Posted on 01/29/2007 7:46:36 PM PST by Huber
Regardless of what happens or doesn't happen at Dar es Salaam next month, the Anglican world, notes Bob Duncan, has changed:
Our position simply stated is this: We are the Episcopal Church in this place and we have no intention of standing anywhere except where we have always stood ("the Faith once delivered to the saints") or being who we have always been (mainstream Anglican Christians). The Alternative Primatial Oversight Request points to the likely path forward for us and for others who share our commitment to the Faith and Order of the universal church. Emerging structures beyond the level of the diocese can only be conjectured at. They are not merely our decision. One sign of the transitional moment in which we find ourselves is the official invitation I have received from the Archbishop of Canterbury to be present at the discussion of the path forward for the United States at the upcoming Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I will be accompanied by one non-Network Windsor Bishop. Katharine Jefferts Schori will be accompanied by one progressive bishop. All of this is revolutionary in the life of the Episcopal Church and of the Anglican Communion. Our great sadness is that the Episcopal Church in its national majority continues its trajectory of walking away from the Anglican Communion, something we have said in Convention we will not do. These are times that do try our souls. We will continue as we have begun, in faithfulness and in charity, whatever else may develop around us.
Fine words. But at some point, and perhaps that point is arriving much sooner than Bishop Duncan might prefer, words are going to have to give way to actions. For the last three years, the Global South bishops have been doing most of the heavy lifting in this controversy. How much heavy lifting they continue to do may depend in large part on how willing the Americans are to begin to take some risks.
Does there have to be a formal split next month? No. But progress needs to be made and made quickly because too much time has been wasted. If the Anglican Communion puts off dealing with TEC's apostasy once more, if we are told yet again to be patient and if we hear one more invocation of "we're not walking apart, they are" while nothing happens, then that will finally be it for a great many orthodox Anglicans including this writer.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I do wish that people would stop using this term. Unless, of course, you think that their position really represents progress.
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