Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi apparently did not say what he meant in his recent letter to his people. Now his provincial secretary, The Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, has “clarified” the situation. (Hat tip to Kendall.)
Orombi seems to be trying to extricate himself from the mess he made by offering unconvincing reasons for refusing to “sit” with our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori at the upcoming Primates meeting in February. But this time, he is even less convincing and appears even more desperate, for he has decided to fall back on a unique interpretation of the Primates statement from their meeting at Dromantine.
In that statement, the Primates said: “we request that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference.”
The secretary writes:
The actual words of the Primates’ 2005 Communiqué from their meeting in Dromantine notwithstanding, our understanding of the decision of the Primates was captured in Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi’s press release following that meeting: “In our Ireland meeting the Primates suspended the Episcopal Church of America and the Canadian Church until they repent.” Therefore, to sit with the new Primate of ECUSA when they clearly have not repented is to surrender commitment and follow-through on a previous decision.
This clarification reminds me of that old George Carlin routine in which he is making fun of the expression “in your own words.”
“In your own words?” Carlin says. “You mean you have your own words? I have to use the same words as everybody else.”
Archbishop Orombi, apparently has his very own words, and, as archbishop, I guess, he gets to define for himself what they mean.