Anglican Mainstream

By The Rev Samuel L Edwards, The Christian Challenge

The result, when it came, was a textbook illustration of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ dictum that "Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed."

In a startling turn against previous assurances given to traditionalists, the Church of England’s General Synod, meeting in York, voted decisively July 7 to draft legislation permitting female bishops with no genuine safeguards for members of the state church who do not accept that women can be bishops in the succession of the Apostles, a position still held by most of the Christian world.

The final resolution, which included an amendment calling merely for a "statutory code of practice" to protect the rights of dissentients, passed resoundingly in all three Synod houses; bishops voted 70 percent in favor, clergy 74 percent, and laity 62 percent. Only the house of laity fell somewhat short of the two-thirds majority that will be needed to pass the final legislation at a future Synod session.

Should the legislation pass more or less in the form defined by the July 7 vote, it will remove the existing protections for traditionalists - including the Provincial Episcopal Visitors, or "flying bishops" - legislated when the C of E authorized female priests. This leaves a substantial minority of the English Church’s active membership without assurance that they are receiving genuinely apostolic sacramental ministry.

The lengthy legislative process followed by the Synod means that the first woman bishop is still some five or to seven years off. Since a new Synod is to be elected before the measure comes to a final vote, it is still possible that the legislation might be derailed, and a few traditionalists seem to be hoping for such an eventuality. But others see such an outcome as unlikely, given both the size of the majorities on the latest vote, and the hostility expressed during the preceding debate toward the orthodox desire for meaningful accommodation. Forward in Faith, United Kingdom (FIF-UK) had lobbied for a separate structure within the C of E in which apostolic order would be preserved, and an official working party report had presented that as one option.

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From Interfax Religion

Moscow, August 1, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church laments over decision of the General Synod of the Church of England to consecrate women bishops taken on July 7, 2008.

"The Russian Orthodox Church has to state with regret that the decision to install women bishops impedes the dialogue between Orthodox Christians and Anglicans developed for some decades," Communication service of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations’ Communication Service says in its special statement spread in Moscow on Friday.

According to the document, this decision "alienates Anglicans from the Orthodox Church and contributes in further division of the Christian world."

The Moscow Patriarchate reminds the Orthodox Church has always been negative about women priests since some Protestant and Anglican Churches started to ordain them late in the 20th century.

"Such practice contradicts centuries-old Church tradition dating back to the first Christian community. Orthodox Christians consider women bishops even more unacceptable," the statement further says.

Christian tradition, the authors stress, has always considered bishops as "direct spiritual successors of apostles, who grant them a special blessing to lead God’s people and a special responsibility to keep the purity of faith and be symbols and guarantors of Church unity."

Thus, the Moscow Patriarchate believes installing women-bishops contradicts "the course of Savior, holy apostles and ancient undivided Church."

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By George Conger, Religious Intelligence

The Russian Orthodox Church has released a statement denouncing the Church of England, calling the July 7 vote by General Synod not to create legal safeguards for opponents of women bishops an abandonment of the true faith.

The decision taken by General Synod "alienates Anglicans from the Orthodox Church and contributes to further division of the Christian world,” the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement released on its website on Aug 1.

The Moscow Patriarchate stated that it opposed the ordination of women to the priesthood as “such a practice contradicts centuries-old Church traditions dating back to the first Christian community. Orthodox Christians consider women bishops to be even more unacceptable," the statement said.

Tradition and the common witness of the church through the ages forbad any single church from taking a unilateral step in consecrating women. Bishops were the “direct spiritual heirs of the apostles” who had been given a “special blessing to lead the people of God and a special responsibility to maintain the purity of the faith and be symbols and guarantors of the church’s unity.”

The decision to permit the consecration of women was driven not by theological considerations, but by political correctness, Moscow said, “in our view, the decision of the General Synod of the Church of England” was “not dictated by theological or practical church needs, but by a tendency to follow the secular idea of sexual equality in all spheres of life."

This concern to appease the spirit of the age was unwise the Russian Church argued. The “secularization of Christianity” in an “unstable world” had led many “believers to abandon” liberal churches to seek refuge in those Christian traditions founded upon an “eternal and constant God” and possessing “firm Evangelical and apostolic traditions.”

On July 30, Cardinal Walter Kasper sounded a similar theme, telling the bishops at the 2008 Lambeth Conference “the ordination of women to the episcopate effectively and definitively blocks a possible recognition of Anglican Orders by the Catholic Church.”

By George Conger, CEN

The Russian Orthodox Church has released a statement denouncing the Church of England, calling the July 7 vote by General Synod not to create legal safeguards for opponents of women bishops an abandonment of the true faith.

The decision taken by General Synod "alienates Anglicans from the Orthodox Church and contributes to further division of the Christian world,” the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement released on its website on Aug 1.

The Moscow Patriarchate stated that it opposed the ordination of women to the priesthood as “such a practice contradicts centuries-old Church traditions dating back to the first Christian community. Orthodox Christians consider women bishops to be even more unacceptable," the statement said.

Tradition and the common witness of the church through the ages forbad any single church from taking a unilateral step in consecrating women. Bishops were the “direct spiritual heirs of the apostles” who had been given a “special blessing to lead the people of God and a special responsibility to maintain the purity of the faith and be symbols and guarantors of the church’s unity.”

Read HERE.

By Ruth Gledhill, TimesonLine

The Roman Catholic Church has finally ended all hope that Anglican priestly orders will ever be recognised as valid.

In an address to the Lambeth Conference of 670 Anglican bishops from around the world, the cardinal who heads the Council for Christian Unity said the dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics would be irrevocably "changed" as a result of the ordination of women and the recent vote to go ahead with consecrating women bishops.

Cardinal Walter Kasper also reiterated the Vatican’s stance that homosexuality is a "disordered" condition.

In a well-attended closed session at the conference at the University of Kent University, Canterbury, Cardinal Kasper said relations between the two churches are now deeply compromised. He urged bishops to consider their shared inheritance, which he said was "worthy of being consulted and protected."

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From Zenit

Cardinal Says Congregation Giving Proposal "Serious Attention"

VATICAN CITY, JULY 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See is following with "serious attention" the request from the Traditional Anglican Communion for "full, corporate, sacramental union" with Rome.

This was affirmed by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, in a July 5 letter to the primate of the Anglican group, Archbishop John Hepworth.

The letter was written before the beginning of the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican leaders that is under way in England through Aug. 4. The Lambeth Conference is facing unprecedented controversy, and some bishops boycotted it altogether.

The conflict within the Communion has arisen over debate about the possibility of ordaining homosexual bishops and blessing homosexual marriages. A synod decision this summer to pave the way for the episcopal ordination of women has further alienated some Anglican leaders, many of whom were in disagreement with the Communion’s decision to ordain women as priests.

According to Cardinal Levada’s letter, "over the course of the past year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has studied the proposals which you presented on behalf of the House of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion during your visit to the offices of this dicastery on Oct. 9, 2007."

"As the summer months approach, I wish to assure you the serious attention which the congregation gives to the prospect of corporate unity raised in that letter," the cardinal added.

The Traditional Anglican Communion states that its aim is "to recall Anglicanism to its heritage, to heal divisions caused by departures from the faith, and to build a vibrant church for the future based on powerful local leadership." By some counts, it has about 400,000 faithful. If the request for "corporate union" is deemed possible, it would imply the entrance of entire parish communities into communion with Rome.

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by Matthew Cresswell, CEN

GENERAL SYNOD’S debate on women has left considerable ‘unfinished business’ for the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted.
 

Dr Rowan Williams agreed that many members were disenchanted by the decision to opt for a single- clause measure, offering little protection to Anglo Catholics and some conservative evangelicals.  “There is a certainly huge bit of
unfinished business for the Church of England after General Synod in the sense that pastorally as many people felt alienated or aggrieved by the way the decision emerged as felt elated by the step forward that had been taken.” A plan for the future was needed, he added: “…so the Church of England has got work to do there.”

However, he told reporters that following the controversial Synod decision the Anglican Communion was not some pitiful “bleeding hunted animal with arrows in its side”. This was reflected by the fellowship and dialogue taking place at the Lambeth Conference. “I think we’re here as the pastors of the English dioceses meeting with our brothers and sisters and I
think its been a hugely important factor in that the pre-conference hospitably has built strong relationships between the British and Irish dioceses and with bishops from overseas.”

He added: “That I think easily offsets any of the sense of difficulty or unfinished business in the Church of England.”
 

However, Christina Rees, Chair of Watch (Women and the Church), told The Church of England Newspaper that the Archbishop was perhaps overstating the numbers of people aggrieved by Synod’s decision. Commenting on the Archbishop’s remarks she said: “Because he is in his position he has to look out for everyone.”

She continued: “He is, of course, acutely aware that not everyone is happy with the vote.”

By Michael Brown, Religious Intelligence

London: A traditionalist Anglican leader has strongly hinted at possible legal action if assets are "stolen" from Anglo-Catholics as a result of the divisive move by the General Synod over women bishops.

The spectre of protracted and costly litigation is held up by the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, who leads Forward in Faith, the traditionalists’ umbrella body.

Members of the organisation are smarting over what they see as a woeful lack of safeguards for them when women start donning mitres from about 2012. Bishop Broadhurst, in the wake of the synod’s decision at York earlier this month, tells traditionalists in a message issued last Friday: "Most of the assets of the Church of England in terms of buildings, schools and other property either come from the pre-Reformation Catholic Church or as a direct result of the Tractarian and Catholic revival.

"This property is very much our heritage and inheritance and to suggest that many wish to steal it from us in a very unpleasant form of legalised theft would not be an understatement."

Bishop Broadhurst also refers dramatically in the message to what he calls "bullying" of traditionalists.

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From Forward in Faith

The Lambeth Conference 1998 famously adopted a resolution on human sexuality, resolution I.10. The failure of the American and Canadian churches to honor that resolution are at the center of the conflict which overshadows Lambeth 2008.

The Lambeth Conference 1998 also adopted a resolution, numbered III.2 calling on Provinces “to make such provision, including appropriate episcopal ministry”, as will enable those who dissent from and those who assent to the ordination of women to live “in the highest degree of Communion possible”. The patent failure of the American and Canadian churches to honor this resolution has gone all but unmentioned at Lambeth 2008.

The Conference opened against the background of the July 7th decision by the General Synod of the Church of England to craft legislation for the ordination of women as bishops with a “statutory code of practice”. The Synod voted down amendments intended to provide the structural provisions which those who uphold the traditional shape of the ministry deemed necessary to preserve the theological and ecclesiological integrity of their position.
 

Because this action occurred so soon before Lambeth convened, the issue was very much on the minds of the English bishops present. Given the clarity with which they made their position known, the Synod’s decision seemed to tell Forward in Faith and those who agree with it that, if the legislation were adopted in its present form, there would be no place for them in the Church of England.

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By Martin Beckford, Telegraph

The decision to press ahead with the introduction of women bishops has left many in the Church of England feeling "alienated and grieved", the Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted.

In his first public comments on the contentious decision by the church’s governing body to introduce female bishops without compromise measures that would have satisfied traditionalists, Dr Rowan Williams said it had resulted in a "huge amount of unfinished business".

But he denied the divisions meant the church was now like a "bleeding, hunted animal" as it entered the critical Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world which is taking place in Canterbury.

The meeting is being boycotted by one in four of the worldwide Communion’s leaders in protest at liberal American and Canadian churches who support homosexual clergy and same-sex unions in defiance of church teaching.

Leaders of Forward in Faith, a group representing more than 8,000 Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England, announced they were “appalled” by the outcome of the Synod vote and vowed to work on the creation of separate dioceses for parishes who do not want to be led by a woman bishop.

Stephen Parkinson, the group’s director, said there was no “cast-iron guarantee” that this would mean his members would stay within the existing Church. Read the rest of this entry »

From Interfax Religion

London, July 21, Interfax - The world’s Anglican bishops or the so-called Lambeth Conference opened their once-a-decade summit this weekend in Canterbury, England.

About 200 bishops are boycotting the forum as they protest against liberal tendencies in the Anglican community.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams opened the gathering and greeted all its participants and observers from the Roman Catholic Church, local Orthodox Churches and various Protestant denominations.

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia conveyed his message to the forum. He said that all its participants "bear great historical responsibility," as they have to "decide between traditional, Biblical interpretation of Christian morals and the tendency, which takes sin and permissiveness for demonstration of love and tolerance."

According to the Russian Church primate, decisions taken at the Lambeth conference "are extremely important for the entire Christian world as further relations between Christian Churches and Anglican community largely depend on them."

Outcome of the Lambeth Conference is especially meaningful for the Russian Orthodox Church, the patriarch said, as the history of its contacts with Anglicans dates back to the 16th century and "was traditionally warm and full of mutual understanding."

The Lambeth Conference runs to August 4 and observers believe is can result in schism of the Anglican Church.

"Anglican Community is on the verge of splitting. In fact, the schism has almost formed and two hundred lacking bishops is eloquent of it," Russian Orthodox Church observer Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria told an Interfax-Religion correspondent.

According to him, many Anglican bishops from Africa, including all Nigerian bishops, decided to boycott the Lambeth Conference to show their protest against liberal tendencies in the Anglican Church.

"Anglican schism reflects the situation in the whole Christian world. Polarization between traditional and liberal versions of Christianity becomes more definite and today the Anglican Church is to decide between the two options," Bishop Hilarion said.

"Unfortunately, he concluded, the choice has been made and recent decision of the Anglican General Synod to consecrate women-bishops proves it."

A Resolution just agreed by the FiF Council

The Council of Forward in Faith, meeting at Canterbury on 21st July, was appalled at the outcome of the recent General Synod debate of 7th July. The Council remains determined to respond to the needs of its members by securing a structural solution comprising discrete dioceses for those in conscience opposed to the ordination of women as bishops.

Stephen Parkinson

Director
 

The bishops of the Anglican Communion gathered in Canterbury last Wednesday, the 16th. But in a certain sense, the Lambeth Conference as such began today.

The bishops’ first three days together began with worship and Bible study at their main venue, the campus of the University of Kent. They were then bussed to the cathedral for a time in retreat, with addresses given by Archbishop Rowan Williams.

Today, the bishops gathered at the cathedral again, this time for the official opening Eucharist of the Conference. Both the setting of the service, the Missa Luba, and the Eucharistic Prayer were from the Congo; the preacher, who was chosen by the Archbishop, was Bp. Duleep de Chickera of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

In the afternoon they began their work in earnest, with a plenary session introducing the conference programme.

Indaba

The official public spokesman of the Conference is Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, the Primate of Australia. He held the first of his daily press conferences in the Cathedral precincts, just after the opening service. Much of the conference was devoted to nuts and bolts, such as the time and location of briefings and the introduction of the media support staff. There is concern that there is only limited room for the press at those sessions which are open to it (one reporter asked what would have happened if the 200 bishops who had refused their invitations had changed their minds in response to the various appeals and decided to come), and the possibility of providing a closed-circuit feed to the media center is being investigated.

But the heart of the briefing introduced to the press the process which is at the heart of this conference, the process called indaba. Read the rest of this entry »

By Charles Raven, VirtueonLine

Just three weeks after the announcement of the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration, it is already clear that GAFCON has irrevocably changed the Anglican Communion. The majority of the world’s Anglicans now no longer look to Canterbury.

Structures that stifle spiritual life will eventually find themselves bypassed and this is exactly what was expressed in the courteous but firm response of the GAFCON Primates Council to Rowan Williams’ criticisms, declaring in the final paragraph that ‘We assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of our respect as the occupier of an historic see which has been used by God to the benefit of his church and continue to pray for him to be given wisdom and discernment.’

It is of course disorientating for the leadership of the Church of England to find itself described as belonging to ‘an historic see’ of the Anglican Communion when it naturally thinks of itself as ‘the historic see’.

The reality which GAFCON, as a confessional movement, forces the Church of England to face is that the spiritual devastation caused by the promotion of a false gospel is not safely contained on the other side of the Atlantic, but that the same counterfeit Christianity has become deeply ingrained in its own life with the real risk that under pressure from a increasingly secularised culture it may follow the same path to apostasy as has been pioneered by ECUSA/TEC.

The seriousness of the their Church’s spiritual wound has been routinely denied and downplayed for so long, not only by revisionists, but also many who would identify themselves as evangelicals, that there is now a very powerful temptation to try and carry on the pretence.

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