picking up speed. This report from the Modesto Bee covers the upcoming decision of the San Joaquin diocese (area ruled by a bishop) on whether or not to remain in the denomination. Denominational support for same-sex sex is the stated reason for unhappiness.

Several parishes have left the Episcopalians while remaining within world-wide Anglicanism under the authority of a foreign bishop, usually third-world. We'll see what happens in California. (would Farmer use his California insight to tell us about the political leanings of this area of Ca.?)

The splitting of the Episcopal Church continues. Last month the Diocese of Quincy (Illinois), unhappy with the liberal trends of the denomination, asked for other oversight within Anglicanism. In other words, the diocese plans to remain Anglican (the worldwide communion of which the Episcopal church has been the U.S. expression), but does not want to accept the leadership of the Episcopal denomination. News release here.

See earlier posts.

One of the finalists for bishop of the Diocese of Chicago is a practicing lesbian. Story here. Link from Religion News.

Third-world bishops of the Anglican communion have reprimanded their Episcopal brethren for abandoning biblican standards on sexuality, and set a Sept 30 deadline for repentance.

But, American Anglicans (Episcopalians) ignore their brethren and vow they will not change course. See earlier post. I guess for the Episcopal hierarchy it is still the White Man's Burden to lead his black, brown, and yellow brothers into enlightenment.

September 30 is the deadline the Anglican global bishops gave the Episcopal Church to repent of its endorsement of same-sex practice. In advance of that deadline, the Diocese of Pittsburgh has begun a process that could enable it to maintain ties to world-wide Anglicanism even if the Episcopal Church fails to repent. Story here from the American Anglican Council.

American Christianity has always had a certain arrogence toward third-world Christians. Perhaps Pittsburghers will show some humility. See earlier post.

Christ Church, Plano, Texas (near Dallas) now has left the Episcopal Church and kept its property. One of the denomination's largest parishes (weekend attendance 2200), Christ Church has been unhappy for several years over the lack of respect for Scripture manifest in the Episcopal handling of the issue of same-sex practice. The parish plans to remain within Anglicanism (the world-wide communion of which Episcopalians are a part) overseen for the time being by the Bishop of Peru. From the Dallas Morning News. Hat tip Religion Headlines.

For previous posts on Mainline decline here, and here, and here., and here.

According to Rev. Canon George Conger of the Diocese of Central Florida the answer is "Yes." There no longer is an Anglican communion in a meaningful sense. For evidence he points to the recent Lambeth Conference in which Anglican bishops would not take communion together because of the (mostly) American actions on ordaining practicing homosexuals. Also, he points to the fact that within the Episcopal Church (Anglicanism in the U.S.) conservative priests would not be allowed to serve in a liberal diocese nor liberal priests in a conservative diocese.

The future of Episcopalianism as he sees it: litigation. Lawsuits over property as parishes and dioceses disassociate.

The cause: the belief by the Episcopal leadership that God's path forward is through recognition of same-sex orientation and practice as a blessing, and the providential role the American Church is to play by introducing to the world this new revelation. Another form of American exceptionalism.

Interview here.

The conservative Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to split from the Episcopal Church. The plan is to remain within Anglicanism and unite with a South American Anglican province. Story here.

Pittsburgh joins the Diocese of San Joaquin in splitting. This fall two more Diocese will take their final votes on leaving--Quincy, Illinois, and Ft. Worth, Texas.

The issue is Biblical Interpretation in general, and same-sex practice in particular.

While I am not predicting Civil War, I will point out that we saw denominations split over slavery in the decades leading up to Secession. Slavery was one issue this nation could not solve politically and so did by force of arms. The inability of the Christian denominations to resolve the slavery issue and remain united previewed the political split.

As a nation we are divided on several cultural issues--abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. The splits in the churches probably tells us that there is no compromise solution possible in our national life. We will continue to fight over the issues.

The Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism, is in disarray. While most of the press goes to the issue of Episcopal support for same-sex marriage and practice, there are other symptoms of sickness. Like confused priests and bishops.

Take the Episcopal priest who converted to Islam. The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, when converting to Islam, might have been expected to renounce her Christianity, and cease to be an Episcopal priest. Do not expect such clear thinking by Episcopal priests. She decided she wished to be both Christian and Muslim, and continue in her office. Her bishop, Geralyn Wolf, might have been expected to remove Redding's credentials. Again, do not expect such clear thought from an Episcopal bishop either. Instead, Wolf placed her under pastoral direction, which was recently extended. On the plus side, this "pastoral direction" is described as being a time of reflection during which Redding is not to exercise priestly functions.

Bishop Wolf described the priest as a woman of utmost integrity and said her interactions with her remains open and mutually gratifying.

You can't make this stuff up.

That flushing sound you hear is the mainline American churches heading down the crapper.

Story.

Statement from Bishop Wolf.

From the Washington Post. Some "Third World" Anglican bishops are calling for the U. S. Episcopal church (the Anglican church in the United States) to go ahead and split. Conservatives in the US, upset over the official Episcopal actions regarding same-sex practice (including consecration of a gay bishop) have already begun a process of schism.

Here are the paragraphs relevant to my point:

A suggestion by African, Asian and Latin American Anglican bishops that the Episcopal Church be turned into two churches because of disputes over gay issues would lead to chaos, the head of the U.S. church said on Thursday.

Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the 2.4-million-member Episcopal Church, said a communique issued on September 22 from Kigali, Rwanda, by conservative bishops of a group known as the Global South "raises profound questions about the nature of the church, its ordering and its oversight."

Bishops at the meeting in the Rwandan capital suggested that it was time for Episcopalians upset with the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican Church history should form their own church.

More below

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As I posted earlier, Anglican primates met last week in Tanzania in closed session. Perhaps the major issue to be addressed was the actions of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism. Most Anglicans are now from the Third-World and are much more conservative than the U.S. denomination. Monday they issued a statement, from Fox News. Opening paragraph:

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Anglican leaders demanded Monday that the U.S. Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops to undo the damage that North Americans have caused the Anglican family. In a statement ending a tense six-day meeting, the leaders said that past pledges by Episcopalians for a moratorium on gay unions and consecrations have been so ambiguous that they have failed to fully mend "broken relationships" in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church, the U.S. wing of world Anglicanism, must clarify its position by Sept. 30 or its relations with other Anglicans will remain "damaged at best."

The American Anglican Council has the full text here. (More below.)

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The Anglican Primates (archbishops acting as national church leaders) at their recent meeting in Tanzania demanded that the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, stop blessing same-sex marriages. My post here.

Last week the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (sort of the U.S. primate) gave her response. Katharine Jefferts Schori told staff at the national headquarters

. . . the Episcopal Church is called to ensure that the conversation about the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church continues in the Communion. “It is part of our mission as a church,” she said. “This conversation that has been going on for at least 40 years is not going away. God keeps bringing it back to us.” Jefferts Schori said that she understands that some people feel that the primates’ recommendations are a “hard and bitter pill for many of us to talk about swallowing.” But, she said, worldwide attitudes about the inclusion of gay and lesbian people are changing and “I don’t expect that to end.” “We’re being asked to pause in the journey. We are not being asked to go back,” she said. “Time and history are with this Church.”

Full article from the Episcopal Church website, includes a link to the audio of the address. (More below.)

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From The Telegraph, a UK paper full story here:

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, accused the Church of failing in its duty to "welcome people of other faiths" ahead of a motion at July's General Synod in York urging a strategy for evangelising Muslims.

However, his comments were condemned by senior figures within the Church. The Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, the former Bishop of Hulme and the newly appointed Bishop of Urban Life and Faith, said: "Both the Bishop of Rochester's reported comments and the synod private members' motion show no sensitivity to the need for good inter-faith relations. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs are learning to respect one another's paths to God and to live in harmony. This demand for the evangelisation of people of other faiths contributes nothing to our communities."

Bishop Nazir-Ali, born in Pakistan, is calling for the Anglican Church (Church of England) to evangelize Muslims in Britain. The Anglican establishment is accusing him of narrow-mindedness and lack of sensitivity. What would they have said to Jesus, when he told the eleven to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?

A Christian communion that refuses proclaim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and summon hearers to repentence and faith, is on its way out of Christendom. "Multiculturalism" and "tolerance" must bear distinctive meanings within the Church. As Christian citizens of pluralistic societies we tolerate other religions in the sense that we do not burn down their places of worship, imprison them for their beliefs, or discriminate in the workplace. But, "tolerance" for Christians must not imply that beliefs of other religions are also true in the way our faith is. Christians are multicultural in the sense of welcoming those of other cultures, and recognizing that believers can be Christians while being of another culture. But, respecting other cultures must not imply for Christians that all religious beliefs are equally valid.

For the previous posts on this series click here.

"It cannot be too often repeated that what destroyed the Family in the modern world was Capitalism." G.K. Chesterton in "Three Foes of the Family" found in the collection of his essays The Well and the Shallows.

Today's post: Chesterton's religion and his economics.

G. K. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism, and he took the doctrines and practices of his faith seriously, including their implications.

His explanation "Why I Am a Catholic" is reprinted here. Some excerpts:

The difficulty of explaining "why I am a Catholic" is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, "It is the only thing that . . ." As, for instance, (1) It is the only thing that really prevents a sin from being a secret. (2) It is the only thing in which the superior cannot be superior; in the sense of supercilious. (3) It is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. (4) It is the only thing that talks as if it were the truth; as if it were a real messenger refusing to tamper with a real message. (5) It is the only type of Christianity that really contains every type of man; even the respectable man. (6) It is the only large attempt to change the world from the inside; working through wills and not laws; and so on.

Or I might treat the matter personally and describe my own conversion; but I happen to have a strong feeling that this method makes the business look much smaller than it really is. Numbers of much better men have been sincerely converted to much worse religions. I would much prefer to attempt to say here of the Catholic Church precisely the things that cannot be said even of its very respectable rivals. In short, I would say chiefly of the Catholic Church that it is catholic. I would rather try to suggest that it is not only larger than me, but larger than anything in the world; that it is indeed larger than the world. But since in this short space I can only take a section, I will consider it in its capacity of a guardian of the truth.

If you wish to pursue Chesterton's attraction to the Roman Catholic Church, see his work The Catholic Church and Conversion which can be found here.

One of the truths, or perhaps better, one aspect of the Truth, that Chesterton wrote he heard in the Roman Catholic teaching, was economic truth. To quote at length from The Catholic Church and Conversion:

We did not really like giving up our little private keys or local attachments or love of our own possessions; but we were quite convinced that social justice must be done somehow and could only be done socialistically. I therefore became a Socialist in the old days of the Fabian Society; and so I think did everybody else worth talking about except the Catholics. And the Catholics were an insignificant handful, the dregs of a dead religion, essentially a superstition. About this time appeared the Encyclical on Labour by Leo XIII; and nobody in our really well informed world took much notice of it. Certainly the Pope spoke as strongly as any Socialist could speak when he said that Capitalism "laid on the toiling millions a yoke little better than slavery." But as the Pope was not a Socialist it was obvious that he had not read the right Socialist books and pamphlets; and we could not expect the poor old gentleman to know what every young man knew by this time--that Socialism was inevitable. That was a long time ago, and by a gradual process, mostly practical and political, which I have no intention of describing here, most of us began to realise that Socialism was not inevitable; that it was not really popular; that it was not the only way, or even the right way, of restoring the rights of the poor. We have come to the conclusion that the obvious cure for private property being given to the few is to see that it is given to the many; not to see that it is taken away from everybody or given in trust to the dear good politicians. Then, having discovered that fact as a fact, we look back at Leo XIII and discover in his old and dated document, of which we took no notice at the time, that he was saying then exactly what we are saying now. "As many as possible of the
working classes should become owners."

Continued below.

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