2 October 2014 A.D. Got News? Lambeth 2018 Cancellation a Shocker Except in North America
2
October 2014 A.D. Got News?
Lambeth 2018 Cancellation a Shocker Except in North America
Mattingly, Terry. “Got news?
Shocker in Anglican Communion is news, other than in North America.” Get Religion. 2 Oct 2014. http://getreligion.squarespace.com/getreligion/2014/10/2/got-news-shocker-in-anglican-communion-is-news-other-than-in-north-america. Accessed 2 Oct 2014.
Terry MattinglyGot news? Shocker in Anglican Communion is news, other than in North America
There is this old
saying that wits have long used to describe life in the modern Anglican
Communion: "The Africans pray, the Americans pay and the British write the
resolutions." Readers will also see variations
on that final clause such as, "the British make/set (all) the
rules."
But you get the point.
Of course, the archbishop of Canterbury is also supposed to be the person – as
the first among equals – who gets to call the most important meetings (while
setting the rules for what goes on).
But what if (a) the
Americans were to face an incredible budget crunch, in an age of
imploding membership demographics, and (b) the
Africans were no longer willing to pray (or more importantly, share the
Sacraments) with Western progressives who have an evolving view of key elements
of the Creed and centuries of Christian moral theology?
At that point, there
could be a big – actually, "historic" is the operative word – story
in the world's third largest Christian communion. Here is Godbeat
veteran Ruth Gledhill, writing at ChristianToday.com:
The
next Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly gathering of more than 600 Anglican
bishops from around the world, is in jeopardy because of the row over
homosexuality that is dividing the Church.
The
Anglican Communion, the body that represents the episcopal leadership of
millions of Anglicans worldwide led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin
Welby, is split by the battle between its conservative and liberal wings over
gay relationships and gay ordination.
The
last meeting in Canterbury in 2008 was marred by boycotts by African and other
Global South bishops who objected to the consecration of the openly gay bishop
Gene Robinson in the United States. Other bishops and archbishops who did
attend however were incensed that Bishop Gene was not himself invited out of an
attempt to appease the conservative wing.
Of course there is way
more to this war than battles over gay rights (see
GetReligion posts on "Anglican Timeline"
syndrome), but it is almost always the marriage-and-sex angle that grabs the
mainstream headlines.
The origin of this
report is somewhat awkward for your GetReligionistas, since the news reached
the mainstream press through the work of our
Media Project colleague, the Rev. George Conger – acting
in his long-standing role as a commentator on Anglican news and trends.
The news was, in a
way, hiding in plain sight in recent remarks – posted online
by Episcopal News Service – made by U.S. Presiding Bishop
Katharine Jefferts Schori. Lambeth Palace immediately denied her bombshell.
Thus, the media plot thickens.
Well, it thickens
everywhere except in the United States, where this story is getting very little
coverage. Religion News Service columnist David Gibson did, in this week's Wednesday
edition of the digital digest from that wire service,
point toward a report in The Irish Times, a short news story
that basically echoed Gledhill's work (but without a hat-tip to Conger).
Here's a key
development in Gledhill's story, one combining sexual politics and red ink. Once
again, the presiding bishop is speaking:
Whenever
the next Lambeth Conference occurs "it will have a rather different
format," she predicted. For instance, it is likely that spouses will not
attend "simply because of scale issues and regional contextual issues.
Bishops' spouses fill very different roles in different parts of the communion
and the feedback from the last one was that it did not serve the spouses
particularly well."
Removing
the popular bishops' spouses agenda would at least resolve the "issue"
of married gay bishops. The Church of England bishops along with the majority
of Anglican bishops worldwide remain resolutely opposed to allowing gay clergy
to marry, even though gay marriage is now legal in secular law in Britain and
elsewhere. In his new book the Bishop of Buckingham Alan Wilson claims that one
in ten of Church of England bishops are secretly gay. The campaigner Peter
Tatchell told Christian Today this week that he intends to out some of
these if they do not out themselves.
Will the Africans come
to Lambeth to pray? Don't count on it.
Stay tuned. And let us
know if you see reporting in mainstream American media (think New York Times) on this truly global story,
which has an obvious hook in New York City.
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