Here it is folks. The conspiracy theory of the day. From Bishop David Anderson's weekly message to the American Anglican Congress to your eyes. He writes:"Along ... comes the news that some Church of England (CofE) parishes are thinking of linking up with TEC. This is a strategy that TEC has been working on, and it is diabolically brilliant -
use TEC money to pull in additional dioceses offshore from the United States and make them part of TEC, then call TEC an international organization. Next, link up with or plant TEC churches in England, right under the Archbishop of Canterbury's nose, and bring the TEC heterodoxy and chaos all the way up to the wall surrounding Lambeth Palace.While Dr. Williams is believing this is a family dispute and he can have two tracks and still keep the family together (albeit with one track functioning at a higher level than the other), he is missing the importance of Jefferts Schori's actions. She is bringing the war to his doorstep, and means to create the second tier of the Communion as a separate TEC-led Communion with herself replacing Rowan Williams as the head."
All the wonder and joy of a true conspiracy theory, complete with sneaky underhanded passing of money, sleazy heterodoxy and chaos, and mad attempts to takeover the primacy of Canterbury. And of course the cry, "No more Anglican Communion As We Know It."Wow.
Bishop Anderson would do better checking out his mental innards, his world check is just a little over the top.
Now comes Mr. Anderson with the claim that the Chapman memo is being followed by TEC! Really?
ReplyDeleteWhat we have here is the Blagoavich defense -- everyone does it. Guess what Mr. Anderson -- we don't.
FWIW
jimB
A rival Anglican archbishop on England's shores is more likely to arrive in the form of a GAFCON anointed personage. Say,the soon-to-be-unemployed +Michael Nazir-Ali.
ReplyDeleteEd
Had he been paying attention when he vowed obedience to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church, he might have noticed that TEC has been for some years now an "international organization".
ReplyDeleteOr was his study of geography equally deficient that he thinks that such places as Taiwan, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Domenica are within the United States?
Checking ¨in¨ somewhere ought be more like it...I wonder how a 6 month ¨treatment Center¨ would help refocusing on the real problem...him.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where those parishes in England got the idea of linking to a foreign church. Such a thing has never happened in the whole history of the church.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bishop Jefforts Schori bringing the war to the very doorsteps of Canterbury! Oh dear! But she will only be head of the second tier, a position hardly worth fighting for. I suspect that Bp. Anderson's suspicions may not be true.
Plus, as soon as I heard the story of English parishes wanting to link with TEC, I thought to myself, "That will never happen. Our leadership is too nice."
Once again, if trouble is brewing in the Church of England, the ABC had better concentrate on his own flock, who seem to be turning feisty.
Amazing, however, a natural outcome of faith based so deeply in fear.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's the height of delusion and paranoia. This is all coming from a guy who trash-talks the Episcopal Church and then comes to hang out at General Convention. This is coming from a guy who's in tight with FOCA, which is setting up shop right under the Archbishop of Canterbury's nose.
ReplyDeleteSo if I wrote something on my blog about a science fiction idea involving parish ministry on, say, Mars, would David Anderson assume that the Episcopal Church is going galactic? Sigh.
You just can't make this stuff up any more. Satire is going to be impossible soon.
SG+
It is not the possible, but highly improbable, formal links between English Anglicans and TEC that the English hierarchy should fear. But the informal ones that are already taking place.
ReplyDeleteIn just three and a half years of blogging in an international community, I have stopped thinking of myself as "Church of England" Anglican and have gradually owned the name "Episcopalian." I hardly pay any attention to the stuffy, parochial pronouncements from the C. of E. hierarchy and its mid-twentieth century doctrinal and cultural paradigms. I am far more interested in the "new things" that are happening in Scotland, Canada, the States and elsewhere in what I perceive as a distinct Episcopal community of churches.
It doesn't matter if TEC opens a branch in England or not. In fact, such a move would be very pre-internet and old fashioned. Some of us have already left the harbour and are striking out into the open waters of the ocean. The C. of E. hierarchy is losing its moral authority in its own land without any direct interference from abroad. And that, they should fear.
What Anderson fears may not seem likely now...but play the scenario out a bit. Suppose the Anglican Communion does establish some sort of covenant, to which the Church of England signs on and The Episcopal Church does not sign on.
ReplyDeleteIf that happens, I don't think ex-pat Episcopalians are going to feel very welcome at C of E churches. Ex-pat Episcopalians will need a church home -- a home for their own "way of being Anglican."
If the Archbishop of Canterbury wants to institutionalize ecclesial distinctions, he can hardly complain when those distinctions then take architectural forms.
I wonder how things fare with all those good Nigerians at Falls Church, Virginia? And with all the Rwandans scattered about the South?
ReplyDeleteWow! Bp. Anderson needs to get ahold of Oliver Stone. This could be a real blockbuster.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me this is a logical result of allowing diocesan accession to the Anglican covenant. They may decide to go other places as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is right out of the GAFCON/FOCAS playbook. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.
ReplyDeleteFunny with or without the paranoia.
Rather more than 'just a little over the top'.
Time for him to check himself in. It's couch time.
I don't think ex-pat Episcopalians are going to feel very welcome at C of E churches
ReplyDeleteActually, that's crap. In the Diocese of Durham, for example, they would still be a lot more welcome than the Bishop of Durham is now.
"Actually, that's crap. In the Diocese of Durham, for example, they would still be a lot more welcome than the Bishop of Durham is now."
ReplyDeleteIf ever someone should have stuck with the academic life. I am just saying....
FWIW
jimB
MP, thank you for that remark; I appreciate its spirit. But I for one cannot distinguish very well between the Diocese of Durham and its bishop.
ReplyDeleteI'm not defending this reaction; perhaps I personalize things too much. But from this distance, Bishop Wright has a lot to answer for. And my reaction will be even more valid if the scenario I described (covenant => TEC demotion => "two ways of being Anglican") plays out.
So, if the people of the diocese are doing anything to disassociate themselves from the views of their bishop, I would be curious to know what they are doing. At the moment, the only counter evidence about your diocese that I have is your say-so. It is welcome, but still....
If the Diocese of Durham, taken as a whole, disagrees with its bishop, then perhaps it should bestir itself, and organize for the next Synod, and lobby its MPs. Let's derail this curial covenant proposal while there's still a chance.
Otherwise Point of Order's point is valid: TEC plantings in Engliand would be the "logical result of allowing diocesan accession to the Anglican covenant." What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
They're not even competent liars!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they think that attempting to deceive and failing utterly is somehow NOT evil?
Ahem - why does anyone think TEC has the resources to start this alleged global takeover?
ReplyDeletePerhaps because TEC has the resources to fund, and does fund, much of the work of the Communion's organizational entities.
ReplyDelete