Beware the rogue bishop

It must be an awkward being a Bishop at Synod.

In several debates we’ve heard about the dangers of a rogue bishop. There’s usually then a reflexive caveat ‘not like any of the present wonderful bishops’ followed by an explanation that ‘we are thinking of a hypothetical future bishop who could use any power we give him for ill’.

So whether its a debate on parish relationships or church planting procedures, the default setting of Synod is to beware the rogue bishop. This suspicion of central diocesan authority is one of the defining characteristics of Sydney Anglicanism. It keeps privileging the parish over the diocese, let alone the national church! Read more

We have had a bellyful of rogue bishops here in the United States but the folks in the Anglican Church in North America appear not to have learned their lesson.