UK: Archbishop calls secret service for gay clergy to halt slide towards schism

The Times (U.K.) ^ | September 18, 2007 | Ruth Gledhill

[Stoat]

“The Archbishop might have defended the meeting with such a group on the grounds that he is engaged in a listening process. However, by leading the Communion service he is clearly doing far more than just listening.”

(edit)

A spokesman for Dr Williams said: “It should come as no surprise that the Archbishop is meeting pastorally with clergy and others affected by the current debates in the Church. Such encounters extend right across the range of opinions within the Church. Few of these encounters ever reach the public domain. That is as it should be.”

[pbear8]

He called in the Secret Service!?! Wow, there might be some three dollar bills around.

[Stoat]

Ping

[SandRat]

Hey! Archbishop! Listen UP!

Mother always said that if you have to do something in secret, then you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

[Farmer Dean]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the church building collapsed and crushed the whole miserable lot of them.

[Stoat]

Ping

[Cecily]

The church of which he is the head is going to he!! in a handbasket, but he takes the summer off to study Dostoevsky. Good plan (not).

[Stoat]

The Times is highlighting this reader comment at the article's page (emphasis added)

Celebrating homoerotic sex by the Christian eucharist has to a macabre and grotesque piece of theatre, a truly sectarian rite of a pagan nature.
The Archbishop needs to examine his conscience and cancel this weird ritual, hold a seminar instead.
He is basically blessing the homosexual act in a Canaanite sex celebration. It is certainly highly offensive to all Muslims.

 

Ya Ya, Dalston, UK

 

 

[Jeff Chandler]

I think it’s no longer a secret.

[bennowens]

I thought George Bush had a tin political ear, but this move by the ABC Williams sets a new standard for disconnectedness.

[rbg81]

The man just doesn’t get it, does he?

[LibertarianLiz]

The church of which he is the head is going to he!! in a handbasket, but he takes the summer off to study Dostoevsky.

I was shaking my head at that one, too. Seems to be having a bit of a problem with prioritizing.

[hinckley buzzard]

Celebrating communion with self-avowed and unrepentant homosexual couples including clergy as partners seems to me to run directly counter to the spirit, if not the exact word, of the Windsor agreements. By offering communion to these "couples" is he not tacitly blessing these relationships?

Has the ABC thrown in the sponge?

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Yeah, I am sure during great schisms in church history is a great time to go on sabbatical and pray? No, to study Dostoevsky? The guy is a raging liberal. But folks who I have talked to in Episcopal church here in states, some parish’s are leaving and joining the Anglicans. Can’t say I blame them. This dense liberal thinks you can talk some things to death, but instead the church he heads is dying as it goes down a wrong road.

[Cicero]

Rowan Williams was known to be pro-gay at the time he was appointed archbishop. Tony Blair has a record of supporting gay rights, notably his insistence of forcing a bill lowering the age of consent for gay sex with minors through parliament. So presumably Blair recommended Williams to the Queen for that reason.

Since the Anglican Communion began to openly split, Williams has been cautious about publicly asserting his pro-gay beliefs. But it’s clear what he thinks.

I find it amusing the the Anglican homosexuals are bitching about this secret meeting because they think he should be doing it openly.

[sionnsar]

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[ricks_place]

Secret Gay Anglican Rite?

[RichInOC]

“Rule One...”

[Charles Martel]

As the Archbishop of Canterbury, he should realize better than most that being a “troublesome priest” often has unpleasant repercussions.

[Verginius Rufus]

Three months off to study Dostoevsky? Has Dostoevsky become one of the Church Fathers? Three months to study Augustine or John Chrysostom or John Scotus Eriugena, I could see...but Dostoevsky?

Maybe he was studying Crime and Punishment trying to figure out if the gay clergy had committed a crime and what their punishment should be...