Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Some Bishops really do have spines

Good news from our colleagues in the United States. The Bishops of ECUSA have demonstrated that they did not have their spines extracted at the time of their consecrations. From their annual retreat in Texas, they have issued three documents refusing to accept some of the major demands of the Tanzania Communiqué, and stating clearly the lengths to which ECUSA has gone in attempting to maintain the cohesion of the Anglican Communion. Congratulations!

The full texts of these documentations can be found at:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_84148_ENG_HTM.htm

I hope this encourages the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada to make a similar stand on other aspects of the communiqué at their forthcoming meeting.

As events unroll, I believe we are seeing that the divisions in our church to be not only theological and pastoral. I am seeing a profound difference between the churches which had their origin within the colonial system of the British Empire, on either side of the colonial process, and those whose very origin and nature is anti-colonial. I believe these differences of origin are still today affecting our ethos, our social psychology and spirituality.

Those who know me personally will realize that while my own roots and a sizeable part of my life and ministry have been spent in the colonial sector, it was a great joy and source of spiritual renewal for me to come to Canada nearly twenty years ago. For, while it is clear that, historically, our church grew up in the colonial system, I believer in ethos it is much closer to that of the United States. I have to add that this is my endorsement only of the anti-colonial nature of ECUSA and should not be read to involve any comment on the politics of our neighboring country!

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