Archbishop of Canterbury's Lack of Leadership Puts the Anglican Communion at Risk of Coming Apart

It appears to me that the Archbishop of Canterbury's flip flopping on issues of human sexuality and his choosing sides in the Anglican conflict may lead to total destruction of the Anglican Communion as we know it. Instead of being a leader and staying in the middle and being fair on both sides, he chose to side with the global south and the ilk of Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria. Archbishop Rowan Williams created this mess and now he is faced with the consequences. The American Church cannot possibly do the things requested by the meeting of the primates in Tanzania. We're a democracy. The House of Bishops, House of Deputies and the Executive Council reaches decisions by voting. And besides, our Annual meeting isn't until 2009. ----------------------------------------- Subject: Archbishop losses favor on all fronts Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:59:13 -0400 The Daily Telegraph Leader March 23, 2007 Communion no more: The Archbishop of Canterbury's plan to save the Anglican Communion lies in near ruins. The American bishops have rejected Dr Rowan William's scheme - endorsed by Anglican primates in Tanzania last month - to create a traditionalist enclave for conservatives opposed to liberal bishops. And they have set out their opinions in stinging language: not only is the Archbishop accused of promoting a 'spiritually unsound' project, but it is also implied that he is behaving like a British colonialist. The text of the American bishops' statement is damaging. This is a national Church speaking with an (almost) united voice. The casus belli has shifted from the ordination of Gene Robinson, to allegations of bullying by a group of primates led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr Williams now finds himself out of favour with liberals and moderate conservatives in his own Communion. And, harsh though it may sound, he has only himself to blame. In the past couple of years, he has allowed conservative Anglicanism to be hijacked by extremists. Archbishop Peter Akinola, Anglican Primate of Nigeria, is the leader of the Global South provinces opposed to the ordination of actively homosexual clergy. That is fair enough, but he has also defended new Nigerian legislation that makes 'cancerous' (his word) same-sex activity punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. The deeply divisive figure of Archbishop Akinola was central to Dr Williams's Tanzanian compromise; is it any wonder that it has been rejected? The Archbishop's attempts to hold together the Communion have led him to a theological position so convoluted that he now has few natural supporters. He will find himself exposed at next year's Lambeth Conference - if, that is, it can take place at all without the support of the American Church.

The Tasmanian Devil Awaits Anglicans in Tanzania

The Tasmanian devil has gone to Tanzania. He's roaring mad and wants something done with these wayward American Anglicans. Tasmanian Devils take on an offensive odor when stressed. They're extremely bold and and get really loud. They exhibit a horrid screech and are quite vicious. They are known to prey and scavenge but sometimes they eat with other devils.

Read on and learn why he's mad: Changes in the Episcopal Church -- such as the selection of a woman to be the primate of the denomination and prior to that electing an openly gay man Bishop Gene Robinson as bishop in New Hampshire is causing an uproar in my denomination that is as old as our the U.S. herself. T And now the primates are having their meeting in Tanzania--or if you read some of the news reports, non-meeting. First, Bishop Akinola made it known last week that he and his buddies don't plan to sit in the same room as the new U.S. Primate, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori let alone talk to her. Oh well, so much for communicating with each other ,Christian charity or acting like adults instead of spoiled brats. Are they afraid they're going to get the cooties?

The pre-meeting was supposed to have started Tuesday and main meeting Wednesday. So far nothing seems to be happened other than Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh lost or had his lap top stolen. The red tops are surrounded by security guards to help with keeping their privacy.

It is unknown if anything will come out of these meetings. I don't think that the American church will back down from continuing on the path of full inclusion of gay people in the life of our church. And the conservatives aren't going to back down from their literal interpretation of the scripture. Add into the mix the 500 Church of England priests who signed a statement of support for the American Church. Then we have to add into this mix the evangelical Anglican priests both in the U.S. and U.K. who are of the opinion that the conservatives in the Global South are even too conservative for them and way too nasty to provide them much support.

The worst that could happen is that The Episcopal Church gets thrown out of the Anglican Communion. Since TEC pays millions of dollars to support this club, those dollars could provide a great deal of financial support for TEC 's support of the United Nations Millennium Development Fund to feed the hungry, care for the health of women, children and families and strengthen ALL of God's people.Sounds like a good idea to me! And if the worldwide primates decide to throw the U.S. church out of the communion, won't they have to put out the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of England?

And last but not least, the screeching of the Tasmanian Devil might be silenced.