I am a delegate from the Diocese of New Westminster, and I am pleased to see emminent retired Metropolitans speak so clearly on this issue.

Unless there is public Internet Access available I won't be on the Internet, while in Winnipeg, but if I can get access, I will monitor this (and other threads on the General Synod) and try and provide comment as appropriate.

Yay, Canada! :-D (Specifically, the retired archbishops' statement)

“We are deeply concerned that ongoing study … will only continue to draw us away from issues which are gradually destroying God’s creation – child poverty, racism, global warming, economic injustice, concern for our aboriginal brothers and sisters, and the growing disparity between the rich and the poor…”

Sadly, I'm coming to agree. If those who, in their Lambeth 1.10 majority, had *agreed* to LISTENING actually listened, then "ongoing study" might have made some sense. But for 9 years, all LGBT Anglicans (and their straight allies) have received is *persecution*. If those who promised to listen, won't, it's time to move on. As the retired Canadian archbishops say, there is a suffering world out there, to be ministered to in Christ's name---let the Anglican (in-name) dead bury the dead.

Ongoing study should not draw us away from works or faith. We should all be frequently reading our bibles and entering into prayer. It helps us to focus and prioritise and to not be overwhelmed by the suffering of this world.

There are those who argue that those who do not agree with them should not be allowed to do works until they have studied sufficiently to agree with them. Then they fail them from theological colleges because they are failing to regurgitate the marketing package that their priests are meant to consistently spiel out.

What this does is reduce the capacity of the churches to pioneer into new environments and to develop strategies that actually work in the field.

It also does mean that such narrow leaderships will refuse to help the environment, indigenous peoples, the poor, the afflicted, the outcaste unless they are shamed into doing so. Their error is not in too much study but in complacency and denying that God intends all people to be able to witness and partake of God's grace. Several Jewish articles I've read comment that Sodom and Gomorroh were overturned not so much because of their depravity, but because their laws had evolved to make it illegal to alleviate the suffering of those on the street. It was the cries of injustice made against the self-righteous cities' authorities and priests that led to the cities downfall. See Ezekiel 16:49-50 and http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/tzedaka/Tzedakah_Activists_Vs_Sodomites.html

"If those who, in their Lambeth 1.10 majority, had *agreed* to LISTENING actually listened, then "ongoing study" might have made some sense."

See how many times Consevos, even here, claim they have listened and are not convinced. Listened to whom? From their comments, it is clear they haven't listened to gay people. The question is why? Are they afraid they might get the gay germ if they are in the same room with us? Are they afraid their salvation will be at stake? They seem terrified that they are being asked to listen so as to change their minds, and this they will not do, since that would mean a rethink of the Law, compliance with which enables them to feel either assured of salvation or better than the rest of us. It is far more the latter, I fear. There is a church not far from my home in front of which there is a sign "Christ Died For The UnGodly". It amazes me that there are actually people who can read the Gospels and NOT see that Jesus reserved some of His strongest condemnations for people who thought they were the "Godly" lording it over the rest of us. Now, let's see how many Evos jump to the defence of such a thing as some kind of evangelism, or piously decry it, not seeing themselves in it.