Onward Into the Fog

As many of you are well aware, and as The New York Times is reporting, "The bishops of the Episcopal Church voted at the church’s convention on Monday to open 'any ordained ministry' to gay men and lesbians, a move that could effectively undermine a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops that the church passed at its last convention three years ago."

This after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams addressed the General Convention by saying, "Along with many in the Communion, I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart..." and "Action to negate that resolution [the moratorium against ordaining gays] would instantly suggest to many people in the communion that The Episcopal Church would prefer not to go down the route of closer structural bonds and that particular kind of mutual responsibility."

This is a sad turn of events for a church that for so long seemed to have a special "charism" for eccumenical work among Christians, and a special place in proclaiming the apostolic "faith once delivered to all the saints" here in America.

The responses have been many but there are two in particular that I would like to point out. One comes from the Anglican Communion Institute and can be found in its entirety here: A Statement on the Repudiation of B033, but I'd also like to quote a short section,

It is our expectation that many dioceses will not follow The Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion and the mainstream of apostolic Christianity. Instead, they will take immediate action to assure the Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury of their continued commitment to [the communion]...To this end, we will continue to work closely with these dioceses and the Communion processes...

This points to what could ultimately be a hopeful future for orthodox Anglicans in America, though how it will all work out in the end is anyone's guess.

The second response to all of this of note comes from the other side of The Pond in England where a motion has been put forward for the Church of England to recognize the Anglican Church of North America, a recently created entity created by a coalition of orthodox Episcopal breakaways. The motion has picked up six Church of England bishops and 121 sponsors, and according to the London Times, this will "guarantee it a place on the next Synod agenda in February." The motion reads,

That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.

The London Times is reporting that "The Archbishop of Canterbury told General Synod today that he 'regrets' the decision by The Episcopal Church to overturn the moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops."

This could get very interesting for Episcopalians and Anglicans in North America for the foreseeable future, but it is beginning to look like there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for the orthodox, although it will likely not look exactly the way anyone would have expected. As for the progressives and revisionists in TEC, if they are not careful, they will find themselves throwing a party on the deck of a sinking ship.

As my readers will undoubtedly understand, this affects my wife and I very deeply as I am an aspirant to the priesthood. Please keep us, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion in your prayers. I feel as if I am walking confidently into a fog.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it...." -- Jesus as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew