Susan Russell reports on the final plenaries given at last weekend’s conference on the proposed Anglican Covenant hosted by General Theological Seminary. On Ian Douglas’
More helpful language from Bishop Tom Wright, who will be in the United States selling books before you know it: Please note, I do not
The letters Bishop Wright mentioned in his speech on Saturday are not in the mail.
Jenny Te Paa: “It is becoming increasingly difficult for us ordinary Anglicans to take seriously even the very good rhetoric of Covenant when the very real reality of some very bad leadership behavior is still so pervasive, thus making the whole exercise so utterly contradictory and inexcusably, unjustifiably expensive.”
Dr. Jenny Te Paa, a Maori theologian, presented the second keynote at the Anglican Communion Conference this week at General Theological seminary. The Rev. Susan Russell, blogging at the event, made an interesting observation about what she saw unfold between Te Paa and Archbishop Drexel Gomez as a result of Te Paa’s critique of the covenant process.
After a meeting in Pretoria, bishops from Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia urged regional leaders to put pressure on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to accept disputed poll results.
The Anglican Archbishop of Perth, the Most Reverend Roger Herft, says he hopes the appointment will help overcome resistance to the elevation of women from some parts of the church. Archbishop Herft says the move will refresh the church. “The church has brought about diminishment to women in the world and in the church,” he said.
In perhaps the most pointed comment of the evening, Leonel Abaroa Boloña, a student at Trinity College, Toronto, stated that Archbishop Gomez had preached at the consecration of two bishops whose consecration was expressly for the purpose of pastoral care to Anglicans in America disaffected by the Episcopal Church’s stand toward homosexuality. Boloña argued that this was inconsistent with the stance of the Windsor Report and the Anglican Covenant.
Dale Rye reflects on the recent court ruling in the dispute between the Anglican District of Virginia and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and says it is a perfect example of why “hard cases make bad law” and that, if the ruling stands, it would be a disaster for every church and religious society.
Affirming Catholicism comments on the narrow defeat in the Church of Wales of a proposal to allow women bishops in that Church, saying it exposes a deep seated problem that also exists in the Church of England.