Bishop Bruno's Address
The Living Church today posted this article about Bishop Bruno's keynote address at The Episcopal Majority's national gathering. It's very brief, but has some key points.
We are currently working to get the full audio version of Bishop Bruno's address on our website.
posted by Lisa Fox at 11/09/2006 06:41:00 PM
5 Comments:
I hear Bruno, et al saying we "have to" honor B033 but what about our responsibility to the Gospel as we have consistently heard it, our non-discrimination canons, and honoring our gay and lesbian clergy (let's face it that is the only "manner of life" that bothers anyone - what about gluttony, greed, divorce, etc) who might be nominated as a bishop candidate? Sorry Katharine (as per the Washington Post article) and Jon --- I don't agree with your "have to's." It was a wrong action - built on coercion and one of the worst resolutions of GC 2006.
I knew I should have taken notes.
A handful of points, most of which are chosen because they are of interest to TLC readers, offer a very poor representation of Bp. Bruno's fine presentation.
Let's get that audio up, and get it transcribed. Although, it is probably already too late. The extremists are already chewing up this misrepresentation masquerading as "news."
Personally, I'm not going to quote TLC anymore. They suckered me into commenting on a story based on half-truths just a few weeks ago. Too often of late they either get the story completely wrong, or slant it in such a way that it has little or no value.
But here is what KJS says in an interview in the Washington Post
Yet the bishop also is aware that compromise is necessary to heal the rift with overseas Anglicans -- a goal she says is important to her. She believes Episcopalians should fulfill the request of Anglican leaders that the U.S. church stop consecrating gay bishops for now and refrain from developing an official prayer service to bless same-sex couples.
"There's a piece of me that is very sad that we need to do that," she said, "but there's a piece of me that understands that for the health of the larger body, we might have to do that for a season."
Jake ... I echo your concerns about TLC -- not much objective journalism going on there any more, more's the pity.
I think we should honor B033, just as we should honor the equally non-binding Lambeth I.10. We should listen to the advice of our brothers and sisters with respect, and then follow the baptismal covenant (which points in the direction of full inclusion), the Creed which points in the same direction (i.e. one, holy, CATHOLIC, and apostolic Church), the canons (which prohibit discrimination), and our conscience.
I'm not sure what context could make this part of Bishop Bruno's speech more palatable. It seems a bit of backtracking since the "Statement of Conscience." If all the good bishop means is that it is likely that bishops and standing committees will comply with B033 till 2009, then we all know that. It doesn't make it right. The resolution in question was only adopted by highly questionable means, which violated the rules of the House of Deputies. It's substance is a denial of the Gospel.
I'm all for patience and for not overplaying our hand. We are the Episcopal majority and the vast majority at that. We will prevail through the General Convention and should do everything to lift this body up in a time when schismatics are doing everything they can to undermine it. But General Convention has done nothing that requires us to refuse consent, nor would it. If it did, we'd have to obey God rather than human beings. I'm all for patience, but the patience of the saints is a militant patience.
We ought to reflect on this during Advent season.
I look forward to seeing Bishop Bruno's remarks in context. If all he is urging us to do is to accept a temporary, unfortunate political reality, then so be it. Accepting it does not mean that it is acceptable, nor does it mean that we don't do everything in our power to change this reality. For the life of me, I don't know what the deputies were thinking. We need to elect deputies who aren't overawed by the bishops for 2009, though I suspect by then that even the bishops will have had enough.
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