church press on the ACC
The Church Times has a report on the Wednesday vote:
ACC resorts to secret poll to modify ejection plan
And Power is the issue, as well as sex and scripture, Dr Williams tells ACC by Pat Ashworth
Other extensive reports on the ACC, in the paper, are subscription-only until next week. They will be linked when they are available.
The Church of England Newspaper has these reports:
Archbishop’s plea for unity over gay row
Americans and Canadians find few converts to their theology
and Andrew Carey comments on the Presidential Address here
BBC reports on ACC
The Radio 4 breakfast programme Today had these segments:
0609 Is the Anglican Church moving closer to a split over the issue of gay priests? Robert Pigott reports.
Listen with Real Audio here
0750 Rev Susan Russell, president of America’s gay Christian movement, Integrity, and Canon David Anderson, discuss the divisive issue of gay priests.
Listen with Real Audio here
The news story US Church excluded for gay stance has been updated to include quotes from these interviews.
0 CommentsACC Nottingham: Wednesday
Reports of today’s events will be added here as they are found.
Canadian Press Canadian Anglican church plays down exclusion from two communion panels
National Post Anglicans ‘expel’ Canada
Anglican Church of Canada press release ACC decision regrettable, but of little practical consequence, Canadian Primate says
TLC George Conger Council Somber After Vote to Exclude North Americans
Official text of Resolutions Passed Today At ACC-13
The Times Ruth Gledhill American churches shown door as gay row deepens
Telegraph Jonathan Petre has a one sentence summary at the foot of a preview of Friday’s session:
The Anglican Consultative Council yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to traditional Church teaching on homosexuality following efforts by liberal Americans and Canadians to justify their consecration of a gay bishop and sanctioning of gay “blessings”. The council also narrowly voted to exclude Americans and Canadians from key committees of the Council, at least until the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
Anglican Journal Solange De Santis
Council votes to include primates
Council narrowly supports censure of Canada, U.S.
ENS
Matthew Davies and Bob Williams ACC affirms Communion-wide listening process, members’ voluntary withdrawal
(this includes comments from the Presiding Bishop)
Neva Rae Fox ACC votes to add Primates to membership
TLC George Conger ACC Suspends North American Churches
BBC US Church excluded for gay stance
Associated Press Jill Lawless Canadian, U.S. Anglicans avoid censure
This report also appears in many US papers under other headlines such as Conservative Anglicans fail in bid to censure North American churches over gay issue or Anglicans won’t censure wings of church
Bishop Duncan’s Blog Entry (item dated 22 June)
TLC George Conger Vote on Resolution to Expel North Americans Scheduled
6 CommentsResolution on the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada
Passed by 30 votes to 28, with 4 abstentions. A secret paper ballot was used.
The Anglican Consultative Council
(1) takes note of the decisions taken by the Primates at their recent meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in connection with the recommendations of the Windsor Report 2004;
(2) notes further that the Primates there reaffirmed “the standard of Christian teaching on matters of human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which should command respect as the position overwhelmingly adopted by the bishops of the Anglican Communion”;
(3) endorses and affirms those decisions;
(4) consequently endorses the Primates’ request that “in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference”;
(5) further requests that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada withdraw their members from all other official entities of the Communion for the same period.
interprets the reference to Anglican Consultative Council to include its Standing Committee and the Inter-Anglican Finance and Administration Committee.
Proposer:
Stanley Isaacs (South East Asia)
supported by
Peter Akinola (Nigeria)
Henri Isingoma (Congo)
Amos Kiriro (Kenya)
Andres Lenton(Southern Cone)
Gerard Mpango (Tanzania)
Samson Mwaluda (Kenya)
Bariira Mbukure (Uganda)
Damien Nteziryayo (Rwanda)
D Okeke (Nigeria)
Elizabeth Paver (England)
Humphrey Peters (Pakistan)
Enock Tombe (Sudan)
Listening Process resolution as passed
In response to the request of the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference in 1998 in Resolution 1.10 to establish “a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion” and to honour the process of “mutual” listening including “listening to the experience of homosexual persons” and the experience of local churches around the world in reflecting on these matters, in the light of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason, the Anglican Consultative Council requests the Secretary General:
1. To collate relevant research studies, statements, resolutions and other material on these matters from the various provinces and other interested bodies
2. To make such material available for study, discussion and reflection within each member Church of the Communion; and
3. To identify and allocate adequate resources for this work, and to report progress on it to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the next Lambeth Conference and to the next meeting of this Council, and to copy such reports to the provinces.
Passed unanimously.
8 CommentsACC votes to add Primates to membership
ENS reports:
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
ACC votes to add Primates to membership
By Neva Rae Fox
ENS 062205-3
[ENS, Nottingham] — After discussion in three business sessions, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) voted June 22 to change its constitution to include the 37 Primates as ex officio members, thereby increasing the membership from 78 to 115.
Originally introduced at Monday’s session, the action included a provision to attempt to ensure balance for clergy and lay members. Under the new configuration, laity representation would no longer be the majority of the ACC, one of the four “instruments of unity” within the Anglican Communion. (A detailed ENS report will follow.)
link to ENS report here (covers a number of other items as well)
7 CommentsProposed Resolution on the Listening Process
This is the planned agenda item for the afternoon session. It now appears that at 2.30 pm discussion of this item will be preceded by the closed session mentioned in an earlier item, as requested by Peter Akinola.
Proposed Resolution from the Joint Standing Committee on the listening process as requested by the Primates at Dromantine
In response to the request of the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference in 1998 in Resolution 1.10 to establish “a means of monitoiring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion” and to honour the process of mutual listening including “listening to the experience of homosexual persons” and the experience of local churches around the world in reflecting on these matters, this Council requests the Secretary General:
1. To collate relevant research studies, statements, resolutions and other material on these matters from the various provinces; and
2. To make such material available for study, discussion and reflection within each member Church of the Communion; and
3. To identify and allocate adequate resources for this work, and to report progress on it to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the next Lambeth Conference.
4 CommentsA Global South statement
Archbishop Akinola wants the following document considered, in closed session. See also his cover letter here.
The ACC has just decided to go into closed session at 2.30 pm to do so.
Document text:
A Global South statement regarding the request for listening
The Primates Meeting asked ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada to explain the thinking behind their recent actions.
The presentations that we heard from ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada did not explain that thinking with reference to the teaching of the Anglican Communion as expressed in Lambeth 1.10 and statments from Primates Meetings in Brazil, Lambeth and Newry.
They also failed to explain why they have chosen to:
– depart from the received and agreed teaching of this Communion
– ignore all four instruments of unity
– disregard the processes by which we come to a common mind, and
– overlook the specific request described in the Windsor Report.
Instead they advocated a position that reinforces our current divisions.
The proposal that the Communion “listen to the experience of homosexual persons” is an ongoing concern but must be preceded by an affirmation of Lambeth 1.10 and the Primates Communiqué at Dromantine.
17 CommentsACC draft resolution text
Draft Resolution on the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Consultative Council
(1) takes note of the decisions taken by the Primates at their recent meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in connection with the recommendations of the Windsor Report 2004;
(2) notes further that the Primates there reaffirmed “the standard of Christian teaching on matters of human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which should command respect as the position overwhelmingly adopted by the bishops of the Anglican Communion”;
(3) endorses and affirms those decisions;
(4) consequently endorses the Primates’ request that “in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference”;
(5) further requests that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada withdraw their members from all other official entities of the Communion for the same period.
Proposer:
Stanley Isaacs (South East Asia)
supported by
Peter Akinola (Nigeria)
Henri Isingoma (Congo)
Amos Kiriro (Kenya)
Andres Lenton(Southern Cone)
Gerard Mpango (Tanzania)
Samson Mwaluda (Kenya)
Bariira Mbukure (Uganda)
Damien Nteziryayo (Rwanda)
D Okeke (Nigeria)
Elizabeth Paver (England)
Humphrey Peters (Pakistan)
Enock Tombe (Sudan)
ACC Nottingham: Tuesday
Again today, reports will be linked here as they become available. My apologies for misplaced items yesterday.
Full text of Stephen Andrews’ presentation
Full text of Peter Elliott’s presentation (PDF FILE)
Full text of Bishop Jenkins’ presentation
Anglican Church of Canada press release Canadians address Anglican Consultative Council
ENS Canadian Anglicans speak to same-gender blessings
ENS More that unites than divides, Episcopalians tell ACC
Full text of Susan Russell’s presentation
Associated Press Jill Lawless U.S. Episcopals Defend Openly Gay Bishop
(note: this is not in the Guardian newspaper, only on its website, it is of course in hundreds of US newspapers)
AP Photos here
Washington Times N. American wings defend stances on gays
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steve Levin U.S. Episcopal leaders defend ordaining gays
TLC Communion’s Spotlight is on Presentation Panels
Anglican Journal Solange de Santis Canada, U.S. tell Council about debates on gay issues
The Times Ruth Gledhill US Anglicans bless ‘sacred’ gay unions
BBC US Church defends gay bishop move
Guardian Stephen Bates Vengeance in the air as churches face expulsion
ENS Audio streams: Episcopalians respond to Windsor Report
Canadian presentation: ‘Key messages’ for the Anglican Consultative Council
Kendall Harmon “liveblogged” the American presentation here
ENS Theologians offer response to Windsor Report request
PDF download of the report To Set Our Hope On Christ
Associated Press Jill Lawless U.S., Canadian Anglicans Gather in England
Washington Times Julia Duin Alexandria seminary official to defend gay clergy
0 CommentsACC Nottingham: Monday
press reports and releases will be linked here as they become available.
TLC Archbishop Says Common Ground Still Exists
also a series of photos from Nottingham
ENS Theological education: Archbishop of Canterbury underscores global importance
(this report covers other events of Monday as well)
Guardian Stephen Bates Williams pleads for Anglicans to hold together
Press Association Gay Bishop Decision to Be Discussed
TLC Status Quo at ACC Holds on Second Day
ACNS Anglican Consultative Council begins its work
ENS Audio, text links offered for Archbishop of Canterbury’s ACC presidential address
Anglican Church of Canada Rowan Williams stresses value of friendship in opening address to Anglican Consultative Council
Not a report on today, but a preview of tomorrow, Ruth Gledhill US church leaders justify ordination of gay bishop
0 CommentsRW address to the ACC
The full text is now available from ACNS here, or below the fold.
I recommend reading the entire document carefully.
6 CommentsACC Nottingham: Sunday
Further news reports today on the ACC meeting will be posted here, newest items at the top.
TLC Withdrawn Status of North Americans Noted
TLC ACC Opening Session Surprise
ENS Archbishop of Canterbury celebrates ACC opening Eucharist
ENS Bob Williams Anglican Consultative Council opens Nottingham meeting under theme ‘Living Communion’
TLC George Conger ACC Meeting Opens with Dinner and Orientation
0 CommentsBBC Radio: Sunday programme items
Anglican Consultative Council
The meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council which begins today in Nottingham could be a slightly awkward affair. The ACC is the only worldwide Anglican body which includes lay people and priests as well as bishops – all thirty eight provinces of the Anglican Church send representatives. This time, however the Anglican Churches in the United States and Canada were asked to withdraw their delegations because of the row over the ordination of Gene Robinson and the blessing of same sex unions. Stephen Bates is the Guardian’s Religious Affairs correspondent and has written a book about the divisions in the Church over homosexuality.
Listen here with Real Audio (3.5 minutes)
Profile of Archbishop of York
The Church of England is to get its first black archbishop – as Archbishop of York John Sentamu will be the Church’s second most senior figure and stands 98th in a line that stretches back Paulinus in the year 625. It is a remarkable journey for someone who began his working life as a lawyer in Uganda. Mike Ford reports.
Listen here with Real Audio (10 minutes)
John Sentamu
The appointment of John Sentamu to the number two job in the Church of England has provoked plenty of column inches in the papers – most of them positive. Much is made of his background. He worked as a lawyer and judge in Uganda before escaping to Britain; he was beaten up under the Idi Amin regime when he refused to acquit one of the president’s cousins. Much is also made of the fact that he is the Church of England’s first black archbishop – the Independent newspaper adds for good measure that he is the first “senior prelate of the Church of England to be flagged down by the police and asked the standard PC plod stop-and-search questions” Here are some reactions to his appointment – The Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin chairs the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, the Most Rev Henry Orombi, is Archbishop of Uganda & and Bishop of Kampala, but first here are the views of Rt. Rev. Joe Aldred a pastor in Birmingham, and secretary for minority ethnic Christian affairs in Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. Whatever the ethnic background of the incumbent the position of Archbishop of York is, potentially at least, a hugely important one – both in the life of the Church and in the life of the nation.
Listen here with Real Audio (2.5 minutes)
update
BBC news report based on the above, Archbishop vows to ban homophobia
12 CommentsThe archbishop told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme homophobia had “no place” in the Church.
He wanted people to stop using “ghastly” language that implied people were “not human beings” because of their sexual orientation.
Archbishop Sentamu, who was born in Uganda, was appointed to the second highest post in the Church on Friday.
“I want to say to people, ‘Please, please, please don’t use such ghastly words,’ because every human being regardless of their sexual orientation are standing in for God, each one of them is actually loved of God.
“And when you use language which implies they were not human beings who are you to do that because you did not create them?’”
preparing for Nottingham
As the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Nottingham draws near, many articles have appeared concerning it.
The Episcopal News Service published Listening central as delegates, observers prepare for ACC-13
and also this account of the recent Province IV Synod: From Nigeria, New Zealand: Voices on Windsor Report heard in U.S. forum.
Presiding Bishop Griswold has issued this letter to ECUSA bishops which mentions that:
In addition to making our presentation we will deliver to the members of the ACC a document entitled To Set Our Hope on Christ. This report is offered as a response to the request put to us in the Windsor Report paragraph 135 which asks the Episcopal Church to explain “from within the sources of authority that we as Anglicans have received in scripture, the apostolic tradition and reasoned reflection, how a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ.” The report was prepared by a small group coordinated by my Canon Theologian, Mark McIntosh of Loyola University Chicago. We can be very grateful for his efforts and those of Michael Battle, Katherine Grieb and Timothy Sedgwick (all of the Virginia Theological Seminary) Jay Johnson (the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California), Bishop Roskam, and Kathryn Tanner (University of Chicago). As well, we can be grateful for the work of Dr. Pamela Darling, an historian who has compiled an appendix which delineates our church’s exploration over these last 40 years of issues of human sexuality. Once the text has been delivered to the members of ACC it will be available online and you will receive word about how copies may be obtained in booklet form.
The Living Church has published this editorial comment: ACC Meeting Could Bring Clarity
and this news article, Bishop Griswold Confident Before ACC Meeting
The Anglican Journal has Church Groups Make Plans for Council Meeting in Nottingham.
The Church of England Newspaper had two articles:
Americans set to defy Primates’ call
Ordinands ‘should study homosexuality’
And the CEN has now added this week’s trenchant View from Fleet Street column, by Stephen Bates in which he comments:
2 Comments…It is clear that the North Americans are no more going to retreat from what they – rightly in my opinion, for what it is worth – perceive to be a more realistic, tolerant and Christian attitude towards gays in the clergy, than that the bishops of the Global South will be struck by a blinding revelation that homosexuality does not have to be the defining, now-or-never, communion-breaking issue for Anglicanism.
The best analogy I’ve heard in all this has been that of Kendall Harmon, the South Carolina theologian, who says it is as if the two sides are playing tennis, but on separate courts, so that there is no one to bat the ball back from the other side of the net. As in any divorce, schism or civil war, it is when the two sides not only stop talking to each other but also cease listening – a process which implies the possibility of change and even reconciliation – that breakdown is inevitable. They may not openly admit it, but too many people in Anglicanism just want to bring that on.
Well, the time has come. It is surely evident that the strains of keeping together an international communion, traditionally based on mutual affection and respect for each other’s traditions and provincial autonomy, are just too great when stretched across societies of vastly different cultural, social and religious realities, particularly when it is evident that there is no mutual understanding and appreciation left to hold the show together…
Church Times on AGI
The Church Times has a lengthy report, Revealed: conservative plans to set up global network of ‘authentic’ Anglicans. This report says in part:
It is hard to see how the Anglican Global Initiative could exist within the existing Anglican Communion, even though the articles state that members should be “respectful of the historical role and authority entrusted to the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Primates’ Meeting, and the Lambeth Conference”. No mention is made anywhere of the other instrument of unity, the ACC.
The document proposes affiliating with other traditionalist organisations in North America and the United Kingdom, “as an authentic expression of the worldwide Anglican Communion”.
None of these others is named, but the document does refer to the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, which was established last autumn to channel aid from traditionalist parishes in the US ( News, 1 October). The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes and the Anglican Communion Network were involved in its setting up.
The Church Times also republishes the full text of the AGI document here, and the Global South draft of the press release here.
The Church Times editorial is also about this, see Planning for a band of the like-minded. An extract from this:
7 CommentsWe are disturbed, however, by the upsurge of organisations that define themselves as representing the only true spirit of Anglicanism, or, for that matter, of Christianity. We are relieved that the proposed Anglican Global Initiative is quiescent for the present; but the implications of a body of this kind are grave. It is, of course, laudable that its promoters wish to “hold to the centrality and authority of holy scripture”, to “propagate the historic faith and order”, and to “pursue the apostolic mission of the Church to a troubled and fallen world”. We concur with their desire to “alleviate human need and to provide an effective means to spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, while promoting unity through common action within the Anglican Communion”.
The problem is that, while everyone else in the Anglican Communion would also concur with these statements, it is clear that the framers of the articles have only a select band of parishes and dioceses in mind. The rest of the Church, by implication, has “schismatically separated itself from the fellowship of most members of the Anglican Communion”. Where and how the numbers divide is anyone’s guess. Moreover, there is always a good chance that if you are accusing others of schism, you may be schismatic yourself.
Anglican Global Initiative
Updated Thursday twice
Two sources have published reports concerning a draft document which is titled: THE ORGANIZING CONSTITUTION OF THE ANGLICAN GLOBAL INITIATIVE.
Stephen Bates has this report in the Guardian Conservative Anglicans’ church plan revealed. It starts out:
Conservative Anglicans have drawn up detailed plans to set up their own church within a church, with their own constitution and decision-making synods, according to a document seen by the Guardian.
The move, days before representatives from the church’s 38 provinces meet in Nottingham to discuss the state of Anglicanism, appears to be the latest stage in the 77 million-strong communion’s widening split over homosexuality within the priesthood.
The draft organising constitution for a group to be called the Anglican Global Initiative envisages that it would operate within the Anglican communion. The document proposes that it should be headed by two conservative primate archbishops from the developing world “to affiliate and unite in love, holiness and true godly fellowship through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Anglicans in [the] global south with Anglicans in North America and the United Kingdom”…
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh has issued a press release about the document, with the title Akinola and Gomez Prepared to Start Alternative Anglican Communion which can be read here and in part says:
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP) has obtained a draft constitution for an organization called the “Anglican Global Initiative” (AGI), apparently intended to be a shadow, alternative, or parallel Anglican Communion for so-called orthodox Anglicans. The document, which has circulated among leaders of the Episcopal Church, USA, and the Anglican Church of Canada since the Primates Meeting of last February, was discussed at a January Nairobi meeting of “Global South” primates led by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. The constitution, which seems not to have been formally agreed to by meeting participants, names Akinola and Archbishop Drexel Gomez, of the West Indies, as interim co-presidents. Akinola and Gomez have been two of the most vocal critics of the Episcopal Church and of the Anglican Church of Canada for their treatment of homosexuality.
Despite provision in the draft document for appointment of a group of 12 laity and a synod of bishops, all power lies in the hands of an Executive Council of primates and one lay representative of their choice. Between meetings of this Council, power is exercised by the president(s). One provision would allow the Moderator of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDAP) status as a primate. The top-down polity outlined by the constitution is also reflected in the document’s omission of the Anglican Consultative Council from a list of Anglican Communion entities owed respect for their “historical role and authority.” (The other three “Instruments of Unity” are named.)
An analysis of the text of the draft suggests that it was drawn up in close consultation with the NACDAP. It is prefaced by “If it becomes necessary, REALIGNMENT GUIDELINES.” “Realignment,” usually without any clear explanation, is a common theme of NACDAP spokespersons. The structural charter of the NACDAP and the AGI constitution each has an Article IX concerning property, with the AGI version closely following that of the NACDAP. The AGI constitution makes provision for a uniform canon law, recognizes the Anglican Relief and Development Fund by name, and commits to setting up missions in disregard of diocesan boundaries and directly serving dissident parishes, not only in North America, but in Britain as well. The AGI constitution was probably drawn up after the October 2004 meeting of CAPA (Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa) for presentation in Nairobi. Attached to it is what appears to be a preliminary draft of the statement actually issued January 28, 2005, at the close of January Nairobi meeting…
The AGI draft document itself can also be read in full here. The attached preliminary draft of the Nairobi statement can be compared with what was actually issued here.
Updates
Steve Levin in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has Plan realigns Anglican church. Comments in that article include:
The Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan Jr., bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese and moderator of an organization of representatives from about 10 dioceses around the country — including Pittsburgh — who believe the Episcopal Church has overstepped its canonical boundaries, said he first learned of the draft yesterday.
He dismissed it as looking “like the work of some lawyers” but said a similar document could eventually emerge.
“It’s within the structures of the Anglican Communion,” he said. “There are numerous subgroups within the communion. This is a proposal for another subgroup.”
The press spokesman for the Pittsburgh diocese commented directly to titusonenine see here. Further comments about this are located here.
Those who want to see what the original document looks like should examine the 0.9 Mb PDF file available here.
further update
The story is also reported in the Church of England Newspaper as Conservative Anglicans planning separate branch
news from Trinidad
John Gladwin wasn’t the only person recently affected by the policies of the Province of the West Indies.
From the Trinidad and Tobago Express a profile this week of the American priest who had her invitation to return to her native country withdrawn by the local bishop, God loves Gays.
Ifill’s attitude of inclusion-expected, of course, from a priest-landed her in the midst of a local controversy last month, when she became the second cleric from whom an invitation to speak here was withdrawn. The Trinidad and Tobago Anglican diocese cited conflicts between its and the invitees’ views on homosexuality. (The other rejected priest was UK bishop John Gladwell.)
Ifill says media headlines referring to her as “pro-gay” distorted her views on the issue. Her stance might best be described as open and non-condemning.
“I still struggle with the issue,” she says. “Every day you see scientific research and evidence contrary to what we think might be someone taking on (homosexuality) because it’s a fad or because they feel to go this way.”
Ifill tells the story of praying and crying with a suicidal gay young man who had been ostracised by his church and family. The painful experience had a great impact on her outlook.
“It’s very, very hard for me to come hard and fast on any particular side,” she says of the conflict that has been rending the international Anglican community.
But Ifill is certain that her role in dealing with gay parishioners is the same as dealing with straight, that is, to counsel, comfort and-above all-accept.
“The church is called to reconcile all people to God and to each other,” she says. “The church has a mission in this world to preach the gospel and we cannot be about alienation.”
Ifill’s moderate position was close enough to the church’s liberal extreme—concentrated in the USA, Canada and the UK, which supports gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions, to alarm local bishop, Calvin Bess.
He, like other West Indian Anglican leaders, believes gay relationships are a contravention of God’s laws and therefore not consistent with Christianity.
“The whole question of homosexuality has been pronounced upon by the word of God,” Bess says in a phone interview. He cites biblical passages some believe prohibit homosexual acts. One, Leviticus 18:22, reads: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination.”
“Who am I to go contrary to the word of God and stay a minister?” says Bess.
Reassurances from Ifill that she would not preach anything contradicting the West Indian position weren’t enough.
“She had a number of programmes in schools,” says Bess. “How would she know the kinds of questions those children were going to ask? I cannot allow myself to be seen as somebody who is saying one thing and doing the opposite. I would look like a madman.”
Ifill is regretful of Bess’s decision and the rift in the worldwide Anglican church.
Here’s the earlier reports of her disinvitation, Anglicans blank another foreign priest on gay issue and West Indies Withdraws Invitation to American Missioner.
For good measure, here’s a recent piece by Angela Infill, What Is Expected of the Baptized?.
49 CommentsPanel of Reference named at last
The names of the rest of the panel have now been announced. The full text of the ACNS press release is below the fold.
Updates Thursday and Friday
Ruth Gledhill reports this news in today’s Times under the headline Church appoints tribunal to bring peace on gay row
The CEN has Panel of Reference named
The Church Times has Dr Williams names his row referees