I just read the news that Jesse Helms, U. S. Senator from North Carolina from 1973 t0 2003 died this Fourth of July morning at the age of 86.
He was a great and courageous American. I’m proud that I worked in his political network in the 1982 and 1984 elections. (The 1984 Helms-Hunt Senate race was the most expensive U. S. Senate campaign up to that time, by the way, and was very interesting to be in the middle of.)
I think the Lord sent a message by taking him on the Fourth of July. May he rest in peace.
Here is an interesting book review article on him.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Petition in Support of GAFCON for Anglicans Outside UK
If you are an Anglican living outside the UK, I encourage you to sign this petition in support of GAFCON and the Jerusalem Declaration.
I think Anglicans out of full communion with Canterbury may sign. But to avoid any misunderstanding, I recommend disclosing your church jurisdiction in the comment section as I did.
For residents of the UK who are members of the Church of England, your petition is here.
I think Anglicans out of full communion with Canterbury may sign. But to avoid any misunderstanding, I recommend disclosing your church jurisdiction in the comment section as I did.
For residents of the UK who are members of the Church of England, your petition is here.
FIF NA Deputation on GAFCON
More Anglo-Catholic response to GAFCON. Those from Forward in Faith North America who attended GAFCON have commented on the conference and its statement.
Although they don’t yet go so far as an explicit endorsement of the Jerusalem Declaration, they are enthusiastic and very positive about GAFCON.
I think this statement worthy of note: “Your deputation had a direct effect on the drafting of GAFCON’s Statement on the Global Anglican Future.”
So Anglo-Catholics did have a significant role in drafting the statement. Perhaps it isn’t the evangelical horror some ACs think it is.
Although they don’t yet go so far as an explicit endorsement of the Jerusalem Declaration, they are enthusiastic and very positive about GAFCON.
I think this statement worthy of note: “Your deputation had a direct effect on the drafting of GAFCON’s Statement on the Global Anglican Future.”
So Anglo-Catholics did have a significant role in drafting the statement. Perhaps it isn’t the evangelical horror some ACs think it is.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics Together?
One of my great concerns for orthodox Anglicanism is that we may lose the Anglo-Catholics. Many have already been lost to Rome. And that stream could become a flash flood if the Church of England Synod this weekend approves women bishops without structural provision for objectors. Outside of England many A-Cs look askance at GAFCON and the evangelical flavor of its statement and don’t see a good home even among conservatives.
Now, there are some Anglo-Catholics who just can’t be pleased. They would rather the One Holy and Apostolic Church meet in their apartment than to join with churches that aren’t just so. And, of course, there are those uber-Protestants who can’t be pleased either, who are allergic to incense, break out in hives at the mention of Mary, and don’t want anything to do with anything remotely Cartholick. Yes, I do sometimes get frustrated with both varieties of nit-pickers.
With those Anglo-Catholics who aren’t very eager to join with other orthodox Anglicans and with those evangelicals who wouldn’t be very sad to see them go, there is the potential to lose many, even most orthodox Anglo-Catholics to Rome and Constantinople. I would hate to see that. It would greatly impoverish Anglicanism.
But all is not gloomy. I’m encouraged by some responses to GAFCON from both evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics.
From the evangelical wing come remarkably conciliatory comments from the Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen at All Souls, London. For example:
The last two weeks have been two of the most extraordinary in my life. What we are dealing with here is not a split, but a movement possibly as significant as the Evangelical Revival, or even the Anglo-Catholic movement if you prefer, and it may bring Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics together.
Coming from someone who *understatement alert* hasn’t exactly been a great friend to Anglo-Catholics, that is quite an olive branch and is encouraging.
On the Anglo-Catholic side, I’m encouraged by the enthusiastic support of GAFCON from the Diocese of Ft. Worth. Bishop Iker quickly endorsed GAFCON. And other positive responses may be sampled here and here. From Ft. Worth, I see a recognition that GAFCON isn’t perfect but that it is very good progress and worthy of support. I also see a recognition that orthodoxy includes the orthopraxy of flexing on the details of secondary matters for the sake of orthodox Anglican unity.
Would all those who believe in “the communion of the saints” and “one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” act like it and follow their good example.
Now, there are some Anglo-Catholics who just can’t be pleased. They would rather the One Holy and Apostolic Church meet in their apartment than to join with churches that aren’t just so. And, of course, there are those uber-Protestants who can’t be pleased either, who are allergic to incense, break out in hives at the mention of Mary, and don’t want anything to do with anything remotely Cartholick. Yes, I do sometimes get frustrated with both varieties of nit-pickers.
With those Anglo-Catholics who aren’t very eager to join with other orthodox Anglicans and with those evangelicals who wouldn’t be very sad to see them go, there is the potential to lose many, even most orthodox Anglo-Catholics to Rome and Constantinople. I would hate to see that. It would greatly impoverish Anglicanism.
But all is not gloomy. I’m encouraged by some responses to GAFCON from both evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics.
From the evangelical wing come remarkably conciliatory comments from the Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen at All Souls, London. For example:
The last two weeks have been two of the most extraordinary in my life. What we are dealing with here is not a split, but a movement possibly as significant as the Evangelical Revival, or even the Anglo-Catholic movement if you prefer, and it may bring Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics together.
Coming from someone who *understatement alert* hasn’t exactly been a great friend to Anglo-Catholics, that is quite an olive branch and is encouraging.
On the Anglo-Catholic side, I’m encouraged by the enthusiastic support of GAFCON from the Diocese of Ft. Worth. Bishop Iker quickly endorsed GAFCON. And other positive responses may be sampled here and here. From Ft. Worth, I see a recognition that GAFCON isn’t perfect but that it is very good progress and worthy of support. I also see a recognition that orthodoxy includes the orthopraxy of flexing on the details of secondary matters for the sake of orthodox Anglican unity.
Would all those who believe in “the communion of the saints” and “one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” act like it and follow their good example.
The Dangers of Auto-Replace
Those of you who rely on auto-replace in your word processing, beware. The consequences can be embarrassing . . . and hilarious.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
I have my turn with Rowan Williams’ Response to GAFCON.
I’m hesitant to give yet another response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to GAFCON. But you know how I am when provoked. So here goes. From Dr. Williams:
The Final Statement from the GAFCON meeting in Jordan and Jerusalem contains much that is positive and encouraging about the priorities of those who met for prayer and pilgrimage in the last week. The ‘tenets of orthodoxy’ spelled out in the document will be acceptable to and shared by the vast majority of Anglicans in every province, even if there may be differences of emphasis and perspective on some issues. I agree that the Communion needs to be united in its commitments on these matters, and I have no doubt that the Lambeth Conference will wish to affirm all these positive aspects of GAFCON’s deliberations. Despite the claims of some, the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and the absolute imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion.
.
.
.
That last sentence is so absurd, I’m at a loss for words. How can he write something so utterly divorced from reality? I think one has to receive an Oxbridge education to be able to do that.
However, GAFCON’s proposals for the way ahead are problematic in all sorts of ways, and I urge those who have outlined these to think very carefully about the risks entailed.
A ‘Primates’ Council’ which consists only of a self-selected group from among the Primates of the Communion will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion.
But heretic bishops, about which you have done NOTHING, do pass?
And any claim to be free to operate across provincial boundaries is fraught with difficulties, both theological and practical – theological because of our historic commitments to mutual recognition of ministries in the Communion, practical because of the obvious strain of responsibly exercising episcopal or primatial authority across enormous geographical and cultural divides.
So geography is more important than orthodoxy? To you it apparently is.
Two questions arise at once about what has been proposed. By what authority are Primates deemed acceptable or unacceptable members of any new primatial council? And how is effective discipline to be maintained in a situation of overlapping and competing jurisdictions?
Sorry, Dr. Williams, but after inviting the unrepentant consecrators of Gene Robinson to Lambeth, you are in no position to lecture anyone about church discipline.
No-one should for a moment impute selfish or malicious motives to those who have offered pastoral oversight to congregations in other provinces; these actions, however we judge them, arise from pastoral and spiritual concern.
But . . .
But one question has repeatedly been raised which is now becoming very serious: how is a bishop or primate in another continent able to discriminate effectively between a genuine crisis of pastoral relationship and theological integrity, and a situation where there are underlying non-theological motivations at work? We have seen instances of intervention in dioceses whose leadership is unquestionably orthodox simply because of local difficulties of a personal and administrative nature. We have also seen instances of clergy disciplined for scandalous behaviour in one jurisdiction accepted in another, apparently without due process. Some other Christian churches have unhappy experience of this problem and it needs to be addressed honestly.
O. K., now this is just playing dirty – dredging up supposed scandals without using names so the targets can’t defend themselves. I’m sure someone could dredge up plenty of scandals and such in the Church of England. The point of such exercises in mudslinging is . . . . ?
It is not enough to dismiss the existing structures of the Communion. If they are not working effectively, the challenge is to renew them rather than to improvise solutions that may seem to be effective for some in the short term but will continue to create more problems than they solve. This challenge is one of the most significant focuses for the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. One of its major stated aims is to restore and deepen confidence in our Anglican identity. And this task will require all who care as deeply as the authors of the statement say they do about the future of Anglicanism to play their part.
They HAVE done their part and more. And you, sir, have been obstructing them every step of the way. The biggest reason the existing structures of the Communion are not working effectively is YOU.
The language of ‘colonialism’ has been freely used of existing patterns. No-one is likely to look back with complacency to the colonial legacy. But emerging from the legacy of colonialism must mean a new co-operation of equals, not a simple reversal of power. If those who speak for GAFCON are willing to share in a genuine renewal of all our patterns of reflection and decision-making in the Communion, they are welcome, especially in the shaping of an effective Covenant for our future together.
Again, you tell them to work for reform while you are the biggest roadblock to it.
I believe that it is wrong to assume we are now so far apart that all those outside the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel.
That is a straw man. I haven’t heard ANYONE saying that.
This is not the case; it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focused Anglicans in every province. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound. And they need to be challenged in the name of the respect and patience we owe to each other in Jesus Christ.
I have in the past quoted to some in the Communion who would call themselves radical the words of the Apostle in I Cor.11.33: ‘wait for one another’. I would say the same to those in whose name this statement has been issued. An impatience at all costs to clear the Lord’s field of the weeds that may appear among the shoots of true life (Matt.13.29) will put at risk our clarity and effectiveness in communicating just those evangelical and catholic truths which the GAFCON statement presents.
Oh. So we should keep on waiting while you keep on obstructing and dithering. We’ve played that game.
Game over.
The Final Statement from the GAFCON meeting in Jordan and Jerusalem contains much that is positive and encouraging about the priorities of those who met for prayer and pilgrimage in the last week. The ‘tenets of orthodoxy’ spelled out in the document will be acceptable to and shared by the vast majority of Anglicans in every province, even if there may be differences of emphasis and perspective on some issues. I agree that the Communion needs to be united in its commitments on these matters, and I have no doubt that the Lambeth Conference will wish to affirm all these positive aspects of GAFCON’s deliberations. Despite the claims of some, the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and the absolute imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion.
.
.
.
That last sentence is so absurd, I’m at a loss for words. How can he write something so utterly divorced from reality? I think one has to receive an Oxbridge education to be able to do that.
However, GAFCON’s proposals for the way ahead are problematic in all sorts of ways, and I urge those who have outlined these to think very carefully about the risks entailed.
A ‘Primates’ Council’ which consists only of a self-selected group from among the Primates of the Communion will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion.
But heretic bishops, about which you have done NOTHING, do pass?
And any claim to be free to operate across provincial boundaries is fraught with difficulties, both theological and practical – theological because of our historic commitments to mutual recognition of ministries in the Communion, practical because of the obvious strain of responsibly exercising episcopal or primatial authority across enormous geographical and cultural divides.
So geography is more important than orthodoxy? To you it apparently is.
Two questions arise at once about what has been proposed. By what authority are Primates deemed acceptable or unacceptable members of any new primatial council? And how is effective discipline to be maintained in a situation of overlapping and competing jurisdictions?
Sorry, Dr. Williams, but after inviting the unrepentant consecrators of Gene Robinson to Lambeth, you are in no position to lecture anyone about church discipline.
No-one should for a moment impute selfish or malicious motives to those who have offered pastoral oversight to congregations in other provinces; these actions, however we judge them, arise from pastoral and spiritual concern.
But . . .
But one question has repeatedly been raised which is now becoming very serious: how is a bishop or primate in another continent able to discriminate effectively between a genuine crisis of pastoral relationship and theological integrity, and a situation where there are underlying non-theological motivations at work? We have seen instances of intervention in dioceses whose leadership is unquestionably orthodox simply because of local difficulties of a personal and administrative nature. We have also seen instances of clergy disciplined for scandalous behaviour in one jurisdiction accepted in another, apparently without due process. Some other Christian churches have unhappy experience of this problem and it needs to be addressed honestly.
O. K., now this is just playing dirty – dredging up supposed scandals without using names so the targets can’t defend themselves. I’m sure someone could dredge up plenty of scandals and such in the Church of England. The point of such exercises in mudslinging is . . . . ?
It is not enough to dismiss the existing structures of the Communion. If they are not working effectively, the challenge is to renew them rather than to improvise solutions that may seem to be effective for some in the short term but will continue to create more problems than they solve. This challenge is one of the most significant focuses for the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. One of its major stated aims is to restore and deepen confidence in our Anglican identity. And this task will require all who care as deeply as the authors of the statement say they do about the future of Anglicanism to play their part.
They HAVE done their part and more. And you, sir, have been obstructing them every step of the way. The biggest reason the existing structures of the Communion are not working effectively is YOU.
The language of ‘colonialism’ has been freely used of existing patterns. No-one is likely to look back with complacency to the colonial legacy. But emerging from the legacy of colonialism must mean a new co-operation of equals, not a simple reversal of power. If those who speak for GAFCON are willing to share in a genuine renewal of all our patterns of reflection and decision-making in the Communion, they are welcome, especially in the shaping of an effective Covenant for our future together.
Again, you tell them to work for reform while you are the biggest roadblock to it.
I believe that it is wrong to assume we are now so far apart that all those outside the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel.
That is a straw man. I haven’t heard ANYONE saying that.
This is not the case; it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focused Anglicans in every province. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound. And they need to be challenged in the name of the respect and patience we owe to each other in Jesus Christ.
I have in the past quoted to some in the Communion who would call themselves radical the words of the Apostle in I Cor.11.33: ‘wait for one another’. I would say the same to those in whose name this statement has been issued. An impatience at all costs to clear the Lord’s field of the weeds that may appear among the shoots of true life (Matt.13.29) will put at risk our clarity and effectiveness in communicating just those evangelical and catholic truths which the GAFCON statement presents.
Oh. So we should keep on waiting while you keep on obstructing and dithering. We’ve played that game.
Game over.
Times: Over 1300 Clergy Tell Canterbury and York They May Leave CofE Over Women Bishops
The Times reports that over 1300 clergy have written the Archbishops of Canterbury and York saying they may leave the Church of England if the Synod this weekend allows women bishops without also setting up adequate provision for objecting traditionalists.
Here is a pdf of the letter and its signatories. Eleven serving bishops are among them. I also see my friends from Pusey House.
I hope the enormity of this immanent loss to the Church of England prompts the Synod this weekend to pull back from the madness of pushing through women bishops without adequate provision for those who can not accept their ministry. If the Church of England pushes on in its current direction, it will rip out the heart of English Anglo-Catholicism and throw it away.
I don’t think the Church of England is that mad just yet. We shall see.
Here is a pdf of the letter and its signatories. Eleven serving bishops are among them. I also see my friends from Pusey House.
I hope the enormity of this immanent loss to the Church of England prompts the Synod this weekend to pull back from the madness of pushing through women bishops without adequate provision for those who can not accept their ministry. If the Church of England pushes on in its current direction, it will rip out the heart of English Anglo-Catholicism and throw it away.
I don’t think the Church of England is that mad just yet. We shall see.
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