So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them), you are truly My disciples.
                 John 8:31 AMP

• A Message from Bishop David Anderson
• Why should the Communion be predisposed to endless debate and keeping the questions alive?
• 19 UK bishops respond to media's publication of Williams letters
• Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth 'is not moving to Rome'
• NJ Bishop reaffirms support of same-sex couples

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A Message from Bishop David Anderson

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

As I reflect on the strange times we live in with regard to the Church and the Anglican Communion, I am preparing for another birthday next week. I will by year's end celebrate 64 years as an Anglican, thirty-six of them in Episcopal Church Holy Orders, and almost two years as a priest and then bishop in CANA (Nigeria), outside of TEC.

As early as 1988 I saw this conflict coming, but never imagined that it would be so worldwide or so bitter. Part of my amazement and disappointment has been with the duplicity of the current Archbishop of Canterbury, saying things in private that he has to act counter to in his public role. I could sympathize with his pain, but in reality the pain is of his own making. He can either change his mind over his privately held opinions, or he can step down from the office; either way his pain will go away. The fact that he has to espouse things publicly which the Anglican Communion is on record as believing and he secretly doesn't believe, does damage to his spirit and soul.

All of this could just be his personal burden and his personal pain, except that in looking at the decisions (and the lack of decisions) that have occurred since Dr Williams became the Archbishop of Canterbury, it is not hard to see that this personal conflict is affecting his work performance. He cannot bear to really punish the American and Canadian Churches because they are very close to where he is, though he can't say so. When the Panel of Reference failed, when the decisions of Dromantine, and Dar es Salaam, and the requirements of the September deadline were not met and we wonder why....it is because he can't bring himself to take action against those that are in fact his soul mates.

In Dr Williams' response to the controversy about the letters published last week by the Times, he stated, "In the light of recent reports based on private correspondence from eight years ago..." and then goes on to say that he still accepts the Lambeth 1.10 position. Dr Williams allowed that "In the past, as a professional theologian" he had "made some contributions" to the "study" of how the church should view homosexual relationships. This might pass muster, except for two circumstances: firstly, he wrote this most recently revealed private correspondence WHILE ARCHBISHOP OF WALES, not while in an academic ivory tower. He was then an archbishop and primate of the church, sworn to hold and uphold the beliefs taught by the Communion - just as he is now. Secondly, his work product as the primus inter pares indicates that his privately held beliefs ARE impacting his decisions about the breach of faith and discipline by America and Canada. These together nullify his claim of beliefs held only as an academic or theologian.

Attendant to that is the somewhat lengthy statement from Bishop Tom Wright of Durham, et al.: "...As bishops in the Church of England, we wish to protest in the strongest possible terms at what we regard as a gross misrepresentation of the Archbishop of Canterbury." Although they put forward five points to refute the opprobrium that came to Dr Williams attendant upon the release of the private letters, their arch collapses with their lack of proper dating of his attitudes. Their third point is a rehash of the defense that this occurred long ago when he was a theologian. They quote him in saying "that there is a difference between 'thinking aloud' as a theologian and the task of a bishop (let alone an Archbishop) to uphold the church's teaching." The problem with the third point, and hence their entire argument, is that these beliefs as made clear in the private letters were not his academic years' writings, but were communicated while holding the office of the Primate of Wales. Gentlemen, Dr Williams doesn't need your defense; he needs your collective good sense to unify his personal and public beliefs in conformity with the Anglican Communion's beliefs.

May I submit, from my own position far down the ecclesial food chain, that there is no longer theological space to be an orthodox bishop of the church and privately believe that which is contrary to what the Church teaches on core doctrine and moral discipline. To do so becomes, in the most benign situation, a form of mental illness where the individual experiences a bifurcation of mind, and in more extreme form, a spiritual illness representing a foot in each Kingdom.  This time in the life of the Christian and Anglican Church calls for a clear mind aligned with and fully embracing the core teachings of the Christian faith, reformed and catholic. Full Stop.

Without seeing this as a condemnation, I would encourage readers to contemplate the truth that I am trying to describe about this conflicted situation and the pain of this bifurcation which is spreading system-wide.

Faithfully in Christ Jesus,

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
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Why should the Communion be predisposed to endless debate and keeping the questions alive?

Source: GlobalSouthAnglican website
By Dr Bryden Black, Christchurch, New Zealand

...While the final (Lambeth) Reflections document is said to offer a generalised, accumulation-of-all-voices "snapshot" (John Howe) of what has percolated up from the bishops' Indaba Groups during 20 hours of face to face engagement, for all the world outside how will it not be business-as-usual in the weeks and months ahead?  How will the 'Good Ship Anglicana' not strike that iceberg?  In other words, what might be the long term legacy of this, Rowan Williams' Lambeth?

Robert Jenson, in his admirable review (Pro Ecclesia XI/3 2002, pp.367-9) of the Archbishop of Canterbury's collection of essays, On Christian Theology (2000), asked this: "Is it really the chief proper use of dogma and other theology 'to keep the essential questions alive' (p.92)?" He continues by pointing out that "God is indeed a mystery, but between honour for the biblical God's specific mystery and the kind of endless semi-Socratic dialectic Williams often seems to commend, there is, I would have thought, some considerable difference." ...

If the Church has felt it necessary to anathematise certain G/gospels derived from non Nicene understandings of deity, then mutatis mutandis why should the Anglican Communion be predisposed to endless debate - "keeping the questions alive" - regarding the significance of human being created in the image of the Triune God?  For surely, when it comes to "essential questions", an aspect of God's mercy and kindness is that we humans have neither been kept in the dark nor "as orphans" (Jn 14), but God has come among us with sufficient "perspicuity".  True; to "the crowds" much remains in parable and riddles (Mark 4, Matt 13).  Yet for those who have been gathered around Jesus, a community of acknowledged insight and faithful interpretation has grown and developed.  Surely therefore the onus of proof is ever on those who seek to legitimise new beliefs and practices contrary to these traditions of learned discernment.

My concluding comment to both the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops at Lambeth is this.  "Holding paradoxes in appropriate tension" - which is the call from Lambeth 2008 - may be a useful process in certain domains.  Our understanding of the behaviour of light in contemporary physics is one such.  But to ask Athanasius or the Cappadocians of the 4th C, and now the Anglican Communion of the 21st C, to stay in formal fellowship with those whose beliefs and practices are "essentially" contradictory and not merely complementary (as are the two contemporary models regarding light) is itself anathema - as many a Church Council canon has affirmed.  At root, the traditional logic that undergirded the idea of comprehensiveness is no longer the contemporary logic that is driving the call for inclusivity, in all manner of spheres.  It is therefore a "catastrophic failure of leadership" (Nelson Mandela), I submit, to permit, let alone to foster, the continuation of such an incoherent form of Communion as is now the result of Lambeth 2008. ...

The rest of the article may be found at the link above.
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19 UK bishops respond to media's publication of Williams letters
Source: Church Times
By Pat Ashworth
August 15, 2008

Nineteen senior bishops, led by the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, have protested in a strongly worded letter about what they describe as the "gross misrepresentation" of the Archbishop of Canterbury in The Times.

Under the front-page headline "Archbishop believes gay sex is as good as marriage", and the inside headline that said that he believed it "equivalent to marriage", extracts were published on Thursday of last week from leaked private correspondence, exchanged eight years ago between Dr Williams as Archbishop of Wales and Dr Deborah Pitt, a psychiatrist and Evangelical who had sought his views on sexuality.

In the letters, he reflected on 20 years of study and prayer, which had led him to conclude that "an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness."

Dr Williams expresses his belief that the Bible forbade promiscuity rather than gay sex. He noted Canon Jeffrey John as among academics who had influenced his thinking. He emphasised the distinction between the individual reflections of a theologian and the position a church leader had to take, and regreted the politicising of the issue.

The Archbishop responded to the news report the day after it was published, restating his acceptance of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 as stating the position of the Anglican Communion, "and thus as providing the authoritative basis on which I as Archbishop speak". He acknowledged the contributions he had made "as a professional theologian" to the continuing discussion, but made it clear that "no individual's speculations about this have any authority of themselves. Our Anglican Church has never exercised close control over what individual theologians may say."

The Bishops' letter questions the motives and timing of the release of the letters, and deplores the capital some churchmen sought to make out of them "as though they were 'news'". ...

The Bishops say that Dr Williams's final presidential address to the Lambeth Conference (News, 8 August) presented clear reaffirmations "in the context of a powerful and clearly thought out address, as the fresh articulation of the mind of the church, not as an opinion which he was bound to express, but from which he privately wanted to dissent". They conclude: "He has our full and unqualified support in his magnificent leadership both of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion." ...

The entire article may be found at the link above.
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Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth 'is not moving to Rome'
Source: Religious Intelligence
By George Conger
August 13, 2008

The Bishop of Fort Worth has denied published reports in Texas newspapers that his diocese is set to go over to Rome. In a statement released on Aug 12, the Rt Rev Jack Iker stated "there is no proposal under consideration, either publicly or privately, for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to become part of the Roman Catholic Church." Speculation that Fort Worth, one of two American dioceses that does not ordain women, was Rome-ward bound arose after a memorandum detailing the meeting of four senior Fort Worth clergy and the Roman Catholic bishop of Fort Worth was released over the weekend.

The memorandum summarized a June 16 meeting by the four priests with Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann, and presented arguments in support of submission to Rome by Anglo-Catholics. Bishop Iker stated that he was aware of the meeting and had encouraged the four to meet with Catholic leaders to dialogue "on the local level" the progress towards "full, visible unity between the two communions" as envisioned by the Anglican Roman Catholic International Consultation (ARCIC).

"The priests who participated in this meeting with Bishop Vann have my trust and pastoral support," he said. "However, in their written and verbal reports, they have spoken only on their own behalf and out of their own concerns and perspective. They have not claimed to act or speak, nor have they been authorized to do so, either on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth or on my own behalf as their Bishop." ...

The rest of the article may be found at the link above.
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NJ Bishop reaffirms support of same-sex couples
Source: North Jersey
August 8, 2008
By John Chadwick
 
The spiritual leader for North Jersey Episcopalians said Thursday he will continue supporting the blessing of same-sex couples. There have been recent calls for a moratorium on the ceremonies from fellow bishops in the Anglican Communion - a global Protestant body that's threatening to break apart over homosexuality.

"We in this diocese and I as bishop are continuing to support relationships of fidelity and commitment and give them the full blessing of the church," Bishop Mark M. Beckwith, of the Diocese of Newark, said Thursday in an interview.

…Beckwith, a strong Robinson supporter, acknowledged that the continuing dispute throws into question whether the American church can elect another gay bishop in the future. "That doesn't sit well with me," Beckwith said. "I hope we could do this again and raise up another gay or lesbian, but there are a lot of things in play, and it is unclear."

The Diocese of Newark, which represents about 27,000 Episcopalians, is one of the most liberal dioceses in the nation and was among the first to ordain homosexuals to the priesthood.That will continue, Beckwith added.

"That's not an issue as far as I'm concerned," Beckwith said. "We continue to ordain anyone who has a passion for ministry." ...

The rest of the article may be found at the link above.