Posted on 11/07/2005 6:03:26 PM PST by sionnsar
There are two ways of looking at this story. The first is that, even at this late date, Rowan Williams still doesn't get it. The other and, to me, more likely explanation is that my gracious lord of Canterbury understands it perfectly:
The spiritual leader of the Anglican church on Friday called for traditionalist and liberal camps to keep talking despite deep divisions over gay rights that have threatened to split the 450-year-old church.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also told Reuters he had urged traditionalist church leaders from developing states meeting in Egypt not to create new church structures even though existing arrangements might have left many feeling ignored."I am concerned that we keep lines of communication open, that we don’t hurry to new structures, but that of course we have to ask the question, ’Do we have the structures to serve us properly’, and that will take time work out," Williams said after addressing the meeting on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
"The divisions are quite deep, if I am honest, and there is now quite a reservoir of ill-feeling on both sides," he said.
"Whatever happens in the long run — and I wouldn’t want to predict — I think there are things we can do at least to address that sense of not being listened to," Williams added.
Exactly what do we have left to talk about, Dr. Williams? We traditionalists think Gene Robinson and same-sex marriages are both abominations; our opponents do not. It would seem that there is not much in the way of common ground between those two positions. And the fact that conservatives had been "listened to" will not change the fact that we cannot share a church with a party who feels free to rewrite the Word of God with impunity.
This smells of frantic desperation. From the sound of it, Rowan Williams got an earful in that meeting, an earful which suggested that Africa and the Third World will not be able to be bought off any longer. As for the fact that erecting "structures to serve us properly...will take time work out," many of us don't have that long to wait.
As of mid-October, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference has received no referrals, one of its 13 members reports.
Robert Tong, a Sydney solicitor and lay member of the panel, told the Anglican Church League in Sydney on Oct. 10 the “panel awaits its first reference from the archbishop.” The dioceses of Fort Worth and Recife, Brazil, as well as parishes in Anglican Churches of Australia and Canada and the Episcopal Church over the past four months have submitted appeals for arbitration to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who according to its charter, will then submit them for investigation and arbitration to the panel. Mr. Tong’s lecture is the first public statement of the status of these requests by a panel member.
My predictions have mostly been wrong to this point so don't bet this way. But an Anglican split begins to look like a sure thing.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. If I say the sun rises in the West and you say it rises in the East, the answer does not lie somewhere in between. I think the Archbishop is trying to hold onto power with the fantasy that is best described as "Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain." Much like what the French government does while their country burns.
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