Posted on 09/18/2007 6:12:26 AM PDT by jacero10
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to hold a secret Communion service for gay clergy and their partners in London.
Dr Williams will celebrate the eucharist at St Peter’s, Eaton Square – the Church of England parish that is known as the spiritual home to some of the country’s most liberal and wealthy Anglican elite. There he will give an address titled “Present realities and future possibilities for lesbians and gay men in the Church”.
The event has been organised under Chatham House rules, which prevent any disclosure of the discussions. The event will take place at 10am on November 29. A list of the names of those who will be present will be seen only by Dr Williams. It will be shredded afterwards.
Among those attending will be the convenor, Chris Newlands, the chaplain to the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Rev John Gladwin. Also present will be the Vicar of St Peter’s, the Rev Nicholas Papadopulos, and the former chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev David Stancliffe.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
The majority of his flock agree with St. Paul's position on the arsenokoitai, but he is answerable to the UK Parliament more than he is answerable to his flock - that's the essence of Erastianism.
I suppose it’s too much to hope that Her Britannic Majesty in her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England might step in and insist on the traditional moral teachings of the church being upheld. The British monarch does still claim the title Defensor Fidei (oddly given to Henry VIII by the Pope of Rome for an anti-Lutheran tract he wrote before he decide he needed to adopt the above mentioned title to ensure the availability of easy annulments.)
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Great question. I suppose that she wont do anything publicly. Britain is on the verge of constitutional crisis along two axes. Your suggestion would strain both. The Brits love their royals as long as they stay on the celebrity page and off the news. Meanwhile the pressures are mounting for disestablishment of the CofE. Already the new Prime Minister wants nothing to do with bishop appointments. With the state pulling away from the church, it will not be long before the church is extricated from the state as well. So the Queen meddling in church matters is no solution.
Also, the word on the street is that she is not pressing for traditional Christianity but the preservation of the Communion. This is no help as the ABC is increasingly being pressured to choose sides. If he chooses sides, the communion will split. Remaining on the fence will not be an option for long.
Kinda speaks volumes that this is being done in secret. If homosexuality is really normal and not in conflict with the Bible, why should the Archbishop not be celebrating this in Trafalgar Square? Why the secrecy? Why are the homos tolerating the secrecy?
it’s hard to believe that the ABC would do anything of this nature, especially in secret. I would question the accuracy of the story.
With the state pulling away from the church, it will not be long before the church is extricated from the state as well.
Would this be a bad thing?
A secret Communion service for gay clergy and their partners....at.....St. Peter’s.
Those following things Anglican will recall that the ABC is personally a strong revisionist with several articles with his by-line in favor of gay marriage and the lot of revisionist positions. He will be quite at home at this closeted event.
Those following things Anglican will recall that the ABC is personally a strong revisionist with several articles with his by-line in favor of gay marriage and the lot of revisionist positions. He will be quite at home at this closeted event.
sorry, my cut and paste failed me somehow.
Would this be a bad thing? I dont think it would be bad, but the queen might think so. My point was to explain why I suspect she does not intervene publicly on the conservative side. 1)If she were to intervene it could destabilize the church and monarchy. 2) She would likely intervene on the side of preserving the Communion which is not really an option. The Communion WILL be significantly altered in the near future.
It purportedly was QE2 herself who quashed Jeffrey John’s bid to get a pointy hat in England. Nobody is really sure where she stands in all of this, but Prince Charles did take a pass on ECUSA and attended services at a Presbyterian church on his last visit here.
While Charles is no arbiter of what is good, right or holy, I sympathize with his choice against TEC. Owing to the historic anti-Catholicim of the royals and the British public in general (many have no clue how they feel about Jesus, but they know they hate the pope), his attendance at a Catholic church was sadly out of the question.
Well, he does turn up at Orthodox churches from time to time (and is a major donor to the Mount Athos Foundation). I guess he was giving a nod to Scotland by going Presbyterian on his last visit here.
I think the rationale for Charles avoiding any Anglican type church was to not create a scandal and to not insert the Windsors into the problems of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. At least Charles went to church.
I guess the real question now is which way will ABC Rowan go? Is he a revisionist (personally he is) or an institutionalist (his actions as ABC have been)? If he holds firm with the tradition, he will still have a Communion but he may lose his own CofE.
>>hope that Her Britannic Majesty in her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England might step in and insist on the traditional moral teachings of the church being upheld.”
She has. It’s her son, Charles that will be the challenge to the communion.
That's funny.
"Secret" to men, but not to God. Not that that's important to these functional agnostics. God has long since ceased to play a part in their lives, save for the obligatory lip service.
The Church of England, the British monarchy to which it is inextricably tied and indeed Britain itself, are all headed for the dumpster, I fear.
Yeah, it is funny. Apparently the “secret” isn’t even hidden from human eyes. Why is such a secret known to this guy over here in Indiana. Since the time and place are known, the attendance list might not long be a secret either. I am hoping that the big secret is that the ABC is going to tell the LGBTQ, etc. crowd that they should find another church. But, I fear this is unlikely. Even if he did, they will never leave. Their staying is a matter of strategy more than faith. They want the wheels of power. And, once the Church’s moral authority is gutted they’ll just go back to the gay bars to pick up a quickie.
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