Headline: Episcopal Bishops Suspend Naming Any New Ones - NYT
Hmmm. This would get rid of the tenure problem I have been griping about, but it's not exactly what I had in mind.
Turns out the headline is a come on. Read the article to find out why. (Via The Eclectic Econoclast)
FOLLOWUP: Turns out Johnnie can't read. The Episcopal Church USA did decide not to name any new bishops for a year. That's a clever way out of a theological difficulty. The Anglican Communion had asked them to stop naming gay bishops. Rather than discriminate, the American bishops decided to finesse. Quote:
Last October, an Anglican committee issued a report that urged the American and Canadian churches to adopt moratoriums on the consecration of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions.
+But Bishop John Chane of Washington, D.C., said in a phone interview yesterday as the Texas meeting ended that the American bishops had agreed nearly unanimously to extend the moratorium to all prospective bishops.
+Singling out gay bishops would have "placed an unfair burden on a group of people in this church, which would be the gay and lesbian contingent," said Bishop Chane, who holds liberal views on homosexuality. "We believed that needed to be a burden shared by all of us in the church."
+In February, Anglican primates meeting in Northern Ireland intensified the pressure by asking the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and the Anglican Church of Canada not to send representatives in June to the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, a major session of global church leaders.
+The American bishops who met in Texas did not decide whether to comply with that request, saying the decision would have to be made by the Episcopal Church's executive council, made up of bishops, priests and lay members.
+The Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon, a conservative who is canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina, said of the bishops: "They did not do anything they were asked to do. They punted."
So, there will be no new bishops of either flavor, gay or otherwise.
Hmmm. This would get rid of the tenure problem I have been griping about, but it's not exactly what I had in mind.
Turns out the headline is a come on. Read the article to find out why. (Via The Eclectic Econoclast)
FOLLOWUP: Turns out Johnnie can't read. The Episcopal Church USA did decide not to name any new bishops for a year. That's a clever way out of a theological difficulty. The Anglican Communion had asked them to stop naming gay bishops. Rather than discriminate, the American bishops decided to finesse. Quote:
Last October, an Anglican committee issued a report that urged the American and Canadian churches to adopt moratoriums on the consecration of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions.
+But Bishop John Chane of Washington, D.C., said in a phone interview yesterday as the Texas meeting ended that the American bishops had agreed nearly unanimously to extend the moratorium to all prospective bishops.
+Singling out gay bishops would have "placed an unfair burden on a group of people in this church, which would be the gay and lesbian contingent," said Bishop Chane, who holds liberal views on homosexuality. "We believed that needed to be a burden shared by all of us in the church."
+In February, Anglican primates meeting in Northern Ireland intensified the pressure by asking the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and the Anglican Church of Canada not to send representatives in June to the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, a major session of global church leaders.
+The American bishops who met in Texas did not decide whether to comply with that request, saying the decision would have to be made by the Episcopal Church's executive council, made up of bishops, priests and lay members.
+The Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon, a conservative who is canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina, said of the bishops: "They did not do anything they were asked to do. They punted."
So, there will be no new bishops of either flavor, gay or otherwise.
posted by John B. Chilton at 3/17/2005 03:27:00 PM
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