Posted on 06/21/2006 5:08:05 PM PDT by pissant
The Episcopalians are in disarray as their primate shows her feminist credentials
THE Episcopal Church in America descended into chaos last night after leading bishops on both the liberal and conservative wings dissassociated themselves from a last-gasp effort to avert a schism with the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Just hours after its newly elected woman head preached a sermon in praise of our mother Jesus, the Episcopal Church agreed to exercise restraint in appointing any more gay bishops after a tense day of debate and argument.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, welcomed the resolution with gratitude and what appeared to be relief, but he also made clear his reservations.
He welcomed the exceptional seriousness with which the Episcopal Church had treated the calls for it to repent and to impose moratoriums on same-sex blessings and the consecration of any more gay bishops. He said that actions by bishops and laity of the Episcopal Church yesterday showed how strong is their concern to seek reconciliation and conversation with the rest of the Communion.
But he continued: It is not yet clear how far the resolutions passed this week and today represent the adoption by the Episcopal Church of all the proposals set out in the Windsor report. The wider Communion will therefore need to reflect carefully on the significance of what has been decided before we respond more fully.
But this fragile consensus was immediately shattered by leading bishops on both sides.
Thirty liberal bishops issued a statement of dissent, saying that they could not abide by the new resolution. Bishop John Chane of Washington, a prominent church liberal who officiates at the National Cathedral in American capital, said that he would not agree to block the ordination of any gay bishop. I will defy the resolution by consenting after prayer and careful consideration to any person duly elected by a diocese in this church, he said.
On the other side, five conservative bishops accused the General Convention of misleading the rest of the Communion by giving a false perception that they intend actually to comply with the recommendations of the Windsor Report. They continued: We therefore disassociate ourselves from those acts of this Convention that do not fully comply with the Windsor Report.
They said that they repudiated the actions of the convention and committed themselves to providing pastoral care to worshippers and parishes on the orthodox wing, so placing themselves also in potential breach of Windsor because this would entail crossing diocesan and parochial boundaries.
The resolution was agreed after panicked bishops summoned the rare joint session of the whole Church at its three-yearly convention. The session was held the day after the 800-strong House of Deputies resoundingly rejected the Anglican hierarchys demand for a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops.
Delegates, many wearing pink Its a girl badges in celebration of the Right Rev Katharine Schoris election as the new presiding bishop, were warned by the current primate of the Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold, that if they did not at least make an attempt to comply with demands for a moratorium on the consecration of any more gay bishops, they would risk exclusion from key bodies of the Anglican Church.
A proposal put forward by Bishop Griswold committing the Church to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate for the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider Church and will lead to further strains sailed through the 300-member House of Bishops on a show of hands and was approved 75-34 by clergy delegations and 72-32 by lay delegations in the House of Deputies.
Earlier, at the morning Eucharist at the convention in Columbus, Ohio, Dr Schori signalled her feminist credentials in a sermon that drew on the writings of the 14th-century Julian of Norwich. She said: Mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation and you and I are His children. If were going to keep on growing into Christ images for the world around us, were going to have to give up fear.
Liberals in Britain and America defended her sermon as being in a long tradition of writings by women theologians that use the metaphor of Jesus as mother.
Typical red-diaper doper-baby clipped-hair-lesbian look.
Yes, this might be true.
Considering that when the Devil failed to destroy the Church outright, he changed his tactics to corrupting the Church from within.
This is definitely his work.
It's not the hair that bothers me. It's whats below it. ;o)
How very Savage of you ... bwahahahaha
And doing a much better job, I must say.
They should not be allowed to continue calling their apostate mess a church.I'm pretty sure the true believers departed a long time ago.
Jesus taught us to pray "Our Father". God chose to reveal Himself in masculine terms. I believe there's something amazing about the differences between male and female and that God created them that way for a reason.
I like this quote by C.S. Lewis:
"With the Church [. . .] we are dealing with male and female not merely as facts of nature but as the live and awful shadows of realities utterly beyond our control and largely beyond our direct knowledge. Or rather, we are not dealing with them but (as we shall soon learn if we meddle) they are dealing with us."
There are still some there, fighting the good fight, I'm sure.
"Mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation and you and I are His children"
dude, I am sooo confused. Bet the rest of them are too....
"Cotton Mather, Reverend Mather, please pick up the white courtesy phone."
He's too busy spinning in his grave.
... is a long tradition of nonsense from ninnies.
"At least a man should have one day of the week to escape seemingly endless chatter."
I resemble that remark!
If the reformers saw what their theological descendants today are saying, I wonder what they would have said...It wouldn't have been nice.
I don't understand how people can stay connected to a church where they behave this way...being an Anglican shouldn't mean more than being a Christian.
But then, maybe I'm just simple...
Antichrist and the great falling away.
This is the guy who found a stuffed goat in a second-hand store, spray painted it silver, and declared that it was the epitome of high art in America, if not in all history.
It's on display at the MOCA.
He was also given to pasting old newspapers, grocery recepts and hunks of wood to canvas ~ these items are considered "priceless" by aficionados.
That practice reminds me of the way many Episcopals justify homosexuality ~ take a word from the Bible here, and one there, and spell them differently, bring out the spray paint, and Voila! It's justified.
Uhhh, a thought ~ a brief one I hope ~ do ya' think it's possible that Robert Rauschenberg art collectors are the same guys who run the Episcopal church?
May? Take it from me -- it will!
But please, rally your troops too. For all that you have what looks to be a really great Pope, your church has the infection too. These folks don't give up and go away lightly. You all need to *fight*, and *hard*! Take the TEC for the example of what happens if you don't, my friend!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.