Response to the Colin Slee story continue to flow in.
Kelvin Holdsworth, provost of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow keeps the blog What’s in Kelvin’s Head. He writes:
Reading through Andrew Brown’s report of Archbishop Rowan and Archbishop John Sentamu’s behaviour one can but wonder what the American Church is to make of all this. Or any of us outside England for that matter. The Archbishop has interfered in the appointment processes of Anglican bishops far across the world and far beyond the bounds of any jurisdiction that he possesses. He has misused bonds of affection. It feels as though he has betrayed those who once would have been his greatest defenders.
Whilst good people have been made to abide by discriminatory “moratoria” against the nomination of gay candidates for the Episcopate, Rowan Williams appears to behave in his own processes in ways that are being described as those of the bully. Heaven knows, the American church followed due process in electing their bishops. Don’t they have a right to think that those in the Church of England will try to do the same?
The redoubtable Savi Hensman says simply:
Recent news items have raised serious doubts about the Church of England’s commitment to equality and justice.
and concludes
If Church of Engalnd leaders continue to discriminate against even those lesbians and gays who have made considerable sacrifices out of respect for church discipline, there will be considerable damage to its credibility as a force for love and justice in the world. It will also be harder to have a reasoned debate on sexuality and related issues if senior clergy are afraid to express their views, and indeed share their experience, with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Pluralist, meanwhile, thinks it is time for both Rowan Williams and John Sentamu to either resign or be removed.
And then there is this Church Times report which makes the Archbishops’ willingness to require gay Christians to pay the price for keeping Communion conservatives happy appallingly clear:
A CHECKLIST has been drawn up that makes it virtually impossible for an openly gay person to become a bishop in the Church of England.
At the same time as the Church of Scotland was opening the door to gay ministers, the C of E’s House of Bishops met in secret to discuss, among other things, legal advice on how to continue to exclude homosexuals from the episcopate in the wake of the Equality Act 2010.