The 28 women bishops in the Anglican Communion, reviewed by Ruthie Glendhill, religion correspondent for The Times of London.
None in England.
After the review, Glendhill interviews Christina Rees, who has campaigned for the ordination of women in the Anglican Church and is now the Chairperson of WATCH (Women and the Church), about "the prospects for women bishops in the Church of England after initial analysis of the General Synod election results from 2010" indicated a shift against them:
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who can be slow to act and whom we have criticized for lack of force, rebuked Church of England clergy for complaining of persecution in England while Christians elsewhere face "terrible communal violence" and are "living daily with threats and murders."
He was referring in his ecumenical Easter letter to a group of Church of England Bishops who in a letter last week to the Sunday Telegraph asserted widespread British persecution, including "numerous dismissals of practising Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilised country.”
Jonathan Bartley of Ekklesia wrote in response to the letter to the Sunday Telegraph:
To my knowledge, even the most extreme pressure groups like Christian Concern for our Nation and the Christian Legal Centre who are stoking and reinforcing the Christian persecution complex, haven’t made the claim that there have been “numerous dismissals”. So far they have pointed to only a handful of examples where there is some alleged injustice. Rarely have this small number involved dismissal. And even where (if?) they have, upon further investigation, the claims have tended to fall apart. Indeed, in one case, it even seemed to be the intervention of Christian campaigners which brought the dismissal about, after confidential client details were given to a national newspaper. In another, CLC claimed dismissal and then reinstatement, when dismissal never actually seems to have occurred.
Williams suggested in his letter today that attention be focused instead where the need is compelling and the risk of meeting it considerable:
When St John tells us that the disciples met behind locked doors on the first Easter Day (John 20.19), he reminds us that being associated with Jesus Christ has never been easy or safe. Today this is evident in a wide variety of situations – whether in the terrible communal violence afflicting parts of Nigeria, in the butchery and intimidation of Christians in Mosul in recent weeks, in the attacks on the Coptic faithful in Egypt, or in the continuing harassment of Anglican congregations in Zimbabwe. As we mark the thirtieth anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, we acknowledge that Christians will never be safe in a world of injustice and mindless fear, because Christians will always stand, as did Archbishop Romero, for the hope of a different world, in which the powerful have to let go of privilege and rediscover themselves as servants, and the poor are lifted up into joy and liberty.
By comparison, the secure incantations to civil fear of the five prominent bishops and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, pale.
Fulcrum, a conservative British Anglican group, issued a leadership team statement Friday arguing that "the election of Mary Glasspool as bishop suffragan in the diocese of Los Angeles" is a bad-faith break by The Episcopal Church (USA) with the larger Anglican Communion.
They argued that Glasspool's election violates the terms of The Windsor Report, which was written in response to the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, noncelibate priest to be ordained as an Anglican bishop, in the Episcopal Church in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster. The report recommended a moratorium on the election of additional homosexual bishops.
Fulcrum asserts that TEC promised to maintain that moratorium:
It is important that this is not simply a matter of disagreement about biblical interpretation and sexual ethics although these are central and important. It is now very clearly also a fundamental matter of truth-telling and trust. In September 2007, at the Primates’ request and after meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, TEC bishops confirmed they would “exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion”. They made clear that “non-celibate gay and lesbian persons” were among such candidates.
As a result, Fulcrum further argues, in effect, that a break by the larger communion with TEC is required:
In fact, the situation is now such that it may be better for the Archbishop simply to state – as one of the Instruments and a focus and means of unity - that TEC as a body has rejected the Communion’s repeated appeals for restraint, made false promises, and confirmed its direction is away from Communion teaching and accountability. It has thereby rendered itself incapable of covenanting with other churches and made it unclear what it means when it claims to be in communion with the see of Canterbury and a constituent member of the Anglican Communion.
They conclude by calling for guidance from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, possibly declaring that TEC has made it clear that it has elected to ‘walk apart’ from the rest of the Anglican Communion. Or some other unstated "decisive action."
Mark Silk covers the Ugandan anti-homosexuality act.
We're still looking for Richard Land on Uganda. ERLC has a link to the Baptist Press Warren story, but thus far, that's all she wrote.
Dr. Rowan Williams
Buried in an interview with the London Telegraph is Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' first public declaration of opposition to the Ugandan gay genocide legislation. His wording implied that all members of the Anglican Communion, obviously including those in Uganda, should oppose the legislation. He stopped just short of calling out Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi.
The Telegraph's George Pitcher wrote [emphasis ours]:
"Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades,” says Dr Williams. “Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to turn pastors into informers.” He adds that the Anglican Church in Uganda opposes the death penalty but, tellingly, he notes that its archbishop, Henry Orombi, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last year, “has not taken a position on this bill”.
Williams' hand was apparently forced by the dramatically announced opposition of similarly reluctant Saddleback Community Church pastor Rick Warren (Williams interview is dated Dec. 11, shortly after Warren's statement), and a parade of other religious leader opposition, including the implicit opposition of the Vatican. Ekklesia reported that several British Christian organizations had also expressed opposition, "including Accepting Evangelicals, Changing Attitude, Courage, Ekklesia, Fulcrum and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement."
Williams became a focus of criticism when he remained silent on Uganda yet issued a sharp, immediate rebuke to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles for on Dec. 5 choosing as bishop the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, a lesbian who has been in a partnered relationship for two decades.
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took a stand against "the pending Ugandan legislation that would introduce the death penalty for people who violate portions of that country's anti-homosexuality laws," in effective contrast with Williams' silence.
The effect of growing international pressure on the legislation is still unclear. It is part of an Africa-wide slide toward repression of homosexuals, the Guardian reported today (12/13) [emphasis ours]:
There is wide support for [Ndorwa West, Uganda, MP David] Bahati's [anti-homosexuality] law which, while being an extreme piece of anti-gay legislation, is not unique. As far as gay rights are concerned, it would appear that much of Africa is going backwards. Nigeria has a similar bill waiting to reach its statute books and already allows the death penalty for homosexuality in northern states, as does Sudan. Burundi criminalised homosexuality in April this year, joining 37 other African nations where gay sex is already illegal. Egypt and Mali are creeping towards criminalization, using morality laws against same-sex couples.
. . .
He [Bahati] denied reports that international pressure might result in parts of the bill being toned down. "We are not going to yield to any international pressure – we cannot allow people to play with the future of our children and put aid into the game. We are not in the trade of values. We need mutual respect."
That is a contradiction of the earlier Bloomberg News (12/9) report that both the death penalty and life imprisonment would be dropped from the legislation.
Something significant happened during the silly yammering about gay public sex tents which San Francisco will never see erected.
The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles chose as a bishop the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, a lesbian who has been in a partnered relationship for two decades, and was rebuked by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, Williams said:
The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.
Glasspool’s selection is incomplete. She could be rejected by the U.S. bishops or standing committees. If she is rejected, Williams said, "That decision will have very important implications." He implied that her selection a threat to the "bonds" that tie 77 million Anglicans together.
A moratorium on election of gay bishops by the U.S. Episcopal Church was agreed to at the request of Anglican leaders after V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was selected six years ago as its first openly gay bishop. Glasspool is the first major departure from the moratorium since it was put aside in July.
Williams did not address whether he believes the breaking of the moratorium via Glasspool's selection is more of a threat to the Anglican Communion than the pending gay genocide legislation in Uganda. But he has chosen not to speak out publicly on the latter. He works against it privately.
Ekkleasia writes that "Despite his attempts to maintain a balance in church disputes over sexuality, Williams is likely to be accused of speaking out against the extreme on one side but not the other."
Yes, vocal regarding Glasspool. Silent regarding Uganda.
Is he not guilty in fact?
J'accuse.
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took a stand against "the pending Ugandan legislation that would introduce the death penalty for people who violate portions of that country's anti-homosexuality laws."
In a Dec. 4 statement of concern she wrote:
The Episcopal Church joins many other Christians and people of faith in urging the safeguarding of human rights everywhere. We do so in the understanding that "efforts to criminalize homosexual behavior are incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ" (General Convention 2006, Resolution D005).
This has been the repeated and vehement position of Anglican bodies, including several Lambeth Conferences. The Primates' Meeting, in the midst of severe controversy over issues of homosexuality, nevertheless noted that, as Anglicans, "we assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship" (Primates' Communiqué, Dromantine, 2005).
. . /
We urge continued prayer for those who live in fear of the implications of this kind of injustice and discrimination, and as a Church, commit ourselves anew to seek partnerships with the Church of Uganda, or any portion thereof, in serving the mission of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel is larger than any party or faction. It is only in mutual service and recognition that we will begin to mend our divisions.
. . /
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams fired back Nov. 19, telling a conference in Rome that the Roman Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a barrier to Christian unity.
Speaking at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University prior to his Saturday meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, Williams said, drawing a sharp contrast, “For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women.”
He went on to say that Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism.
Thus, he thoroughly defied one of the animating tensions which led Pope Benedict XVI to offer disaffected Anglicans a “Church within a Church” that would enable them to retain traditional Anglican practices within the Catholic faith.
Williams not only repudiated the notion that he might lead a reversal of direction in the Anglican ordination of women, he also described the pope's historic offer as little more than an “imaginative pastoral response” which contributed little to ecumenical relations between the two churches.
Along the same lines, he also said:
It does not build in any formal recognition of existing ministries or methods of independent decision-making, but remains at the level of spiritual and liturgical culture.
As such, it is an imaginative pastoral response to the needs of some; but it does not break any fresh ecclesiological ground.
Byzantine ship using Greek fire in the late 11th century: from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.
Asked at WaPo's On Faith if Pope Benedict XVI's outreach to Anglicans was "poaching" disaffected Anglicans, atheist Richard Dawkins burst into flame.
Among other things, he wrote:
Poaching? Of course it is poaching. What else could you call it? Maybe it will succeed. If estimates are right that 1,000 Anglican clergymen will take the bait (no women, of course: they will swiftly be shown the door), what could be their motive? For some it will be a deep-seated misogyny (although they'll re-label it with a mendacious euphemism of some kind, which they'll call 'an important point of theological principle'). They just can't stomach the idea of women priests. One wonders how their wives can stomach a husband whose contempt for women is so visceral that he considers them incapable even of the humble and unexacting duties of a priest.
For some, the motive will be homophobic bigotry, and a consequent dislike of the efforts of decent church leaders such as the Archbishop of Canterbury to accept those whose sexual orientation happens to deviate from majority taste. Never mind that they will be joining an institution where buggering altar boys pervades the culture.
Yes, and he was just getting his flamethrower adjusted.
Holy Smoke (Damian Thompson) billowed back from the London Telegraph, blazing:
Richard Dawkins’s latest attack on the Catholic Church is worthy of a dribbling loony on the top of a bus. He calls the Church “the greatest force for evil in the world”, “an institution where buggering altar boys pervades the culture” and describes it “dragging its skirts in the dirt and touting for business like a common pimp”. (Pimps in skirts – that’s a new one.) And all in The Washington Post.
The peg for this piece? The Pope's offer to make special arrangements for Anglicans converting to Rome, a matter I would have thought was none of Prof Dawkins's business. But I'm not going to bother to argue with any of his points, because these are the ravings of a man who appears to have lost all sense of proportion. Seriously: is there something wrong with him?
Atheist PZ Myers responded with blistering deconstruction. along the way answering Holy Smoke author Damien Thompson's question:
Why, no, Damian! What's wrong with you?
Among those muttering from the pews is New Zealand Conservative, who sees in Dawkins' response evidence that "forces of darkness are gathering" against the pope's outreach.
Lisa Fullam calls our attention to Maureen Dowd's October 24 column linking "the Vatican investigation of US women’s apostolic religious communities to the welcome extended to disgruntled Anglicans."
Dowd, who recalls well her years in Catholic elementary school, writes:
As the Vatican is trying to wall off the “brides of Christ,” Cask of Amontillado style, it is welcoming extreme-right Anglicans into the Catholic Church — the ones who are disgruntled about female priests and openly gay bishops. Il Papa is even willing to bend Rome’s most doggedly held dogma, against married priests — as long as they’re clutching the Anglicans’ Book of Common Prayer.
‘Most of the Anglicans who want to move over to the Catholic Church under this deal are people who have scorned women as priests and have scorned gay people,’ [author Kenneth] Briggs said. “The Vatican doesn’t care that these people are motivated by disdain.”
The ongoing discussion provoked at the online Catholic publication dotCommonweal is intense and worth a look.
Saturday is International Day of Climate Action. [The Rev. Sue] Sherwood's church [Good Samaritan Church in Pinellas Park, Fla.] is among thousands of religious congregations and other groups worldwide that will take part in the 350.org initiative to draw attention to climate change.
This image [Made by Annie Leibovitz] provided by the White House shows President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Malia, second from left, and Sasha, sitting for a family portrait in the Green Room of the White House, on Sept. 1, 2009.
According to the hate-crimes language in the bill, it "applies to violent acts motivated by actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of a victim."
Christian Post gives almost the same survey of opponents a slightly different twist.
Lund, Sweden - When the Taliban attacked the International Islamic University in Pakistan this week, many were shocked that militants were targeting an Islamic school. In fact, the double suicide bombers were going after a university that is at the forefront of changing the way Islamic and Western knowledge are brought together in the Muslim world.
Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the American Church "stands ready to collaborate" with the Vatican in implementing a historic new provision to receive Anglicans into the Catholic Church.
In theory there could be a lot to do.
There are over two million Episcopalians in the U.S.
But even among the most conservative, as we noted earlier, reactions to this British-led initiative have thus far been, well, cool.
Meanwhile, some of the Catholic bishops, like their sex-scandal distracted Irish peers, have sexual predation bankruptcies and like legal and other clerical predation entanglements to attend to, as U.S. Episcopalians look on, from a distance. As they have been for the quarter of a century since the scandal erupted into public view [H/T Get Religion].
Ordination as an Episcopal bishop of openly gay, non-celibate Gene Robinson, acceptance of women as priests, acceptance of same-sex unions and other issues seem unlikely to be enough to push a great many into the Roman Catholic fold.
No reunification rush in prospect.
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