Bishop Tom Wright assured us on April 12th that the Archbishop "would be writing to those bishops who might be thought particularly unsympathetic to Windsor and the Covenant to ask them whether they were really prepared to build on this dual foundation. Those letters, I understand, are in the post as we speak, written with apostolic pain and heart-searching but also with apostolic necessity."
The Pentecost Letter, posted on the Archbishop's web page is NOT the letter to bishops unsympathetic. Read his letter HERE. Rather this letter is a more general letter to all bishops.
In it the Archbishop remarks, "As you may have gathered, in circumstances where there has been divisive or controversial action, I have been discussing privately with some bishops the need to be wholeheartedly part of a shared vision and process in our time together." So it remains to be seen what the Archbishop might have said in those private conversations or letters to bishops unsympathetic.
This Pentecost Letter is not the letter to which Bishop Tom Wright referred. Perhaps one of those bishops (whoever you are) would be willing to share the contents of the Archbishop's correspondence with them.
Meanwhile about this Pentecost Letter, it gets one Toot.
The only matter of interest is this comment from the Archbishop: "it all the more essential that those who come to Lambeth will arrive genuinely willing to engage fully in that growth towards closer unity that the Windsor Report and the Covenant Process envisage." This does not require or imply Windsor compliance or Covenant allegiance, but rather a willingness to work for closer unity - a unity that the Windsor Report could not command and the draft Covenants to date do not well serve.
Sir, I suspect other letters may be pending in the outbox....or maybe the ABC has decided it is best to do things verbally rather than have a letter immediately leaked and on the net....all this politicking is sad, is it not?
ReplyDeleteANYWAY - I saw this programme on TV and thought you would love it...as a PRINTER!
Really hope you can view the show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/medieval/gutenberg.shtml
Mark - Too many "i"s in the word "Bishops" in the title to this posting.
ReplyDeleteEd Fordyce
PS - No need to post publically as a comment.
Ed...oops, thanks for catching that.
ReplyDeleteI rather agree with this. Tom Wright was being his usual self at the time, stressing his closeness to the centre and the importance of the Fulcrum position, which is quite small. Mischief, in other words. This letter still pushes the agenda of the Advent Letter, but is less fierce and in having these bishops in not out cannot wholly predict the outcome - nor would any restrictive Covenant pass the filter of the national Churches.
ReplyDeleteRe "Perhaps one of those bishops (whoever you are) would be willing to share the contents of the Archbishop's correspondence with them":
ReplyDeleteHeh.
I can imagine several reasons why this hasn't occurred yet, not the least of which is that publishing such a letter might result in a dis-invitation to the bishop who published it.
I imagine that a bishop might publish such a private letter only if it would politically benefit that bishop somehow, and that bishop sees that as more important than being invited to Lambeth.
Maybe your bishop got one. Why don't you ask him?