Texanglican

"The Preachers chiefly shall take heed that they teach nothing in their preaching, which they would have the people religiously to observe and believe, but that which is agreeable to the Doctrine of the Old Testament and the New, and that which the Catholick Fathers and Ancient Bishops have gathered out of that Doctrine." A proposed canon of Elizabeth I, 1571

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Location: Bedford, Texas, United States

I am a presbyter in the diocese of Fort Worth, Texas (Anglican Church in North America). I serve as Chaplain at St. Vincent's School and as a canon of St. Vincent's Cathedral Church in Bedford, Texas. In addition to my parish duties and teaching Religion classes in the school I am also the Middle School Social Studies teacher.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Sept. Meeting Now Looks Much Less Important

For those who had hoped that the meeting Archbishop Williams had arranged next month between PB Griswold, PB-elect Schori, Bishops Duncan and Iker and others would actually accomplish something, the email below is disheartening. It turns out this will simply be another gab fest--an exclusively internal affair for TEC (with the canon who runs the Anglican Communion's office acting as a sort of facilitator or something). Its even going to take place on 815's home turf in New York. Clearly the ABC will neither be there nor try to influence the proceedings. In other words, this is just more of the same endless "dialog" that has served the theological Left so well for the last few years. Couldn't this non-event have been handled by a simple conference call? No one is going to budge without major pressure from overseas.

Thank you for your email. Its contents have been carefully noted. The meeting in September to which you refer has been convened precisely so that bishops who are asking for alternative primatial oversight can meet with their current primate and his successor to determine from within the Episcopal Church the best way forward. While the Archbishop of Canterbury had a role in establishing this meeting, and will be represented at it by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, it is intended to allow the Episcopal Church to reach its own conclusions, and does not represent any independent action by the Archbishop of Canterbury at all.

You may like to read Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s recent comment on the meeting, which you will find here.


Do please join with us in praying for the well-being of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion and that God’s will for all God’s children may be clearly known and heeded.

G K Cameron
Deputy Secretary General
Anglican Communion Office

Canon Cameron's email may be found here.

6 Comments:

Blogger Julian said...

Blech.

6:03 PM  
Blogger Mimi Catherine Chen said...

may be its about time to think about swimming the tiber!

11:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The whole thing is corrupt, friend. Have you seen the latest on All Too Common?

3:32 PM  
Blogger Julian said...

MCC,

People don't always leave Rome when the going gets tough. So why should Anglicans? Some of us have convictions, too, and reasons to stay that go beyond convenience.

Telling us to swim the Tiber doesn't address those convictions, and can end up feeling a bit condescending, which is not inviting - shouldn't there be more respect towards people who take these decisions seriously and stand for what they believe?

I think I know Texanglican well enough to say that he has good, solid reasons for being Anglican, and that it's mostly useless to try to change his mind about religion unless you can speak to his principles. If he ever swam the Tiber, it would be for very good reasons, and probably because he came to hold convictions he does not hold now.

While I do not completely rule out convenience as a good reason to switch churches, I think people who are honest enough to stay with a troubled church because of principles should not be told lightly what they should do. He would already have considered it, and if he ever did it, he would do it in good conscience and be a loyal member.

If he's meant to swim the Tiber, he will on his own. In the meantime, it might be more productive to engage him in discussion about *why* he should instead of *when*.

5:48 PM  
Blogger Texanglican (R.W. Foster+) said...

Thanks, Julian. Your comment does reflect my feelings on the matter well. I have great respect for the role of the Bishops of Rome in protecting the Church from heresy over the centuries, and my regard for many things about the Roman Catholic tradition is high, but I am an Anglican by conviction. A few months ago I posted about my reasons for remaining Anglican. Those reasons still hold today. Perhaps it is time that I wrote on that topic again. I will do so when I get a chance. (Oh BTW, Mimi, though I don't plan on "swimming" anywhere any time soon, I would be more likely to plunge into the Bosporos than the Tiber at present. Take care.)

10:30 AM  
Blogger Mimi Catherine Chen said...

just food for thought Randall... just also i'm surounded by Anglicans thinking of swimming the tiber here.... :)

7:56 AM  

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