++Greg Venables steps into the gap for Recife.

I haven’t posted about it here, but one of the more blatant liberal purges in the Anglican Communion has been the Primate of Brazil’s defrocking of the Bishop of Recife and most of the clergy in that orthodox diocese.

By the way, a fair question to ask is why does it seem so much easier to defrock the orthodox than to defrock heretics in the Anglican Communion? But I digress.

There have been pleas for relief from this action to both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Panel of Reference. The response has been little more than silence.

So now the Primate of the Southern Cone, Greg Venables, is stepping into the gap and recognizing the ministry of the good bishop and clergy of Recife.

Read ++Venable’s letter. Having met him and heard him speak at the REC/APA Council, I can tell you he is a very English man who chooses his words carefully and well. Keep that in mind as you read his letter, and you will see just how pointed it is.

I find it particularly interesting the words he chooses in noting “the extremely slow pace at which the Panel of Reference is operating.” I also suspect his choice of the modifier “adequately” in his money sentence is not a trivial one:

To that end, after consultation with other Primates, I am issuing this statement of support to continue to recognize these ordinations and ministries, and provide a special status of extra-provincial recognition by my office as Primate of the Southern Cone until such time as the Panel of Reference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Anglican Communion has, in some way, adequately addressed this crisis.

My translation: “As long as the Panel of Reference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Anglican Communion doesn’t adequately provide for the diocese of Recife, I will.”

God bless ++Greg Venables!