Posted on 04/25/2006 3:01:13 PM PDT by sionnsar
Two months from this date, on June 21, the Episcopal Church's General Convention will be ending. The Episcopal Church will have a Presiding Bishop, and, more importantly, the General Convention will have taken action on the Windsor Report.
The Episcopal Church has before it the recommendations of a special commission that was called to study the relationship of the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Communion, and to begin the process of crafting a response from the General Convention to the Windsor Report.
Story
Report
It's possible to read into this report that it's a good start. Ha! Before you get your hopes up, consider the liberal responses, i.e:
Integrity president, Susan Russell, and past president, Michael Hopkins, writing a response from Integrity:
Excerpt:
"'Instead of an about-face, the report offers a way forward for those willing to stay in conversation and community with those with whom they disagree.' (quoting Susan Russell)
"In reaffirming the inclusion of gays and lesbians, the report makes the strong statement that this church will not scapegoat its lesbian and gay members for a threatened schism not of their making."
From a press release by Oasis California:
Excerpt:
"A report issued late today by the Episcopal Church does not bar election of the best candidate as bishop of the Diocese of California whether or not that person is lesbian, straight, or gay, the leader of the diocese's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ministry, Oasis/California, said."
Do visit their web site. It will give your head a spin:
Openly gay and partnered commission member, Sarah Dylan Breuer, writing for "The Witness" says:
Excerpt:
The report signals our desire as a church to remain in the Via Media that welcomes evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, progressives and conservatives of every sexual orientation, seeking reconciliation with and alongside every province of the Anglican Communion.
Mark Harris, clergy deputy from Delaware, writing at length in Preludium, about various aspects of the Windsor Report and Commission Report:
Four Really Bad Ideas
Speaking of Regret
What are we to think?
A few days ago, the AAC released a thoughtful analysis of the commission's work:
"Moving Slowly with Caution Isn't Stopping"
Excerpts:
The commission report, however, does not represent such compliance.
Underlying the report is a promise of fudging the issue as well as an underlying message that the Scriptural view of sexuality is antiquated and that the current consensus of the Anglican Communion, with its affirmation of the authority of Scripture and Lambeth 1.10, is no longer acceptable and should be replaced.
. . . nor does it comply with the spirit and word of the Windsor Report or the Primates' Communique.
According to the report, unity is based not on God's revealed and eternal Truth, but rather is attained at the expense of truth.
In Paragraph 13, the commission clearly indicates that healing and reconciliation will involve a new understanding of traditional teaching: "What means are available for recognizing God's will when it requires reinterpretation of scriptural texts?"
. . . the commission does not acknowledge that decisions of General Convention 2003 are in fact contrary to Scripture, tradition and reason, and, therefore, outside the bounds of Christian teaching and practice.
. . . the report does not call for a moratorium on consecrations of non-celibate homosexuals; . . .
The commission obfuscates the issue of blessings of same-sex unions and falls far short of a recommendation for an immediate moratorium. First, the commission "expressly denies" that C051, ... represents authorization of official rites for same-sex blessings. ... The report recommends that bishops refrain from authorizing rites but does not call for a moratorium on such rites or on the practice of blessing same-sex unions.
(The report) does not call ECUSA to affirm and conform to the traditional teaching and practice of the Anglican Communion. Instead, it advances revisionism while claiming a desire to remain in the Communion.
So, stay tuned. The game is on. It can't be good, but it should be interesting.
''The California nominations have always been a red herring, which, when defeated with the help of the Presiding Bishop will produce a false sense of relief, which will create an environment in which the GC2006 fudge resolutions appear more acceptable.
My hat is off to the Presiding Bishop and his allies, who have demonstrated a superior strategy. After GC2006 ECUSA will have slowed, but not stopped, must less turned around. Each year, the “approved” seminaries will continue to pump new Priests in the system. Same sex blessings will occur unabated. Ordinations will occur as before.
The goal is to wait out the orthadox movement, which will happen if they get beyond GC2006 as increasingly appears will happen. ''
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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