The Guardian's Hugh Muir wrote in Guardian Diary
"If the US Episcopal Church – still part of the worldwide Anglican communion despite having the temerity to elect gay bishops – feels nervous about the warmth of its welcome from the mothership that is the Church of England, perhaps there are reasons. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the US church and the first woman ever to lead an Anglican province, preached at Southwark Cathedral last weekend despite muted hisses of disapproval by conservative evangelicals. But close observers would have seen there was something missing: no mitre on her head. Who could be responsible? Step forward, Rowan Williams, Archbish of Canterbury, birthday boy (60 yesterday), who couldn't stop her preaching but said she could not wear the symbol of her office, or carry a bishop's crosier. Something to do with women bishops not yet being allowed in the C of E. A bit petty, some say, as Jefferts Schori is indeed a bishop and head of her national church – but in any event, she carried the mitre. And the subject for her sermon: God welcomes everyone, regardless of dress or condition."
Apparently we are in a state of impaired communion with the CofE, given that they do not recognize our women bishops as bishops. This will of course come as something of a shock to the European Luterans who have women bishops and gay bishops in committed relationships, but never mind. They are not bound hip and thigh to the CofE. Come to think of it, neither are we.
If this is true I wonder just what happened to hospitality. This is really over the top. And of course the wonderfully over the top Mad Priest is the one to find it and bring Muir's note to the rest of us poor souls who don't keep up with the Guardian. Thanks to MP.
Perhaps it will be a new trend... don't wear those strange hats at all, but carry them, perhaps with a cord attached to the band, making them a kind of burse or purse in which monies for the poor could be carried. Perhaps something good can come out of all this. Those damn hats look good on almost no one.
6/15/2010
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Don't be too hard on pointy hats, Mark. Although they have not been a mainstay of your alma mater, they have become an accepted episcopal symbol in TEC. More to the point, so to speak, are the serious issues you raise.
ReplyDelete+ Rowan only understands hospitality when he is the recipient - frequently at American churches and institutions. Regrettably he and + York have now openly exposed their misogyny which is the real issue here. God bless + Katharine for her stamina, courage and intellect.
All of this has been sad and pathetic in its evolution, but now it is downright outrageous. He has totally rejected all of his own [previously] stated convictions and beliefs. The man has completely lost the plot.
Incidentally, a former evangelical bishop of Winchester, John Taylor, refused to wear his mitre at his enthronement, opting to have it carried in on a cushion in front of him in procession. You have added another option!
Pax, Bob
Mark, I am not sure what difference full communion is in the Anglican Communion vs the Porvoo Communion. Full communion is full communion, is it not?
ReplyDeleteBut I recall that he does have similar issues with his communion partners in the Porvoo Communion. He let the Church of Sweden know he was unhappy with the consecration of a partnered lesbian bishop by them, just as he did with TEC.
Canterbury caps can be carried with a sermon manuscript inside.
ReplyDeleteIf true, this is sad, but I'm old enough to remember when bishops of TEC never appeared in mitre, cope, and with crozier, outside of their own diocese.
ReplyDelete"... she carried the mitre."
ReplyDeleteMaybe he's seen her mitre.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, this is petty in the extreme. Are we supposed to feel lucky that women bishops still get invited to Lambeth, despite their illegal status?
Is it true that Canon Kearon is going to attend Executive Council?
Sadly this is the situation for any woman bishop including for example from New Zealand. It is a ridiculous ruling, pre-dating Rowan, that until Women Bishops are accepted in the CofE no woman bishop form elsewhere in the Communion (or Porvoo Churches) will be allowed to officiate as bishops (also those ordained by them will not be given permission to officiate) if ever there was a decision to divide the Communion it would be this one (and long pre-dating Gene's consecration).
ReplyDeleteBob McCloskey, was your father Rector of Trinity in Coatesville, PA? If so, he's one of the reasons I'm in ministry today.
ReplyDeleteWell this pretty much answers last week's question of whether the core issue between CofE and TEC might be the ordination & consecration of female humans... If it isn't THE core issue, it is indisbutably and unavoidably ONE profound issue. Which boils down to the CofE, and by extension the AC, being willing to deny the full humanity of 51% of humans. Way to go, guys.
ReplyDeleteDevon
ANDY: Don't have an e-mail address for you so I'm respoding here. Yes, my Dad was rector in Coatesville. He died April 23, 1993 and I celebrated his Requiem at St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville, Florida. He was an influence on many persons going into ordained ministry.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I celebrated and preached at Southwark Cathedral on November 9, 2009 with the permission of the Powers-That-Be in the C.of E. in the presence of the Diocesan Bishop and fully vested including mitre. It was a public service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in the C. of E. The only restriction place on me was that I was not to "perform an episcopal function". As I was not planning either a confirmation or an ordination this was not a big deal, though the whole process was aggravating. To my mind this makes the insult offered to the Presiding Bishop even more gratuitous. +Ann
ReplyDeleteColin Slee has written to me to say that the correct date for the service in Southwark, to which Bishop Ann refers, is 2002
ReplyDeleteSimon Sarmiento