11/05/2010

New Primate of the Southern Cone known detriment to ecumenical dialogue.

The Rt. Rev. Hector "Tito" Zavala of Chile has been elected the new primate of the Province of the Southern Cone.
 
Readers will recall that he was just recently made to step down from participation in official Anglican ecumenical conversations because the Province of which he is a part was defiant of the moratorium on cross boundary incursions.  So the new Primate is a person barred from taking part in certain Anglican conversations. A bit of an embarrassment, wouldn't you say?
 
Preludium has held that it was wrong , on the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the General Secretary of the Anglican Communion to remove persons from ecumenical conversations because their provinces were non-compliant with supposed Anglican norms.  I believe that is true for members of The Episcopal Church and it is true for members of the Province of the Southern Cone.

While it is true that members of these commissions come from various provinces, it is hoped that members of the various ecumenical dialogues were initially chosen because they were engaged, well read, educated and otherwise expertly prepared to take part in very nuanced conversations about relations between churches of the Anglican Communion, as a whole, and whatever entity they were in conversation with.  Hopefully they were not chosen because they were from this or that province.

So when members of those ecumenical conversations were expelled because of the church they belonged to, the results were simply that good Anglicans with expertise and interest were removed from discussions where they might have done some good. To bad for the commissions, too bad for the Anglican Communion.


But this is an embarrassment. Now we have a banned person elected as primate in the Province of the Southern Cone.  He can't serve on an ecumenical commission, yet he will now be the ecumenical spokesperson for Anglicanism in the Southern Cone.

This removal from the ecumenical commissions and committees on the basis of ecclesial nationality was a bad idea to begin with.  But the memory lingers on... the Anglican Communion rejected these people not because of who they are, but because of the church they belong to.  One may hope that Bishop Zavala and the members of The Episcopal Church who were asked to step down from membership in ecumenical conversations are a forgiving sort.
 

13 comments:

  1. Mark,

    I am in total agreement with you. The ACC's expulsion of those who disagree means that there is no way to work out differences.


    word verification: kinglike ;-D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I rejoice in the election of Bp Tito Zavala as Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone. He is the first indigenous leader of that Province. He is also the first Primate who is a graduate from Trinity School for Ministry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Curious that PB Venables, now in his third consecutive term of office, seems to have decided to abide by that article of the Southern Cone's constitution which limits its officers to two consecutive terms. Could he, like Nazir-Ali, be preparing to do a Sarah Palin? Guess we'll see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The provincial canons allow a third period if the synod is unanimous which is why I was asked to serve a third period which finished this month. Having completed nine years I shall now concentrate on the two Argentine dioceses which are my responsibility.

    ReplyDelete
  5. “He is also the first Primate who is a graduate from Trinity School for Ministry.”--David Wilson

    Why, David, would you “rejoice” that a graduate of a reactionary, con-evo seminary has become a primate (albeit a primate of a miniscule province)?

    Kurt Hill
    Brooklyn, NY

    ReplyDelete
  6. Um, Kurt, it's bacause (I'm guessing) David Wilson+ is a reactionary, con-evo?

    Personally, I really don't care who S(n)oCone elects as its Primate. "New Boss, same as the Old Boss" and all that.

    I pray for their conversion---as WE need continuing conversion, too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for clarifying, Bishop Greg. AJM

    ReplyDelete
  8. There is no evidence that was Vacables.

    ReplyDelete
  9. David |Dah • veed|,

    There is evidence, simply no proof. The meaning of these words are often conflated.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kurt, et al.

    I am an alum of Trinity and Tito is a friend of twenty years running so I rejoice, nothing more and nothing less

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am unsure what this means, in reference to 'Vacables.' If the point you are making is that 'Greg' is not 'Gregory Venables' why would you hold that? Is there some other explanation -- an imposter? Of course he can speak for himself, but Bishop Venables has said the same thing in other parts of blogdom. Can you clarify, Daaveed? Thank you.
    AJM

    ReplyDelete
  12. AJM, the Greg account at the other end of the link is a dead end. So there is no evidence in my opinion that it is anything more than a sham, or a joke and not a message from the PB of the So Cone.

    Vacables is a long running joke between Leonardo and I regarding the So Cone PB in Spanish.

    ReplyDelete
  13. *Sigh*

    And to think that TEC loyalists complain so much about sinister intentions when some forget to write Jefferts-Schori and sometimes just write Schori.

    ReplyDelete

OK... Comments, gripes, etc welcomed, but with some cautions and one rule:
Cautions: Calling people fools, idiots, etc, will be reason to bounce your comment. Keeping in mind that in the struggles it is difficult enough to try to respect opponents, we should at least try.

Rule: PLEASE DO NOT SIGN OFF AS ANONYMOUS: BEGIN OR END THE MESSAGE WITH A NAME - ANY NAME. ANONYMOUS commentary will be cut.