Posted on 06/21/2006 11:46:39 AM PDT by The_Victor
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - The U.S. Episcopal Church on Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision, adopted a resolution to avoid the consecration of additional gay bishops, a move designed to heal strained relations with 77 million fellow Anglicans worldwide.
The action reversed a decision made 24 hours earlier when one of two legislative bodies at the 2.3-million-member U.S. church's triennial convention rejected a similar idea.
The resolution adopted by both the church's bishops and by lay and clergy diocesan representatives voting in separate bodies calls on bishops and local committees "to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate (for bishop) whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."
Debate during the week-long convention made it clear that the "manner of life" caution applied to openly gay candidates for the episcopate.
The church has been in turmoil since its consecration three years ago of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first bishop known to be in an openly gay relationship in more than 450 years of Anglican history.
What an ordeal this must be for Episcopalians! May God have mercy on them.
So does Robinson also get de-consecrated?
"The frog is starting to notice how hot it's getting! Quick - drop an ice cube in the water and hope he forgets!"
Welcome to the new, improved Episcopal Church where the only sin that is recognized is orthodoxy, and a belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Today's service features our very own contemporary band, music, environmentally friendly candles with dancing, faux flames. The service will conclude with a Holy Eucharist light refreshments of wafers and a sip of wine at the altar in memory of all those who have been injured because of our murderous, patriarchal, non-inclusive past.
Coming soon to a diocese near you. (If it isn't already there.)
Not good enough. It's like children who smack each other and when the parent turns they say they won't do it again, only to do it again.
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
Did anyone check to see if they had their fingers crossed?
King's X !!!
For this Episcopalian at least, it's more like watching an episode of Monty Python. I have the luxury, for the moment, of being able to keep my focus on my parish, and to try to keep it healthy. I'll let God handle tomorrow and the next day....
Clearly the House of Bishops (HOB) was shocked and alarmed by yesterday's vote. Frank Griswold was described as being "frantic" to have the HOB re-open the issue, and I imagine there was some serious arm-twisting to get the House of Deputies to reverse yesterday's vote.
There's no telling how the rest of the Communion will interpret this. I suspect that many or most provinces will (probably correctly) interpret the first vote as indicating the "true mind" of the Episcopal Church, and that today's vote is more an attempt to "stay in the club."
Rowan Williams will gratefully accept today's vote, though -- so the game will go on for another 2 years until Lambeth.
The main attraction was a reference to "Mother Jesus."
Oh, it featured a Killer Rabbit as well.
My heart aches for what the (few) remaining orthodox Episcopalians are in for.
Unfortunantly, the members of the clergy and layity that are enlightenment poisoned will never let him do it. With their heel on the neck of orthodox believers and orthodox clergy, they will use their assendancy to continue the revolution.
This is a farce.
The resolution is non-binding and only asks Bishops to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church".
This is clearly a smoke screen and does not address the warnings given to the Episcopal Church of the United States by the rest of the world's Anglican Bishops.
The words "not consenting" will probably be seen as strong enough for sympathetic primates like the Archbishop of Canterbury to see an intent to respond to the Windsor Report. I think this is the fudge that was expected, and clarity is not achieved.
Ah, but make no mistake. Frank Griswold is every bit as much in favor of the radical agenda as the people who actually voted the resolution down yesterday. However, he also values the moral authority (and legal powers) associated with being a Primate of the Anglican Communion.
The only way he can maintain these contradictory positions is to remain completely vague, and thus allow himself and the Episcopal Church, to present whatever face must be presented as circumstances require.
What happened yesterday is that it dispensed with vagueness altogether, which made Frank's careful balancing act completely untenable. Frank Griswold is a lot of things, but "stupid" he is not.
It will be interesting to see if the rest of the Communion goes along with this transparent attempt to say, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
I was reminded of former Governor McGreevey of New Jersey. He would rather claim he was being persecuted for being gay than for being corrupt. And, because he played the "gay card," he became a sympathetic figure instead of being carted off to jail.
Oh, I never had any doubts that he wasn't in favor of bringing this about in the first place, but the extent of the rebellion, the extent of the offered support of the African clergy to our parishes and the failure of Rowen to fold and go along is what he failed to properly measure. I think he thought the impact would be much smaller...still bitter, but smaller.
And the new bishop of N California has been divorced twice and married three times - now to a divorced woman. All this did not raise any eyebrows.
The laxness on divorce is deplorable, and I am serious. Among other things, it gives the pink mafia a club to weapon. "Oh, if you are against gay sex then you must be against divorce as well." I reply that yes, I am.
The New Testament is clear on divorce. Of course it's not easy to follow the teaching - I've felt so angry at my wife that I wanted a divorce, but it's not really the answer.
Far too many Christians find ways to rationalize divorce. I think the worst one is "God wants me to be happy!" No!!! God wants to save you.
It's painful and I don't know what the answer is to bad marriages. Maybe it lies in prayer.
I have to disagree with that assessment. I think Griswold had a very good handle on the likely reactions, which is precisely why he became frantic when the resolution failed yesterday.
OTOH, I think he certainly did "fail to properly measure" the political environment at the Convention, not to mention the recklessness of those who voted down the resolution. (Note that both lay and clergy voted it down convincingly.)
What it tells me is that Frank's balancing act is probably untenable in any case -- and I suspect that the new Presiding Bishop has much less interest in maintaining it anyway.
It strikes me that the rest of the Communion recognizes this, and are left having to decide whether Schori will attempt to continue the balancing act.
Rowan Williams has expressed very deep concerns about her election, and part of that has to be a prediction that she has no interest in continuing Griswold's approach. She's been pretty outspoken, and is probably closer in mindset to the folks who voted down the resolution yesterday.
My prayers will be with you. I would caution your comment about letting God handle it. When this started after the last convention, a friend, who is Episcopalian, read what their Diocese issued to me. It essentially said the same thing. There are times when God does not want us to sit by and watch , more so when the church is being abused so. Tony Evans says it well - "God can only hit a moving target". I would suggest that the men of the church should exercise the authority given to them by God and protect the church from this heresy.
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