House of Deputies President sets a few things straight
Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, has issued a response to the Kigali and Camp Allen statements. It is a plainspoken delight. I propose that it be mass-produced and laminated. Worn around the neck, it will ward off self-important bishops.
Click to read it all. Please.
From Bonnie Anderson:
The clarification from Bishop Griswold in his letter to the bishops is very important. The Windsor Report was issued as one part of a process. The responsibility for the response to the Windsor Report belongs to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, a bicameral legislature with representation from lay and clergy as well as bishops. At the 75th General Convention, our response was made. Our bishops certainly can and do meet together. However, when decisions affecting the whole Episcopal Church are made, representatives of the whole Episcopal Church need to be present for the conversations as well as the possible decision making.
Accordingly, the Global South Primates who recently met at Kigali have a right to meet, but no right to make decisions for the Anglican Communion. They have expressed concern about the perceived unilateral actions taken the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2003. However, their statement is truly a unilateral act.
In their statement they distance themselves from Bishop Jefferts Schori for holding views that are similar to those held by Bishop Griswold, Bishop Browning before and other Primates currently. There is nothing unique in her views. What is unique is her gender in the circle of primates. That seems to be their biggest objection. I note with sadness that the Kigali communiqué does not extend the courtesy of referring to Bishop Jefferts Schori as a bishop, where everyone else is referred to with titles. It adds a low note that is not worthy of the faith espoused in the document.
I'm glad that Ms. Anderson is reminding us all, those who recall and those who don't know, that the order of laity in The Episcopal Church is for real.
This means that laity play a key role in governance and day to day operations. That means that it is fine for bishops to meet but that bishops meeting can't pretend to speak for our Church.
This might be well known to us here but even in England they seem to have a hard time really understanding this (even Rowan williams sometimes has not fully understood how our Church functions).
Posted by RMF | September 28, 2006 9:20 PM
RMF and Jim,
I'm a little confused by your comments. I have read the Camp Allen statement again and I see nothing in it that suggests these few, these happy few bishops, were speaking for the whole church. We all speak and read English as our main language right? What am I missing? Thanks.
Posted by Widening Gyre | September 29, 2006 9:17 AM