Posted on 08/23/2006 5:41:24 PM PDT by sionnsar
Make no mistake. The Episcopal left is terrified:
The Anglican Communion News Service has announced that the Archbishop of Canterbury, after consultations with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has asked Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia and Bishop John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida to convene a group of bishops from the Episcopal church “to meet together to discuss some of the difficult issues facing the Church and to explore possible resolutions.” This announcement raises a number of serious concerns.
Consider the following.
ONE
By what authority is Archbishop Rowan Williams calling for meetings of bishops of the Episcopal Church? The Presiding Bishop has now been reduced to someone merely to be “consulted” about the meeting, while the Archbishop, apparently, decides who attends.
TWO
One of the “conveners” named by Archbishop Williams is Bishop John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida. From the start, Lipscomb was at the forefront of the fight against the ordination of Gene Robinson as the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop and since Bishop Robinson’s ordination has consistently worked to weaken the unity of the Episcopal Church. He is one of the original founders of the ACN.
Near as I can figure, neither Lipscomb or his diocese are affiliated with the Network.
THREE
The other “convener” of the meeting is Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia. Lee voted in 2003 for the consecration of Gene Robinson but afterwards publicly recanted and now says he would not do so again. He has said that “it’s appropriate for the American Episcopal Church to back away [from ordaining gay people] to serve the wider unity of the church.”
FOUR
Two of the other bishops invited by Archbishop Williams are Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth and Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh. Their views are well known: they want their small group of right-wing dioceses to separate from the Episcopal Church and to be declared the true representatives of the Anglican Communion in the U.S. and they want the Episcopal Church to be thrown out of the Anglican Communion.
Some of us think, as the engineers put it, that's not a bug, that's a feature. Anyway, these people are so scared, they're even mad at Frank Griswold.
FIVE
Although Presiding Bishop-elect Jefferts Schori will attend the meeting she will not do so with much authority. Bishop Griswold will still be our Primate. The timing of the meeting leads to the suspicion that Archbishop Williams wants to pressure Bishop Griswold one last time. Bishop Griswold has often succumbed to pressure and in the process become the enforcer of the Episcopal Church’s policy of appeasement toward the hate-mongers and fundamentalists of the Anglican Communion, led by Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria.
The following questions need to be asked.
ONE
Why have only the most conservative and retrograde bishops of the Episcopal Church been invited to this meeting? Why was Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire not invited? Why were Bishops Bruno of Los Angeles or Chane of Washington or Chilton Knudsen of Maine not invited?
Not true, according to Frank.
We also agreed that the group might be expanded by other bishops to be chosen by the participants themselves. Bishops Duncan and Iker invited Bishops Salmon, Stanton and Wimberly to take part. I have asked Bishops Henderson, O’Neill and Sisk.
But then the PrezBish "has often succumbed to pressure and in the process become the enforcer of the Episcopal Church’s policy of appeasement toward the hate-mongers and fundamentalists of the Anglican Communion, led by Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria," so what does he know?
TWO
Does the rush to hold this meeting so soon after General Convention and before the investiture of Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop indicate that Archbishop Williams thinks that Bishop Schori will be less inclined to capitulation and appeasement than Bishop Griswold?
Considering that Kate helped sell B033 to GenCon, probably not.
THREE
What other “compromises” will be exacted from the Episcopal Church? Will gay people, as an outcome of this meeting, be told that their place in the back of the bus has now been made permanent?
FOUR
The first session of these meetings will take place “in New York in the first half of September”. No specific place or date was announced. Why all the secrecy?
FIVE
Why does all this remind us of Neville Chamberlain?
Because you're paranoid? Or because you're deathly afraid that some chickens are finally coming home to roost?
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Or it might be that their vanguard revolutionary attack from the top has run into all these nasty, nasty problems from the bourgeois on the bottom. It's not much fun being top dogs in an Episcopal Church that isn't respected anymore, and all those nasty conservatives are leaving with their money!
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