GAFCON, a conference on its way to being an alternative Anglican Communion, was to be held in Jerusalem. Never mind that the organizers did not ask the Bishop of Jerusalem. When the bishop objected he was treated in a paternalistic way and chided for having reservations about holding the meeting there. He suggested however that the organizers might hold their meeting in Cyprus and from there go on pilgrimage if they wished to Jerusalem.
GAFCON folk however have mouths considerably larger than their ears. So they have proposed that they meet in Jordan and then go on pilgrimage across to Jerusalem. The announcement is HERE.
The Bishop of Jerusalem was concerned that GAFCON ought not meet in his diocese, where matters are a bit complex. So GAFCON is meeting in Jordan.
Just for the record...Jordan is part of the Diocese of Jerusalem.
Note what the Anglican Communion pages say about the Diocese of Jerusalem: "The Jerusalem bishopric was founded in 1841 and became an archbishopric in 1957. Reorganization in January 1976 ended the archbishopric and combined the Diocese of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria with the Jerusalem bishopric after a nineteen-year separation."
GAFCON is dribbling off into vapor: first it was to be a great meeting to chart the course of a Global Anglican Future combined with a pilgrimage. Now it is a much smaller meeting of central figures in the Africa bible-belt and related "south" community, combined with some sort of pilgrimage in Jerusalem.
But even as it has the vapors, GAFCON still seems uncaring of the life of the Diocese into which it will impose itself.
Then again, perhaps the Bishop of Jerusalem gave in. Who knows? Still, if I said, "not in my house, please" I would somehow assume it was understood that I included the back porch.
It is perhaps time to wonder just why the Archbishop of Nigeria has such a bee in his miter about meeting in Jerusalem anyway. Surely the propaganda value of meeting there plays back well somehow in Nigeria.
2/20/2008
6 comments:
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SIX primates and counting....not coming to Lambeth now. Kenya looks set to announce that it is going to GAFCON.....and it seems +Jerusalem has agreed to the Jordan plan......
ReplyDeleteThe Primates not coming to Lambeth matter a whole lot in the AC....they represent around 60% of Anglicans in the world and the parts of the AC which are growing rather than shrinking year on year while indulging in lots of ironic "inclusive" talk.
We are not coming to Lambeth, because the Anglican Communion has not done what we demanded. That summarizes the approach here.
ReplyDeleteThis, of course, does nothing to advance dialogue and mutual understanding in a diverse Communion like ours - quite the opposite, in fact. It also makes clear just how much some bishops are willing to compromise our common life in the Anglican Communion - regardless of what their local flocks might or might not see as priority issues of fellowship - in the hope of advancing their demands on everyone. (In the sharpest possible contrast, no one, say, in the Dioceses of New Westminster or New Hampshire ever demanded that everyone believe or do as they do as regards nonessentials.)
Surely there is a term in the realm of psychology and systems theory to describe the behavior being exhibited by those of our brethren involved in the GAFCON project.
christopher+
As has been pointed out, it is very unclear to what extent the Primates who are not coming to Lambeth actually "represent" your average Anglican-in-the-pew. How many folks in those countries even know (or care?) about the conflicts raging around the Anglican Communion. Methinks they have more basic issues to deal with--like putting food on the table.
ReplyDeletetom sramek jr expresses the sentiment of most Anglicans in Africa. Kunonga tried to use the homosexuality as the reason to break away from the Province of Central Africa and the lay people of the Diocese of Harare rejected that. Now he has hijacked the Catheral with the help of the Zimbabwean police but the lay people are resisting that. The Diocese of Harare is still intact as part of the Province of Central Africa. They are at the moment struggling to feed themselves and their families and hoping that one day soon God will intervene and bring about shalom.
ReplyDeletePraying for God's intervention in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole
Please forgive for continuing to bring up Zimbabwe's situation here and diverting from the larger picture of GAFCO
Rudo
Anonymous,
ReplyDeletePlease sign off with a name of some sort so the rest of us know which anonymous is speaking. The blogger system has recently made it more difficult to tell. Thanks.
christopher+
Anonymous 8:25 might want to consider that lies in the defence of other lies are still lies.
ReplyDeleteThe Episcopal Church has never threatened to withold overseas mission money from partners because of disagreements over polity or doctrine.
Somehow I suspect that Ahmonson et all would not continue their massive financial support for Akinola et al if they diverged from his agenda to marginalize, undermine and destroy the Episcopal Church - and any other denomination which rejects his far right policy agenda.
The "conservative" reaction to their conservative critics is quite telling. Poon is told to shut up and remember his place. Wright of Durham is called a racist. Dawani of Jerusalem and de Andrade of Brazil are accused of ecclesio-political prostitution.
Perhaps, Anonymous 8:25, it might surprise you and your fellow "conservatives" to find that there actually are some people in the world who don't function by the same Mammon worshipping moral code as you.