Lambeth Flotsam and Jetsam (with some corrections...)

A few bits of Lambeth flotsam and jetsam:

(i) Who is this man to the right? Well, he is The Rt. Rev. James Jones of Liverpool. For some reason Ruth Gledhill mentioned in an article titled, Commentary: Rebellion in the Church's Ranks, "...bishops, many of them senior, are beginning to circulate some Anglican "whispers of discontent" about the leadership of Dr Williams. They have even begun speaking of another diocesan, a thrusting, youngish, photogenic evangelical, who might be suited to take his place." She of course did not mention his name. Damian Thompson in his blog for the Telegraph steps up to the plate and gave a possible identification. He writes, "She (Ruth Gledhill) talked about a "photogenic youngish evangelical" being talked up as a possible successor. That strikes me as an excessively flattering description of James Jones of Liverpool, but he's ambitious enough, that's for sure."

So once again the rumors arise that somehow Archbishop Rowan Williams is headed out the door and Bishop Jones is a thought. Who knows?

(ii) While there was considerable wringing of hands and moans of "ain't it terrible" concerning the absence of the Provinces that boycotted Lambeth, and considerable commentary on the exclusion of Bishop Gene Robinson, no one in either the press or the official voice of the Conference had much to say about the absence of bishops working in North America part of various provinces and excluded from invitation, and almost nothing about the GAFCON notion of an alternative North American province. Most of those bishops (Minns, Anderson, etc) were related to Provinces that refused to come of course, but some few - the deposed bishops of Recife and San Joaquin - are bishops in good standing in other Provinces even if deposed in others. They were rightly excluded, but their Primate - Presiding Bishop Venables - saw fit to attend Lambeth. Apparently the matter of principle - "we will not attend if all our bishops cannot attend" - which seems to have operated in Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya - didn't make it as a principle in the Southern Cone.

The GAFCON alternative Province in North America got the back of the hand from Lambeth in its push for serious attention to the moratoria, which includes interventionist Primates. The odd Lambeth notion of a holding area for dioceses out of communion with their provinces looks like an alternative to the GAFCON alternative. But none of this generated much excitement. Apparently it is assumed that GAFCON will go with its alternative Province in NA and to hell with the Lambeth shuffle, and equally the holding area for bishops already intervening in North America is an idea dead on arrival. I can't see AMiA and CANA melding back into the Episcopal Church after a time in a holding tank. And GAFCON's alternative NA Province is an idea on a roll, with Common Cause Partnership ready to go.

(iii) The planning group for the Lambeth Conference did a great deal of work leading up to the event. I gather they met during the Conference and had some input into matters at they developed on site, but did so in conjunction with other groups of advisers. I've heard nothing from them following the Conference in terms of a follow-up assessment.

(iv) The Lambeth Conference went over budget by several millions of dollars. Who was minding the store? Surely there might have been some effort to tailor the event to the budget in place. The usual places of rescue for such overruns include the various coffers of the Church of England, funds from the Anglican Consultative Council budget, etc, and from the major donors to Anglican Communion activities, including the Episcopal Church. NOTHING seems to have been said at Lambeth to the bishops about the possibility of their returning to their own Provinces and shaking the trees. Perhaps I missed it. And, to be frank, if the bishops came back here and shook the trees they would find very little interest in bailing the Conference out of its difficulties.

The Archbishop will have to go to church foundations, including some in America, for help. There is some feeling that the ABC is a bit ticked off at the "American" church believing it to be the source of the troubles and doubly so because it seems an arrogant body, given to being just like the United States, etc. It cannot be a healthy thing for him or the Church that he might have to come to the Episcopal Church or foundations in it for help. Whatever the complaint about the unwarranted influence of the US Church, to have to ask money from it can only make the bile taste more bitter.

(v) In the past there has been considerable frump about who is receiving communion from whom. At Lambeth there were lots of bishops who laid hands on Bishop Robinson. The Presiding Bishop was there. Were there bishops who refused to receive communion when these bishops also were receiving? Remember the bizarre antics at Dar Es Salaam? There was also the absence of a group picture of the Primates at Dar.

Well, interestingly enough in the pictures of the bishops at Lambeth the most often posted picture was a cut from the middle of the pack, in which the ABC is in the center and a few of the Primates on his left and right, but not far enough over to include the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. She would have been the next one to the left. The second row is filled with officers of the ABC's staff and ACC folk, along with the Archbishop of York. Just above you can see the chin of the Bishop of Fort Worth. This particular picture comes from George Conger's pages. Credit to him and to (I suspect) the Lambeth Photographer. Another version of this is cropped the same to the left and right, but goes up several steps. But the only other version I have seen of the front row is the one of the whole crowd. Well, in itself no big deal, but in the flotsam and jetsam department it sits there.

(Addendum) Scott Gunn was kind enough to respond with the following (also in the comments):

"I have loads of photos showing +KJS near +Cantuar. I posted a couple on the official Lambeth flickr set.

There are many photos of this event around, so anyone cropping out +KJS made their own choice.

Photo 1

Photo 2

These photos, and many more on the flickr set, are available for use, provided ACNS is credited.

By the way, there was not one Lambeth Photographer. There were four on the team, of which I was 25%.

Pax,
Scott+"

Thanks Scott. My point was I wasn't seeing any of those, but only the cropped shot. Then again, maybe I was only looking for what I wanted or didn't want. I appreciate the correction.

I am putting off dealing with important matters of Lambeth, important and I believe devastating. At the moment I'm just cleaning off unclaimed notes and mutterings. The big news of Lambeth - that the Communion is now headed for a crash - will have to hold for another day.