September 2007 Archives

I'll be writing several reflections in the coming week, about our new name and an update on the renovation/expansion of our Broadway space. But in this edition of the Rector's Reflections, I want to highlight a few points about what has been happening the wider Anglican Communion and Episcopal Church this past week.

1) The Episcopal Bishops released a statement from their bi-annual meeting in New Orleans which ended this past Tuesday. It’s only a couple of pages long, if you want to read it it is available here. More importantly is how folks reacted to it: Both the conservatives that are threatening to leave AND the radical left (the Episcopal Gay lobby) are united in reading this as a “status quo” document. The New York Times agrees with this summary as well (link). The BBC is reporting that the Archbishop of Kenya has already said the “compromise” was insufficient. Our own Archbishop, Peter Akinola wrote a strongly worded statement which you can view here. Surely there will be much more written and many more pundits speaking, but the verdict will probably be left unchanged.

2) A very important meeting has just concluded in Pittsburgh including 51 Conservative Bishops from the Episcopal Church, overseas Anglicans and what have been called the “continuing churches” (Anglicans that left TEC years ago). There was a lot of hope riding on this meeting that it would be the starting point of a new orthodox Anglican province in the U.S. You can read CANA's perspective on the results of this meeting here. Many orthodox bishops have commented that one person who chose not to attend this historic meeting of conservative bishops was Bishop James Stanton of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.

3) My former boss when I worked at St. Andrew’s in Fort Worth, TX (The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Steenson) who is now the Episcopal Bishop of The Rio Grande has resigned to become a Roman Catholic. It is quite rare for an active Bishop to resign his post prior to retirement; and even more rare for an active Bishop to go to Rome (I don’t think it’s EVER happened) though two retired Bishops joined the Roman Catholic Church earlier this year. You can read Bp. Steenson’s farewell speech to his colleagues in the House of Bishops here.

4) Watch the news – it is rumored that as many as four or five Episcopal Church Dioceses will leave TEC within the year. San Joaquin is expected to be the first to leave in December. The others who are most likely to jump out of TEC include Ft. Worth TX, Pittsburgh PA & Quincy IL. One reliable web site for news on the Anglican Communion is http://www.standfirminfaith.com.

I try not to dwell on the politics of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. However, from time to time, I think it is important for me to inform you of recent events that may have an effect on us as a congregation. Although no clear impact is immediately apparent, there will inevitably be an effect on us as a CANA congregation from this past week's events. Stay tuned for more updates.