Posted on 06/28/2006 3:14:22 PM PDT by fgoodwin
Newark re-enters Anglican fray
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2006/06/newark_enters_a.html
http://tinyurl.com/rumao
Ruth Gledhill, Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 06:56PM
I've been getting a little tired of this whole story, and want to start writing again about Hindus, Muslims, Catholics and the Jewish community. But I couldn't resist a brief posting on this new development, chiefly because the partner of the leading nominee to be the next Bishop of Newark, Jack Spong's old haunt in the US, is Father Paul Burrows, a rather impressive graduate of St Stephen's House who trained there when David Hope was principal and who was ordained into Southwark in 1980. Father Paul has many accomplishments, all listed in his biography on the website of the Church of Advent in San Francisco where he is now rector. Father Paul is also now a naturalised US citizen.
Canon Michael Barlowe, Father Paul's partner and one of four nominees to be tenth Bishop of Newark, also has an impressive CV. He is a former Wall Street banker with Chase Manhattan and a former seminary tutor. He is currently officer for congregational development in California. He has also studied at St Stephen's House as well as in Edinburgh. Interestingly, Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, is a delegate for Newark to General Convention and was awarded the Bishop's Cross by Jack Spong for his work in Newark. Louie was also chair of the Newark nominating committee that selected the names. Canon Barlowe writes movingly of the couple's joint commitment to unconditional love in his personal statement to the diocese. A discussion is already running on TitusOneNine and the AAC has been quick to respond.
Back in 1988, I covered the wives' conference at the Lambeth Conference and popped in occasionally to the main press office to consult with my great mentor Clifford Longley. The story I wrote about polygamy didn't go down too well. It might even have been the reason the spouses' conference, as it became to include the male husbands of women bishops, was closed to the press in 1998.
But now, I can hardly wait to see what happens in 2008. Will Gene Robinson and Michael Barlowe, in the likely event that he is elected, be invited? And will their partners? And if so, will we be allowed to cover what will presumably become the "spouses and partners conference"?
Maybe I'm not feeling so tired after all. The "vita media" looks so full of fun and entertainment for the future, you'ld have to be a complete pagan not to find it of interest.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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