Posted on 10/20/2003 8:07:57 PM PDT by ahadams2
FORWARD IN FAITH LEADER BLASTS PRIMATES INACTION
By David W. Virtue
LONDON--A traditionalist Forward in Faith leader said there were "no surprises" in the primates' recent statement, and the archbishops of 75 million Anglicans did the usual, which was to "state the obvious and play for time."
The Rev. Geoffrey Kirk, Forward in Faith secretary said the primates were asked to consider the "seriousness of the situation," but he would not hold his breath that anything would come out of it. "Two sad truths emerged from this fiasco. The first is that American traditionalists staked far too much on a battle they could not win, and on allies - the conservative Primates - who cannot deliver. The second is that Anglicanism is structurally incapable of addressing the major issues of biblical and ecclesial authority which dog its every step and action."
Kirk said the gut instinct of the leaders of the Communion was to be all things to all men. "They still have to learn the elementary lesson that to agree with everyone is in reality to have agreed with no one at all. The fatal fluency of the Archbishop of Canterbury cannot be relied upon to substitute for clear thinking and sound doctrine."
But not everyone agree with Kirk. There were different takes on the Primates actions, according to Auburn Traycik, editor of The Christian Challenge magazine.
"I was agreeably surprised by what it said, because when bishops get together one usually can expect the worst," said the Rev. Francis Gardom, a member of FIF and Cost of Conscience who serves at St. Stephen's, Lewisham.
A "positive" aspect was that the primates "seemed to firmly say that New Hampshire and New Westminster were wrong" and that their support of homosexual behavior could not be reconciled with established Anglican belief, he said. He also noted their support for alternative episcopal oversight for the faithful in hostile situations, though he conceded that a similar call by primates in 2001 had gone unheeded except in provinces where such provisions already existed.
Addressing some 500 traditionalists at the tenth annual Forward in Faith Synod at the Immanuel Centre in Marsham Street, just minutes from Lambeth Palace, Kirk said Church leaders willing to actively resist liberal revisionism and plan for a separate jurisdiction was growing, and that FIF-UK had seen the largest number of new members in the last six months, than in any similar previous period.
The expansion follows the installation of new Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the probability that the Church of England could start drafting legislation for women bishops sometime in the last half of next year.
American traditionalist priest, and Forward in Faith NA president the Rev. David Moyer, who is under siege by revisionist Bishop Charles Bennison told the Assembly that his organization had also seen membership increase following the election and ratification of gay New Hampshire Bishop-elect Vicky Gene Robinson.
Forward in Faith sees women's ordination as the central issue in the war on liberalism in the Anglican Communion. Kirk acknowledged two substantial papers originating in the United States "which we feel will fill a gap in our publications. They deal with objections to women's ordination from an evangelical standpoint, majoring on the doctrine of headship."
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Exhibit A: within the past month, your ABC visited Rome and knelt to kiss the pope's ring. What is signified by this handsome gesture? Nothing -- except that to him ecclesial communion is void of any meaning beyond keeping up appearances and good manners.
Our rector was attending that Synod. I look forward to his report Sunday.
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