But They Do Have Cell Phones

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/lambeth_conference/live_the_sermon_the_protester_1.html

[Episcopal Cafe] 15 Jul 2008--The ubiquity of the event made the 10-minute stroll from Giles’ home to the church a real pleasure. People kept stopping us on the high street (Why don’t we have high streets in the U. S? Can anything be done about this? A new political party, perhaps?) to congratulate their vicar and tell him how well things had gone. I didn’t realize it, but Giles had planned for a potential disturbance, and had even chosen the hymn the congregation sang to drown out the protester. My favorite moment on the high street (I am resolved to use this phrase as frequently as possible) occurred when Jim Madden, a 6-foot-5 inch former constable and Conservative member of the Putney council embraced Giles and said that he was glad he wasn’t seated near the protester because he wasn’t sure he would have treated him as gently as the situation required.

1. It is true that many people in the Episcopal Church would like to get us out from under Resolution B033, the legislation passed on the last day of our 2006 General Convention which calls upon "Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.“ This isn’t a secret. Numerous dioceses have already submitted resolutions to next year’s General Convention asking that the legislation be repealed, or superseded. If this legislation passes (a big if--I am not sure there are enough votes in the House of Bishops to get the job done) a gay candidate would have a better chance of being elected and confirmed. The notion that if the legislation passed we’d immediately elect another gay bishop is speculative. The notion that we’d suddenly have five or six is hallucinatory. At this point, it is not even possible to know for which dioceses will be electing bishops, which priests would be chosen as candidates, or how the internal dynamics of the dioceses would affect the elections. (I have gone on about this at some length because I have had calls from three reporters about this story this morning.)

2. Integrity has not provided cell phones for all of the Episcopal bishops attending the Lambeth Conference--or even for those sympathetic to its agenda. The Episcopal Church has provided cell phones for all its bishops--and their spouses, too, I believe.