That's My Church!

The CaNN Webelf has the latest round-up of post-Tanzania reactions. Click n' scroll, because they can cover the bases ever so much better than I can.

Of particular interest in this batch, ECUSA House of Deputies president Bonnie Anderson issued a hissy-fit of a statement yesterday about the Primates' communique to the EC's House o' Bishops. If you want the full soup-to-nuts attitude of the Palie left wing in 10 short paragraphs, this is the place to go.

In response, Father Dan of Confessions of a Carioca gently but thoroughly fisks her. A sample:

[Anderson:] Our baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all people must be very carefully considered when we are being asked as Episcopalians to exclude some of our members from answering the Holy Spirit’s call to use their God-given gifts to lead faithful lives of ministry.

This statement makes all sorts of suppositions that are neither self-evident nor universally shared. They are, in fact, contested, and they are contested in good faith. The attempt to exploit our baptismal vows to shame Episcopalians who share theological and moral convictions with not only a majority of the world's Anglicans but the vast majority of the world's Christians is itself shameful. We (numbering myself with the majorities I just identified) would answer that we are not endorsing the exclusion of any who are called by God to the episcopate, but that we operate from a premise that God does not call to leadership positions in the church those who are involved in relationships that by their nature inherently fall short of God's own moral vision--a vision of which we have no proprietary knowledge, but which is revealed by God for all to see. Rather than subverting our promise to "seek and serve Christ in all people," then, we are being true to our promise to remain faithful to "the apostles' teaching and fellowship."

Our promise to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of all people binds us together.

I would respectfully disagree. It is our being "in Christ" (per St Paul) that binds us together.

The Episcopal Church has declared repeatedly that our understanding of the Baptismal Covenant requires that we treat all persons equally regardless of their race, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disabilities, age, color, ethnic origin, or national origin.

This begs the question. To comply with the Primates' request would not cause the violation of any of the non-discrimination canons. The Primates are not asking the HOB to withhold consecration of episcopal candidates who are merely of a homosexual orient. They are speaking of anyone who is living in an intimate relationship outside of marriage as the Communion understands marriage (cf. Lambeth I.10).

Go read the rest. The PHOD seems to be pretty bent at the idea of the Communion daring to dictate the spiritual beliefs of one of its member provinces instead of "really listening" to that province. I don't seem to recollect a similar statement issued in response to the ECUSA and the Diocese of Virginia releasing their legal hounds against the local secessionist parishes. Funny how that works out.