Following the example set by his primate The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis, Bishop Azad Marshall of the Diocese of Iran has walked away from the Anglican Communion’s Standing Committee, the Church of England Newspaper reports.
In joining Anis in his walkout, Marshall also stands now on the sidelines with Uganda’s Henry Orombi, who’s all but resigned at this point.
It’s another chink in the armor of Rowan Williams. He’ll soon be sorting through plenty of issues with the Standing Committee – not only Marshall’s self-issued walking-papers, but also some odd, fringe minutiae cooked up a week ago over the validity of Connecticut’s Ian Douglas‘ credentials to serve the Committee. (The nature of that argument, if you care to trace it [we really don’t], is his having switched from “The Rev.” to “The Rt. Rev.”).
Update: Anglican Communion’s Director of Communications Jan Butter has told ENS
…that the Standing Committee members will elect a successor to Marshall at their next meeting, scheduled for July 23-27 at St. Andrew’s House in London, where the Anglican Communion Office is located.
This has us wondering: Why so quick to replace Marshall but not Anis, or are both replacements in fact on the July agenda? Moreover, how long can Orombi continue to dishonor and cripple the Standing Committee by neither attending nor resigning?