Written by: Rev. Professor Christopher Seitz
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
Much was accomplished through obviously difficult and taxing work by the Primates at Dar es Salaam. In one key area, it is clear that the work of two Camp Allen meetings of Windsor Bishops was endorsed at Dar es Salaam. Up until now, that work has been largely confidential though public statements were released as was possible.
March 28 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
It is a maddening time within American Anglicanism. Even in the last few days, there is a new restlessness born of the energies of sorrow and hope both, as they seek some resolved path ahead. A few days ago, I wrote about the need to take this time seriously indeed. I wrote in terms of conservative presence within the Episcopal Church, and its now apparent incongruity with the official structures of our leadership. “Normative Christianity” (as one friend has put it) has been demoted and even banished: the Episcopal Church has declared independence. We must take our stands.
March 27 2007 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Monday, March 26th, 2007
ACI was surprised to learn of the Grace Church Vestry’s vote to leave TEC and affiliate itself with CANA. This move comes in the midst of an argument between the Rector, Don Armstrong and the Diocese of Colorado, over financial matters at the parish, an argument still publicly unresolved.
March 26 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
To a certain kind of faithful Episcopalian, things may indeed look bleak. The recent House of Bishops meeting in Texas seems to put a seal of finality to the fraying hopes many of us had for the renewal of our common life.To be realistic, however, is not to lose hope; rather, it is see more clearly where our true hope must lie.
March 22 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
I want briefly to say something about the Covenant’s origins in a practical sense, and then move on to its rationale and content. As most of us know, the proposal for an Anglican Covenant derives almost exclusively from the Windsor Report itself (see e.g. par. 118-120). The proposal came in the context of the Report’s recommendations to enhance the unity of the Anglican Communion: ‘’This Commission recommends, therefore, and urges the primates to consider, the adoption by the churches of the Communion of a common Anglican Covenant which would make explicit and forceful the loyalty and bonds of affection which govern the relationships between the churches of the Communion’’ (118). Several things about such a covenant were noted in the Report, and the ‘’draft’’ of a possible covenant was included in the Report as an appendix and, in a sense, a ‘’discussion-starter’’.
March 20 2007 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
We are grateful for the general direction and careful recommendations offered by the Primates in their Dar es Salaam Communiqué. With them, we share the “belief that it would be a tragedy if the Episcopal Church was to fracture”, and with them “we are committed to doing what we can to preserve and uphold its life”. But the Primates are right in noting that, whatever their particular recommendations may be for The Episcopal Church, they are only recommendations: “such change and development which is required must be generated within [TEC’s] own life” (28).
March 15 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Friday, March 2nd, 2007
The Proposed Covenant recently commended by the Primates to the Communion for study and response deserves serious discussion, not only with regards to its particulars, but more importantly, with regard to its larger purpose and character. However critical may be the recommendations of the Primates with regard to TEC in their Tanzania CommuniquE, it is essential to see these as but the outline for an iinterimi arrangement until the Covenant itself will be finalized and accepted or rejected by individual churches. It is possible, of course, that Lambeth i08 will choose a different path forward, but I believe this is unlikely. For the present it appears clear: the Covenant frames the CommuniquE. This is crucial to understand, because it tells us something about how we are invited to approach the entire calling as a Communion that we have been given in this difficult time.
March 02 2007 | Articles