The Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Rev Gregory Cameron, who was on the committee that drew up the covenant, described the opponents as “latter-day little Englanders”. In a letter to the Church Times, he said the two groups had “turned themselves into the nearest to an ecclesiastical BNP that I have encountered.”
CLSD believes our bishop-elect to be a person of integrity and honesty, with evident gifts for gracious listening, inclusive leadership and pastoral care – three of the most urgent needs within the Diocese. We believe he will be faithful to his vows to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church.
The Telegraph reveals that the secretary general of the C of E General Synod agrees with the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. The Secretary General says, “The important thing is that if people go, they are making decisions as individuals. It is not parishes that decide to go to join the ordinariate, it is individuals. It may be all the members of one [parish, but] they can’t take the institutions, the offices, or the assets of the Church of England with them.”
The Vestry of Christ Church, Philadelphia, has discerned that to contribute to the Episcopal Assessment is to agree to and support Charles Bennison’s decision to remain as Diocesan Bishop, and we cannot do so. We encourage the vestries of the parishes in our diocese to join Christ Church in increasing support to the Program Budget [by ending] payment of the Episcopal Assessment.
The Bishop of Lewes has compared the situation of traditionalists in the Church of England to the situation faced by the UK in January 1939. He claims he made no reference to Hitler or the Nazis. As a BBC interviewer points out, he didn’t need to. On January 30, 1939, speaking before the Nazi Reichstag (Parliament), Hitler threatened Jews with annihilation.
As the Episcopal Chust is responsible for its choices, so the Archbishop of Canterbury, the various Anglican Communion structures, and the individual Anglican provinces are each responsible for their choices. If one or more of those entities chooses to “punish” or impair communion with TEC, TEC should recognize that the decision and responsibility for it belong to those who made the decision and not to TEC.
If by “Anglican theology” we mean a set of definitive texts, creeds, and historical documents that sets Anglicans apart from other Christian bodies, we will search in vain to find it. We can, however, find a wide array of theologies being done by Anglicans. And there is a difference. Noting how Anglicans do theology may prove more fruitful than detailing what Anglicans believe.