Strife Inside the Anglican Church
On matters of faith, is compromise possible?
Like the Church of England from which it descends, the 77 million-member Anglican Communion has long been known for containing diverse and seemingly incompatible views on faith and practice. If sometimes mocked as mushy or spineless, that broad tolerance has allowed Catholic and Protestant tendencies to coexist for centuries. But can the Anglican middle way still work for a global federation of 44 national and regional churches—including the Episcopal Church in the United States—now being pulled apart, collectively and individually, by bitter debates over homosexuality, church authority, and the interpretation of Scripture?
That was the question that shadowed the recently concluded Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops in Canterbury, England. And none had given the question more thought than the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the current archbishop of Canterbury and head of the communion. For Williams, appointed by the British government in 2002, a further question was whether this year's meeting could begin to put together what the last Lambeth Conference had begun to pull apart.
That openly rancorous gathering, Lambeth '98, passed resolutions that denounced the practice of homosexuality, frowned on the blessing of same-sex unions, and discouraged the ordination of any openly gay or lesbian clergy. Seen as a triumph of the more conservative voices of the communion, many hailing from African provinces that now boast the world's largest Anglican followings, the resolutions were directly challenged when Gene Robinson, an openly gay clergyman, was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003. Yet if the numerically small but wealthy U.S. Episcopal church (membership: 2.2 million) had clearly ignored the communion's resolutions, it was not at all clear what kind of action, if any, could be taken to bring it into line.
Conservative protest. Williams, though a liberal himself, joined other primates in appealing to U.S. bishops to reconsider their actions. But when the U.S. bishops issued only vague assurances about refraining from further provocations—assurances that many say will eventually be forgotten—conservatives stepped up their protests. Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria and other leaders from provinces in the "global South" declared that they could no longer remain in fellowship with parts of the communion that ignored "orthodox" teaching and Scripture. And many conservatives in the U.S. and other "global North" churches led their congregations out of their local dioceses and reorganized them under foreign jurisdictions. Today, there are 500 to 600 North American congregations in the Common Cause Partnership, a loose affiliation of nine smaller Anglican breakaway groups.
Prompting talk of schism, conservatives held their own conference in Jerusalem only a couple of weeks before Lambeth opened. Attended by over 1,100 clergy and laypeople (including some 300 bishops and archbishops), the Global Anglican Future Conference resolved that its members would remain within the communion but continue to oppose the spread of what they called the "false" Gospel. Outlining 14 tenets of orthodoxy, the Jerusalem statement also proposed a new structure—a Primates' Council consisting, presumably, of leaders of the more conservative provinces—with the authority to create alternative provinces in places where existing jurisdictions failed to follow the "true" Gospel. Rather than a schism, GAFCON looked to some like the blueprint for an internal coup. "The Anglican Communion has from its beginning experienced groups who decided they can no longer be part of it," says the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. "What is challenging at the moment is that some groups have decided they can depart and yet retain the benefits of being part of the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada, and to us that is a non sequitur."
Yet it was against the direct challenge of GAFCON that Lambeth organizers saw their best-laid plans put to the test. Replacing large meetings and potentially divisive resolutions with small-group meetings and tentative reflection papers, Williams and his conference design team hoped to foster stronger relationships among the gathered bishops. Many critics called it an attempt to avoid controversy, a charge that one design team member, the Rev. Ian Douglas, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., quickly dismissed. "The hot-button issues are being addressed," Douglas said. "Anyone would be hard pressed to say we are not engaging, in face-to-face encounters instead of head-to-head debates." And Jefferts Schori hailed the format for helping the assembled bishops to recover "a deeper sense of respect" for the variety of ways in which Anglicans have traditionally read Scripture.
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Reader Comments
Same Sun Same Song
Geez,where do i begin,clergymen dudes crack me up.O.K. going back to the bible and that great passage-Nothing new under the sun.In Jesus`s day there were,if i`m not mistaken, at least two sects of jews,saducedes and pharacedes(don`t know if spelling it right).But anyway, they arguing over something or another in the LAW,and Jesus came along and told them something to the affect, that you know you guys are suppose to be leading the people and here you are arguing among yourselves.How are the people,whom i have intrusted into your hands are to have trust in you? Here we are some thousands of years later, and the same old song is playing.Nothing new under the sun.
The Oldest Catholic Church Is Located In Baltimore. The One and only issue in this election is: Whether The U. S. Naval Academy should remain in Annapolis, Maryland?
By: Jordan C. Fan, Prophet Of Environment
The whole American election boils down to just one (1) and Battle Ground State = Armageddon (literary) = Maryland State.
The are only four possibilites:
(1) Obama got elected. Maryland vote for Obama. Naval Academy stay in Maryland.
(2) McCai got elected. Marylad vote for McCain. Naval Academy stay in Maryland.
(3) Obama got elected. Maryland vote against Obama. Naval Academy stay in Maryland. It not feasible for Obama to relocate the Academy because it generate income to the state of Maryland. Many Black live in Maryland. The only thing Obama can do is to send in his secret police and get rid of his Black traitors.
(4) McCain got elected. Maryland vote against McCain. McCain relocates the Naval Academy. The problem is Arizon is the most arrid or driest place in the U. S. The entire state is a desert and Grand Canyon. How can a Naval Academy locate in a place with no water? So during this election McCain can campaign by saying if him was elected and Maryland vote against him then he will relocate to the state where there is plenty of water. So where else but the Great Lake and Illinois. McCain can also suggest other Great Lake states such as Ohio, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, or Minnesota depending on who are going to elect him. So people in Illinois will vote for McCain and Maryland will have no choice but also vote vote for McCain. Since Maryland is the Black Capital near the nation's Capital and Illinois is a Black State, if Obama loses there, then their is no way he can win this election. The main issue and prize for this election is nothing else but the Naval Academy in Maryland.
The One and only issue in this election is: Whether The U. S. Naval Academy should remain in Annapolis, Maryland?
The whole American election boils down to just one (1) and only one:
Battle Ground State = Armageddon (literary) = Maryland State.
An important presidential election record will be broken this year, it is not the first time a woman or Black person will be elected to the Executive office. We will be seeing the greatest American tragedy unfolding right before our eyes. It is one of the rare occasions when a native son will not be elected by his own state. To make it worse, such native son is the greatest hero in an area which has always been the pride and joy of that state. Correct me if I am wrong. I have hardly heard any one at the Repulican Convention or during their campaign mentioned the Annapolis Naval Academy, not even McCain himself. Being born in Panama to a naval family and travel all over this country and the world, McCain really does not have a true home. Arizona is a state he used for election to Congress which he has not visited frequently. The Navy Academy is the only place McCain can really call his home in which he had spent the happiest time of his college life with his navy friends. Maryland should welcome her naval son with open arms and elect him as president.
But, no! Maryland have 1.6 million Black or approximately 30 % of the state's population making it the "Black Capital" near of the real Capital of the nation. It was 36 % to 61% (almost double) in favor of Obama over Hillary during the primary here. All media and people in Maryland have expressed the sad fact that little or no Marylanders will vote for McCain. I personally don't like McCain very much but my conscience forced me to campaign for him. This episode is not only the greatest disgrace of all Americans but also of that of the human race. It is an unforgivable sin committed by all Marylanders especially its Black racists. People will ashame to live in Maryland. I am making suggestion to our Government to relocate its Naval Academy out of Maryland. The true and only battle ground states, for this election, are not Ohio, Florida or Michigan but Maryland. The decision is not who is going to become president? But whether God had made a mistake in creating man?
With this letter I have ended this election right here and now! All of you should know that it will be impossible for Obama to win without Maryland.
Again, the whole American election boils down to just one (1) and only one:
Battle Ground State = Armageddon (literary) = Maryland State.
The One and only issue in this election is: Whether The U. S. Naval Academy should remain in Annapolis, Maryland.
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