It may help the reader to understand Fr. Harris' article if it is
deconstructed using two key paragraphs of his monograph and some key
historical facts. The key historical facts are (of course): the
overwhelming vote at Lambeth 1998 where nearly 90% of the assembled
bishops voted for the approved sexuality statement, the Primates'
statement of 03, and the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury. These
Add to that the suspension of relations with the Episcopal Church by Anglican bishops and provinces worldwide. Church leaders such as the presiding bishop who have accused George Bush of being the “lone ranger” in foreign policy have themselves formed a small band of “lone rangers” in acting unilaterally against the other 67 million members of the Anglican Communion and 1.3 billion Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians.
Read moreIt is not a group dedicated to break away from the Episcopal Church, as some have portrayed it, and neither is it an attempt to take the Diocese out of the Episcopal Church, as has also been charged. It is an attempt to remain within the Episcopal Church and make a voice heard which is largely at variance with decisions made at the last General Convention in August 2003.
Read moreI would bring to your attention the words of the Apostle Paul to his son
Titus:
"For a Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, just, holy,
temperate; holding fast the faithful word he has been taught." (Titus
1:7-9).
These people met all the candidates, as did I and many non-delegates, and we prayed and inquired of God about their choice and vote. I know of others who apparently did not bother meeting the candidates, including one who told me, wouldn’t it be great for Gene to be bishop, as she knows him.
Read moreFirst, the article itself. We are on pretty thin ice here. The piece is
so fawning and solicitous that one could conclude it was written by a
press secretary, not a news gatherer. Not that we mind when paeans of
praise for Michael Ingham fall into our laps, but we dont want them to
be so obvious. But more to the point when you write your analysis,
nephew, be aware that you are merely dealing with the kind of thing that
A marriage like Glenn and Marlys's is a rare thing in our time, when
most people seem to fear the very idea of commitment. As a culture, we
are obsessed with romance and sex, and focus on them almost endlessly.
Sex permeates entertainment, sports, and even politics. For Christians
and non-Christians alike, it has taken the place of God.
The call to unity and focus on togetherness permeated much of our time
together. The question for many of us concerns the content of that
unity. One major source of contention was the role of Bishop Chilton
Knudsen of Maine. She had been invited last fall to be a speaker for the
convention. Unfortunately, shortly after that invitation was accepted,
she was a co-consecrator at V. Gene Robinson's elevation to the
For a long time something similar could have been said about the charge of “fascism”. Fortunately, times have changed, and the unstinting dispersal of absurd misapplications of this accusation has rendered it more a tool of simple rhetorical gesticulation than a serious description of anybody’s real convictions. The same evolution, we may hope, will unfold – at least in the context of illuminating argument -- with respect to the epithet of “homophobe”.
Read moreStill, we understood ourselves to be part of a worldwide body of
Christians, much as Roman Catholics and the Orthodox were, but a
reformed body, with all the potential evangelical robustness of the
churches of the distinctly modern world. We felt we shared in the
essence of the ancient and undivided faith, and we witnessed that by
considering ourselves a modern catholic body molded specifically out of