Monday, February 19, 2007

BREAKING: The Primates Meeting Communique AND Schedule

Yes, it’s finally out.

I’ll comment later.

Later: The money paragraph:

35. Our discussions have drawn us into a much more detailed response than we would have thought necessary at the beginning of our meeting. But such is the imperative laid on us to seek reconciliation in the Church of Christ, that we have been emboldened to offer a number of recommendations. We have set these out in a Schedule to this statement. We offer them to the wider Communion, and in particular to the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church in the hope that they will enable us to find a way forward together for the period leading up to the conclusion of the Covenant Process. We also hope that the provisions of this pastoral scheme will mean that no further interventions will be necessary since bishops within The Episcopal Church will themselves provide the extended episcopal ministry required.

But guess what? As of this moment, there is no schedule to be seen.

UPDATE: O. K. The Schedule’s out now. You may find it and comments galore at the link above.

INITIAL REACTION:

I think the Communique and Schedule are quite weak. I’m especially concerned that The Pastoral Council can easily be stacked against the orthodox, with PB Schori appointing two, the ABC one, and the Network ZERO.

Speaking of which, if the Communique and Schedule mention the Network, I sure missed it on my first reading. That’s a bit of a slap in the face.

But the revisionists are already unhappy. And some interpret this as taking a hard line against TEC. Ruth Gledhill is one.

And ++Rowan appears to have put the onus on the Episcopal Church: “"If in good consciences the assurances cannot be given [by TEC], it has to affect their relationship with the organs of Communion."

So I’m not sure what to think . . . except that we live in interesting times.

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