Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Stick a fork in it: Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says she will block attempts to bring the Anglican Convenant before General Convention

Perhaps this is why Rowan Williams is so silent.

We may pause here a moment.

Just recently Pierre Whelan announced that the "Convocation of American Churches in Europe" (an overseas diocese of TEC) decided to now become "The Episcopal Church in Europe" which bodes well for the idea that TEC is planning it's own communion (they've been excommunicating bishops who go to other provinces in the Anglican Communion as being "out of communion" and perhaps really aren't kidding).

Now comes this extraordinary dictation from Bishop Schori to the Executive Council that General Convention should not address the Anglican Covenant, even though the timeline developed by the committee guiding the covenant through the approvals process is aiming at General Convention for delivery. Fascinating. The angry TEC faces in the press room during the Archbishop of Canterbury's final press conference at Lambeth prefigured this finger from the PB, to put it, well, rather mildly.

ENS is reporting, "If a proposed Anglican covenant is released in mid-May for adoption by the Anglican Communion's provinces, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will 'strongly discourage' any effort to bring that request to the 76th General Convention in July."

First of all, she does not have such power to do that, except of course, she does now because she's turning herself into an Archbishop/Primate - she's acting like an archbishop (which she's not) and signing her documents as a primate (which is the first time a Presiding Bishop has referred to their person as a primate, not even Griswold did that). So, apparently, she now has the power over General Convention to sink the Anglican Covenant - which was designed in the first place to solve the "Episcopal Church" problem. Who's got a fork?

One wonders what is going to happen then when the new North American Anglican province holds its first General Convention and considers on the top of the agenda the ratification of the Anglican Covenant.

3 comments:

Kevin said...

Please, BB, a spork, we want to keep this "green" ;D

Anonymous said...

If I may make a prediction...

1. In ten years there will be an Episcopal communion that affirms and assimilates alternate identities, lifestyles, worship and doctrinal styles and various indigenous religions.

2. There will be an orthodox 'Confessing' anglican communion with a governing Primates Council.

3. The master of subterfuge and obfuscation, RW will be given the credit for making the See of Canterbury AND the CoE irrelevant to Anglicanism.

Anonymous said...

I don't have the long list of credentials that the Apostle Paul had, except one... 'Follower of Jesus Christ'. It's very very sad, that the once Christian Episcopal demonination has thrown the Baby Jesus out with the bath water.

Run very fast, and very far, AWAY from the Episcopal Church, they are determined to drag you down with them.