What's Good for the Goose...

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

A number of stories this past week have not been getting the attention that they deserve. Before he flew to the United States to meeting with the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops in New Orleans Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams "invaded" the diocese of the Bishop of London, the Right Rev. Richard Chartres, and celebrated a secret Eucharist with the Lesbian and Gay Clergy Consultation. Lord Carey suggested, when the Times reporter covering the story spoke with him, that the reporter check his facts. A spokesman of Archbishop Williams pointed to Canon C8, paragraph 2 (a) of the Church of England’s canons to justify the "invasion." This permits a minister who has the cure of souls of a church to invite "a duly ordained priest or deacon" to minister within his church or chapel for a period of not more than seven days without informing the bishop. As was subsequently drawn to the reporter’s attention by a canon lawyer this rule does not cover invitations to bishops from outside the diocese.

Later in his Advent Letter Archbishop Williams criticized the crossing of boundaries to minister to orthodox Christians wishing to practice their faith as Anglicans but unable to do so in the fellowship of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada and the appointment of new bishops to care for the disaffected. He, however, evidenced no prick of conscience over his "invasion" of the Diocese of London to give communion to practicing gay clergy who are flouting the teaching of the Bible, orthodox Christianity, and the Church of England.

Another story in The Christian Challenge involved a reported conversation between Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and Bishop of Washington DC John Chane in which Canon Kearon told Bishop Chane that the US bishops would "pass muster" if they adopted the practice of the Church of England, banning public blessings of same sex unions but countenancing private blessings.

Kearon denied the accuracy of the report. He further asserted as a member of the Church of Ireland he would not know what goes on in the Church of England. From a top official in a key position, who is expected to know a lot about what is going on in the provinces of the Anglican Communion, such a claim sound disingenuous at best. From an Irishman it sounds like blarney.

Chane also denied the accuracy of the report. He expressed unhappiness that what he considered a private conversation had become the object of public scrutiny.

When The Christian Challenge investigated what was the practice in the Church of England, it indeed found that while the bishops of the Church of England permitted clergy to register same-sex civil partnerships provided they pledge to abstain from sexual activity, they did not officially sanction the public blessing of these partnerships. At the same time a number of bishops were giving a wink and a nod to private blessings.

The Christian Challenge further reported that the blessing of same sex unions continue in The Episcopal Church unabated.

In an interview with BBC Presiding Bishop Katharine Schori complained that The Episcopal Church is the victim of a double standard. She alleged that there were not only gay bishops in other provinces of the Anglican Communion but also there were "partnered gay bishops." The Episcopal Church was being singled out because it was the only church in which there was a partnered gay bishop who was open about his status. The Presiding Bishop expressed hope that Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson would eventually be invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. "Well, it’s a long time til July," she said.

The Church Society released its analysis of the response from the Church of England to the draft Anglican covenant. It pointed out that the General Synod of the Church of England had been unwise in giving the Archbishops authority to respond on their behalf and the fears of some who had questioned the wisdom of this decision have been realized. In effect the Church of England’s response completely re-writes the original Covenant Design Group version of the covenant. The changes weaken the role and authority of Scripture and shift the focus to how Scripture is interpreted and received. The analysis goes on to point out:

"The Archbishops however take issue with the idea of biblically derived moral values, stating that this ‘assumes a deductive approach to the relationship between Christian ethics and the Bible to which many Anglicans would not subscribe’. This is precisely the point and where the division comes, some believe what the Articles of Religion claim that the Bible is the Word of God and that morality should be derived from what God has said, others do not believe this and so do not derive their moral values primarily from Scripture."

The analysis notes that the Archbishops make no attempt to address the presenting issue that is dividing the Anglican Communion, that is, some sections of the churches in the Communion have adopted new sexual ethics that reject the Bible’s authority and are seeking to promote these ethics throughout the Communion. They, however, show no such reluctance in proscribing the crossing of provincial boundaries. The Covenant would prohibit all interventions except those "specifically authorised by the relevant Instruments of Communion" 6(6). Williams and Sentamu would leave biblically faithful Anglicans in the United States, Canada, Brazil—and dare we say the United Kingdom—hanging in the wind. The provinces of Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Southern Cone would be violating the covenant if they offer help to them.

The analysis further states:

"The experience of the last few years shows what a farce this process has become with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion Office apparently deliberately manipulating affairs to ensure the best possible interpretation of the failure of the US Episcopal Church to do what was asked of it."

It concludes:

"Neither the Draft Covenant nor the proposed revision attempt to do what the original Windsor Report seemed to envisage which was give real teeth to the Instruments (the Archbishop of Canterbury in particular) but therefore they do not really change anything. In fact when this long process is over it is hard to see how the Covenant is going to make the slightest difference except that it will allow those who have abandoned Biblical teaching and morality to claim that they are genuine Anglicans and very little will be done to say otherwise."

Is it surprising then that biblically faithful Anglicans are highly skeptical whether the 2008 Lambeth Conference is going to do anything other than rubberstamp William’s claim that The Episcopal Church has done all that it can be expected to do and to hand the communion franchise to the liberal agenda?

Shortly after her election Williams assured Presiding Bishop Schori that The Episcopal Church would not be ousted from the Anglican Communion on his watch. So far he has kept his promise. He has blocked every real effort to discipline The Episcopal Church. Perhaps in the back of his mind he knows that if the primates of the Anglican Communion were to successfully discipline The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of England might be next.

After all, what’s good for the goose, an old proverbial saying reminds us, is good for the gander.