The Lead

In the upside down world of the Anglican Communion, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church in the United States, was welcomed as an equal by the Primate of [All] Australia, the Most Rev. Dr. Philip Aspinall. Ordinarily that would go without saying, but Aspinall chose to say it.

It seems only yesterday that Lambeth Palace required that she not where her mitre in the UK because the C of E does not allow women to be bishops. Aspinall's welcome was a clear signal that that was not the policy in Australia (whatever the sentiments of Archbishop of Sydney are on the matter).

"The Presiding Bishop is welcome to visit the Brisbane Diocese as were four other Primates from around the Anglican Communion who have visited us in the past year," said Dr Aspinall. "Reciprocal visits by Primates and Archbishops are a common and rich part of our Anglican tradition. Discussions will take place with a number of people on topics including leadership, the Millennium Development Goals and human sexuality."

This is an informal visit by Dr Jefferts Schori, who is visiting Australia and New Zealand this month, as the reverberations from her Church's episcopal consecration of a partnered gay woman continue to shake the Anglican Communion. Dr Jefferts Schori's recent visit to England caused a stir when some clergy protested against her invitation to preach in Southwark Cathedral, and she was not permitted to wear her mitre during the service.

Bishop Jefferts Schori is due to preach at Christ Church in the Brisbane suburb of St Lucia on 4 July during a two-week visit to Australian and New Zealand.

Read it all.

The PB received an equally warm antipodean welcome in New Zealand.

Following the #mitregate kerfuffle Lambeth Palace quietly revealed the Presiding Bishop was not singled out for special treatment, but fell under the policy that applied to all openly female bishops:

The agreed approach of the English bishops is that women bishops celebrating under these provisions should do so without the insignia of episcopal office so as to avoid possible misunderstandings.

In New Zealand Jefferts Schori acknowledged that The Episcopal Church was a "troublemaker" and that is the source of antagonism towards the The Episcopal Church. It is turning the world upside down

“I think it represents the pain and discomfort of people who used to be at the centre, and who are now finding themselves being moved to the margins.

“In my context, 200 years ago the landed white gentry were in control of a monoculture. ‘Now all of these people have come along and messed with that: how dare they?’”

Later she spoke to an ecumenical gathering -- ironic given the content of the ABC's Pentecost Letter.

Comments (5)

"...all openly female bishops..."

There you have it. Rowan Williams' real problem with +KJS is that she openly admits to having two X chromosomes! If only she would speak with a deeper voice and keep her hair cut shorter.

Would you care to publish a list of 'in the closet' female bishops?

Posted by Scott Stockburger | June 30, 2010 12:10 PM

The Anglican set up in Australia gives rather more authority to individual dioceses than some other provinces. (A couple of the dioceses have the right to leave the Anglican church of Australia - but Sydney is not one of them!)
Archbishop Aspinall can welcome your Presiding Bishop to Brisbane, but were they meeting in Sydney similar rules would apply as in England and Bishop Jefferts Schori would not be able to officiate as a Bishop. I am writing this to clarify the situation in my country rather than advocating any particular position.
John Sandeman

Posted by Obadiah Slope | June 30, 2010 11:08 PM

And to clarify further: Archbishop Jefferts Schori would in the Diocese of Sydney be prevented from presiding at all. Further, as a woman, she would in many parishes not be permitted to preach: in a significant number of congregations she would even not be allowed to read the bible aloud.

David Bradley

Posted by Alcibades Caliban | July 1, 2010 4:55 PM

Yes. When I wrote this post I mentally noted Aspinall's careful choice of words: "The Presiding Bishop is welcome to visit the Brisbane Diocese as were four other Primates from around the Anglican Communion who have visited us in the past year." Brisbane. Period.

I thought perhaps I'd get some ribbing for saying Aspinall was Archbishop of [All] Australia. Which he is, although there are limits to the uniformity of practice across dioceses. Not that that hasn't also been the case in the U.S. as well -- e.g., Fort Worth. But there again, its hard to see how Anglo Catholic Jack Iker gets along with the snake belly low church archbishop of Sydney.

Posted by John B. Chilton | July 1, 2010 5:10 PM

John,

Err not quite.... Dr Philip Aspinall is Archbishop of Queensland, not "All Australia".
He is Primate of "All Australia" however. Confusing isn't it? You got it right in the main article and wrong in the comment thread.

Posted by Obadiah Slope | July 1, 2010 8:25 PM

Add your comments

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Reminder: At Episcopal Café, we hope to establish an ethic of transparency by requiring all contributors and commentators to make submissions under their real names. For more details see our Feedback Policy.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

CATEGORIES

Organizations