Episcopal Church news roundup

Golly. Lots of developments in the last 24 hours. In addition to the Archbhisop of Canterbury's statement and the Presiding Bishop's response, there are many other things to report.

During General Convention, the Diocese of Fort Worth (Texas) announced they wanted "alternative primatial oversight." This was in protest of the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the next Presiding Bishop. You can read the statement on their diocesan website.

On Wednesday, three more dioceses joined Forth Worth in seeking oversight by a different Presiding Bishop. The three dioceses are San Joaquin, South Carolina, and Pittsburgh. Of those dioceses, Fort Worth and San Joaquin have refused to recognize the ordination of women priests or bishops. Quincy is unhappy too, as this statement indicates (PDF file).

Pittsburgh's statement proposes the creation of a tenth province in the Episcopal Church, presumably made up of conservative dioceses. It is not clear how this would be adequate, given that all nine current provinces are part of The Episcopal Church, of which the Presiding Bishop is head. Perhaps the dioceses will eventually seek to be the "covenant" presence in the US, while the Episcopal Church would be the "affiliated" presence, following the bifurcation suggested by Archbishop Williams in his theological reflection.

You can read some coverage of this whole scene on various websites. Here's progressive take on the situation, and here's a more conservative take on what's happening. Here's the AP newswire story and the NY Times article.

Frank Griswold, as reported in this ENS press release, had some words about Pittsburgh. (I try to present sources here for people to read and form opinions, but I feel compelled to note that this news release is some of the most overt spin I've seen coming out of 815. One wonders why the facts wouldn't be presented on their own merits.)

I find the action by the Standing Committee and Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh unsurprising and altogether consistent with their implicit intention of walking apart from the Episcopal Church.

The urgency of their appeal indicates an unwillingness to be part of the process of formulating a covenant so clearly set forth in the Archbishop of Canterbury's reflection. I would very much hope that they would remain part of the Episcopal Church as we, along with the other provinces of the Communion, explore our Anglican identity - as the Archbishop has invited us to do.

It does seem to me that Griswold has a good point. What's the hurry? The Presiding Bishop has very little ability to effect any change in the inner workings of a diocese, so why are these four dioceses in such a hurry? What about the Windsor Report's listening process? As if to confirm the thing that wags have been saying for months now, namely that at least some of the conservative impetus is the desire for power, today also brought news that Canon Martyn Minns of Virginia's Truro Church has been elected a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria. That certainly makes clear his desire, or lack thereof, to stay in the Episcopal Church, since Nigeria has declared itself out of communion with the Episcopal Church.

Much happened today. I would encourage prayer for everyone involved. I also hope that all of us (no matter our ideological, theological, or political persuasion) can be honest about who we are, what our motivations are, and what we hope to accomplish. In the last two weeks, we've seen lots of unsavory and perhaps even unchristian machinations emanating from all the extremes in this. It has been reported that some bishops cast their votes in the House of Bishops for a Presiding Bishop candidate whom they felt was unqualified just to further their agenda of schism. Let it stop.

Bishop Wimberly of Texas, no liberal, said this yesterday, in a response to General Convention:

I am going to hold onto the central importance of “communion” and I refuse to trim the notion either by moralizing it or identifying it with confessional agreement.

Wimberly has it right. We need to focus on the important things, on the things the Gospel commands of us. For Anglicans, this is communion, both the literal feasting at the Eucharist and the gathering of the people of God into communities, small and large, local and global. We are to love God with our whole being, we are to love our neighbors, and we are to share our love of God with others.

There are people dying in our world, and there are people who do not know God's love. Those are things worthy of great energy, devotion, and resources.