Earth to Hutch [Anglican]

Midwest Conservative Journal ^ | 3/07/2005 | Christopher Johnson

[sionnsar]

Canada's Anglican Primate Andrew Hutchison griswolds some more about the Newry primates statement:

Let’s start by looking at where we are and where we are not. We still, today, have an Anglican Communion of which the Canadian and American churches are a part, and I have to say that prior to going to Belfast, I did not for a moment take this outcome for granted. There was, I believe, a real possibility that the Primates might disagree to such an extent that I would not be able to say today that we still have a communion. The fact that this did not happen is something we can be grateful for. It is also evidence that there may yet be truth to the notion that despite our difficulties in the Anglican Communion there is still more that unites us than there is that separates us. This is not to minimize the difficulties of the meeting nor the deep divisions that clearly exist in the Communion. But it is certainly worth noting that after these very difficult five days, the will emerged to find a way for us to stay together.

Hutch?  You and the Americans are hanging by a thread and that thread is unraveling.  The only people who don't seem to realize it are you and your American counterpart.

There are a number of key points in the communiqué that followed the meeting that I want to touch on. An important acknowledgement is the recognition that nothing that has taken place in the Canadian or American churches contravenes our constitutional process. We have done nothing that is illegal or improper.

Which was never an issue, Hutch.  Nobody disputes the fact that you and the Americans had the "legal" right to apostatize.  The question currently before the court is whether or not the orthodox Anglican world wants to continue to tolerate your apostasies since they've all read that part about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. 

The Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four instruments of unity in the Anglican Communion. The request to voluntarily withdraw is a serious step. This matter will be discussed by the House of Bishops in April and will go the Council of General Synod in May. This is the proper procedure for us to follow. The final authority to make a decision of this importance and magnitude rests with CoGS, not with me, and not even with the House of Bishops.

You realize what happens if you don't pull out, right, Hutch?  You'll be pretty much dumped right then and there and from a lot more than the Anglican Consultative Council.

There was another section to the final communiqué that received considerably less attention than those I have just talked about which in my view is equally important. The primates recommended as a matter of urgency that the Archbishop of Canterbury appoint a "panel of reference" effectively to ensure adequate Episcopal oversight of church members who disagree with their bishop. The Canadian church, through a near-unanimous decision at the last House of Bishops, has already done this.

Marginally better than the Americans did; everybody with a functioning brain knows that DEPO is a convoluted fraud.  But one question, Hutch.  Why was Dr. Williams asked to appoint this "panel of reference" to "ensure adequate Episcopal oversight of church members who disagree with their bishop" if you and the Americans did such a wonderful job of taking care of dissenters?  Seems kind of redundant down here in cowboy country.

It is worth noting that the Canadian church has been and continues to be the object of such "cross-boundary interventions" most notably by primates from the Global South. It is essential to the way we move forward that the Archbishop of Canterbury, by creating this panel will ensure that they stop. It is a very important sign that all of the Primates agreed, "neither to encourage nor initiate cross-boundary interventions."

Hutch?  You do realize that the Primates did not agree to stop "cross-boundary interventions," don't you?  They merely agreed that they would neither "encourage nor initiate" them.  Do you seriously think that if an orthodox New Westminster parish decided that they just couldn't take the oversight of Mike "My Way Or The Highway" Ingham, pulled out of the ACC, rented some space and asked Peter Akinola or Emmanuel Kolini for oversight, that either of those gentlemen would turn that parish down?  Do you think that an orthodox Philadelphia parish that decided that they couldn't tolerate Cheesesteak Charlie Bennison any longer and begged Henry Orombi to be their bishop would get a negative answer?

Here's the deal, Hutch.  If your church and ECUSA want to stay part of the Anglican world, you're going to have to repent.  Not say that you're sorry that Africans are homophobic bigots.  Repent.  Admit that you were wrong and promise never to do it again.  Anything less than that is going to get you run.  The recent primates meeting should have demonstrated that you, ECUSA and the western liberal churches no longer run the Anglican show.

Of course, you can always refuse, get kicked out of the Anglican Communion and go it alone or in some kind of alliance with the Americans.  Although we obviously wouldn't go with you, many of us would respect you a lot more if you did that.  Bottom line?  You can have same-sex marriages and practicing homosexual bishops or you can have international standing in the Anglican world, Hutch.  But you can no longer have both and the sooner you learn that lesson, the happier you'll be.

[sionnsar]

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[Brian Allen]

<< The question currently before the court is whether or not the orthodox Anglican world wants to continue to tolerate your apostasies, since they've all read that part about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! >>

My 'court' already ajudicated upon that one and the verdict is that we are not and will never allow ourselves to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Blessings -- Brian