In Communion with Canterbury or the Church Commisioners

The Church of England now has its first female Bishop.  This is a source of great joy for most of its members and of much grief for a significant minority.  The major kerfuffle has oddly not been over the consecration of Libby Lane but over the forthcoming consecration of Philip North as Bishop of Burnley.  The proposed service has the unusual innovation of the consecration not being performed by the relevant Metropolitan (in this case the Archbishop of York) but by Bishops to whom he has delegated the task. While this is absolutely York's prerogative, it is being seen as enshrining a "theology of taint" in as much as only bishops opposed to the ordination of women will actually lay hands on Philip North.

As someone who was Fulham Jurisdiction/FiF at one point, I have to say this is a description of conservative Anglo-Catholic theology I don't recognise. The objection was never phrased in terms of taint but of broken communion. Stuff about "taint" so prevalent on "liberal" websites is as far as I can see fairly hysterical and mainly American.  I think the proposed arrangements are deeply peculiar and un-catholic.  Flying bishops (Provincial Episcopal Visitors) have been ordained in the C of E before but the Archbishop in whose Province they will serve always led the laying on of hands.  This new "hands off" approach seems to solidify the reality of there being a Church within a Church that has been hinted about for years but never before explicitly acknowledged.  References within Anglo-Catholic to things like "the See of Ebbsfleet" or "Apostolic Districts" have built his up, ignoring the legal position of the PEV's as Suffragans of the Archbishop.  That I find un-catholic and a bad idea.  If a portion of the Church is allowed to function with a totally parallel structure of bishops deeply disconnected from their metropolitan, then it is not so much being in communion with Canterbury as being in Communion with the Church Commissioners who pay stipend and pensions.  It's not so much ecclesial communion as administrative communion. And that is a sad state of affairs.

It also begs the question of who are we as Scottish Episcopalians in Communion with in England? The whole C of E or just most of it?

The Word of the Lord?

There are moments when Lectionaries are a pain.  Today I had to wallop on about sodomites and catamites before breakfast.  Of course, St Paul had a far bigger target in his sights in this passage in 1 Corinthians (ch 6 v 1-11) - litigious Christian ratbags who went to the secular courts to resolve internal community/church arguments.  Hm!  ACNA should learn to read the WHOLE passage not just verse 9 !!  Verses 6-8 rather suggest  that suing TEC for buildings is quite contrary to the plain, literal sense of scripture.  I am so glad I am no longer a conservative!

My little noddle unearthed some ancient thoughts which may be worth sharing with the world. Regarding the Inclusive Language debate, here's some John Scotus Erigena from his De Predestinatione Liber:

"Nothing can be said worthily about God.  hardly a single noun, verb or any other part of speech can be used appropriately of God, in the strict sense....And yet ever since the Fall, poverty stricken human reason has been labouring with these words, these visible signs to suggest and give some sort of hint of the sublime richness of the Creator."

Trust the Irish, eh!  And with regard to Dawkins, Hawking and all them visible atheists, here's a wee nip of Richard of St Victor:

"The problem of our times is the loud mouthed, so-called philosophers who are trying to make a name for themselves by thinking up fictional speculations and searching for novelties." (from Benjamin Maior).

I might take Matthew Paris's advice from the Saturday Times and look at Butler's Analogy which he finds more congenial than either Dawkins or the Bibilical conservative.

A case of misplaced priorities

From Ruth Gledhill's blog, commenting on the Archbishop's response to the episcopal election in Los Angeles.

"Critics are understandably questioning why speak out on this so forcefully, while showing such restraint on Uganda. It is probably in vain to point out that one concerns a matter of national governance, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury has no authority to speak, and the other a matter of Anglican ecclesial polity, in which he is perfectly justified in taking a stand.

The fact is, whatever the ecclesiological jurisprudence, it looks bad. Very bad indeed. Changing Attitude does a good job of explaining why.

I wish I could do something, write something, to help the Archbishop get out of this mess.

But it feels impossible. His difficulties I fear are truly manifold. "

RG is one of Britain's best and most highly regarded Religious Affairs correspondents and is pretty friendly towards Rowan Williams on the whole. She is trying (gamely) to offer some sort of defence of his Sunday morning Press statement. Her use of the words"in vain" reveal her understanding that this is a pretty feeble defence, but it's the best she can do with the scanty material she has. The idea that the ABC cannot comment on issues of National Governance is simply not credible. The "Faith in the City" report made clear comment on such issues many years ago.

No, Rowan has erred hugely in reacting so swiftly and clearly: the horrid contrast with with his silence towards the Bahati Bill and the Church of Uganda's early support of it is dreadful. Nothing in the American actions threatens hundreds, thousands of lives, yet it is promptly condemned. When even your friends, who are happy to pop friendly articles into the public domain reassuring everyone that you really are appalled (courtesy of a good but unattributable source), feel that you have put yourself publicly into a position that looks utterly compromised, then truly you are in deep doo-doo. The current occupant of Lambeth Palace has, I fear fatally, lost all moral credibility in Anglican Communion matters. The Covenant is dead in the water. If one of the key instruments of Communion (the ABC) cannot be trusted to be impartial, but will always been seen as siding with one grouping even when it is manifestly utterly morally wrong, then no Province from the other side of the debate will sensibly submit themselves to a issue resolution process that is intrinsically skewed against their freedom and viewpoint.

In trying to save the Communion, Rowan has lost it. Which is tragic, given that he is, without doubt, a good and holy man.

Tasty Tips!

A tip if you feel like a light meal: jazz up the scrambled eggs! I wasn't especially hungry tonight, so I thought that scrambled eggs on toast with a little bacon would do nicely. But scrambled eggs are (no disrespect) bland and horridly Vicarage before bedtime-ish. So some garlic was shot into the mix and the late discovery of a small daud (a technical measurement in Scottish cooking - The Ed) of Roule in a Tupperware led to positively Gallic scrambled ouefs for supper. Vive la cuisine! Well, I recall reading about something similar in a Lionel Blue recipe book, so I'll tip a hat to the good Rabbi! Obviously, he skipped the bacon!

Incidentally, the Yanks really have decided the Moratorium is over: in the Episcopal elections in Minnesota and LA the slates include LGBT candidates. Of course, the respective electorates may decide to desist from electing those candidates (or simply and reasonably decide that the individuals nominated are not the best available candidates for the post) and delay the inevitable rumpus in the Anglican Communion. But part of me hopes not. That'll be the "lets get this sorted once and for all" bit. Once we know who we're in a relationship with vis a vis the Anglican Communion we can simply get on with it and let the assorted factions play in the sand if they so wish or get on with being the Body of Christ they are called to be. I hate the thought of split and division, but this really has gone on quite long enough and the time to decide where we are going (US or Lagos) is approaching. I'll pick the one I don't need jags to go to thanks!