The Lead

Ruth Gledhill has this report on #mitregate quoting her The Times article:

'Lambeth Palace are investigating the way the leader of The Episcopal Church was treated in Britain this week after Anglicans in the US have complained that she was forced to carry, rather than wear her mitre, at Southwark Cathedral,' we report. 'The Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori has described as “nonsense” and “bizarre” the edict from the Archbishop of Canterbury that forced her to hold her episcopal hat when she preached and presided at Holy Communion this week.'

Hmm. So Lambeth Palace are investigating the Archbishop of Canterbury? Is that like Buckingham Palace investigating King George III?

Stirring the pot further our Ruth writes,

Apparently the question of the ACO budget is one of the issues on the agenda [of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church] this week...

Ellipse in the original.

As The Lead was first to report, the Secretary General of the ACO is meeting with The Episcopal Church. We now told by the Executive Officer to the Secretary General that, "The Secretary General has been invited to the meeting and he has accepted the invitation."

It is said Tallulah Bankhead told a male Episcopal priest at an Anglo-Catholic church in New York, "Darling, I love your gown but your purse is on fire."

Tags:

Mitregate

Comments (12)

Or perhaps it is as a commenter noted- a functionary carried this out without the ABCs knowledge

Posted by Ann Fontaine | June 17, 2010 10:49 AM

It strains my credulity, Ann.

Nevertheless, my question is underscoring what Gledhill wrote. Ruth says "Lambeth Palace are ... the edict from the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Posted by John B. Chilton | June 17, 2010 11:02 AM

"Lambeth Palace 'ARE'"?????

Adding grammatical insult to ecclesial injury... ;-)

Ann--I would not be surprised to see some flunky chosen to take the fall, but I will never believe that +Rowan didn't engineer the whole thing. I'm sure he hoped that she would be offended and decline to come. Good for her that she didn't!

Paige Baker

Posted by paigeb | June 17, 2010 11:13 AM

Paige,

Common across the pond usage. See, e.g.,

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/worldcup2010/3016012/Clint-Dempsey-England-are-running-scared.html

"England are full of fear! ENGLAND are running scared as they prepare to face Algeria in their must-win World Cup crunch."

Substitute ABC for England, The Episcopal Church for Algeria, and Anglican Communion for World Cup and you have KJS's sermon at Southwark.

Posted by John B. Chilton | June 17, 2010 11:21 AM

Brilliant, John! Thanks for the laugh. (Laughing is much better than crying...)

Posted by paigeb | June 17, 2010 11:33 AM

A bishop with integrity! God keep Katharine, God bless Katharine! A Bishop I can be proud to walk with!

Posted by Sbjoelwatson | June 17, 2010 12:02 PM

I don't know if they'd still say this, but fairly recently English CofE friends who are grateful for the American church, LGBT friendly (and some of them gay), and know and are fond of Rowan have said the ecclesial civil service staff Rowan inherited from George Carey's time were, at least some of the time, consciously and deliberately going their own way in Rowan's name. It's possible that happened with his initial refusal to meet with Gene Robinson (to which Gene responded asking to hear the refusal directly from Rowan - and that got them face to face). The visiting bishop wearing a mitre is a protocol question which sounds like something a protocol officer would feel empowered to speak on in the Archbishop's name.

Posted by Donald Schell | June 17, 2010 12:21 PM

Additional irony of all this is that Samuel Seabury is likely the Anglican bishop who reintroduced (for better or worse) the practice of bishops wearing mitres. In the CofE it's an American innovation.

Posted by Donald Schell | June 17, 2010 12:23 PM

Gimme that old time religion, Donald. Where I come bishops don't wear hats - at least not until recently.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80854_87201_ENG_HTM.htm

Posted by John B. Chilton | June 17, 2010 12:29 PM

Oh, my, it was the HAT that made us all afraid of our bishop at confirmation! Plus he would hit you; that's what they said.

No wonder Lambeth Palace are investigating.

Posted by Josh Thomas | June 17, 2010 12:38 PM

I've always loved that old story about Tallulah and the smoke! But I had heard that she said it to the thurifer. Our thurifers at St. Mark's Berkeley are hardly ever priests, much less male!

Posted by Susan Hedges | June 17, 2010 12:59 PM

Lambeth Palace are ... is not simply common usage, but correct in this case. Palace here is a group noun referring to the people who live/work in a Palace.

Could the Episcopal Church cut all funding for the ACO and open a few parishes here for us sad ex-pats?

Posted by Joseph Voelker | June 18, 2010 7:03 AM

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