Responses to the Bishops

We will use this space to post other responses to and analyses of the Bishops' statements.

The Living Church has focused on what the bishops did not do. They lead with this paragraph:

The House of Bishops has declined to participate in a pastoral initiative designed by the primates to care for congregations and dioceses which for reasons of conscience cannot accept the episcopal ministry of their bishop or primate.

Bishop Epting -- who was present for the discussion -- has encouraging words about the tenor of the discussion. Among other things, he says:

I have rarely been prouder to be a part of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops than I was today. With care and sensitivity to one another, we found a way to be clear and self-differentiated as a House, provide leadership and yet seek consultation with the wider Church — clergy and laity — and re-affirm our desire to remain part of the Anglican communion: as an autonomous, yet interdependent reality.

The gentle Caminante seems to read the bishops' statement as a sign of hope.

At Inclusive Church, Scott Gunn says: "I must confess I'm surprised by their conclusion and their boldness in saying it."

At Meditatio, Father John offers brief thanks for the bishops' statement.

We have been waiting for Mark Harris to comment on this development. Now he has done so. Go read his commentary: The Mind of the House Revealed. He makes one statement that we hope someone will confirm or correct:

I understand that several of the Anglican Communion Network bishops have been absent for the whole of the Meeting and others, specifically the Moderator, have pledged only to be present to make their reports. So I suspect that the core six or seven diocesians of the Network group were absent from the discussion and votes on these documents.

Did the ACN bishops actually absent themselves from the core discussion?

The blogger named Brash, Dramatic & Outspoken says : "This is the Church I thought I knew. This is what I've wanted to hear." Read it all here.

Dylan Breuer gives the bishops a standing ovation. She starts her essay with this:

Honestly, when I heard the text of the 'mind of the house' resolutions passed at The Episcopal Church's most recent meeting of the House of Bishops, I leapt to my feet cheering. I apologize to my neighbors if I disturbed them in the process.

I am so grateful to our bishops and glad to be an Episcopalian as well as an Anglican tonight that I hardly know how to say it.

She continues:

I love the Anglican Communion. I want The Episcopal Church to be fully a part of it, and fully participating in God's mission alongside the other provinces within it. The recent strident calls for separation and a narrow kind of "clarity" are out of character with classic Anglicanism, and come from the smallest minority of Anglicans . . . .

At Caught By The Light, Richard says:

I am almost speechless. The House of Bishops has hit the nail squarely on the head with this statement. For all of the shenanigans with networks and bishops and parishes flying to the solace of Primates overseas, our bishops at last name the problem, and with a self-critical eye. This raises a serious question for many, from the Archbishop of the Church of Nigeria, to the Primate of the Southern Cone, to the Archbishop of Canterbury. . .Do you really want to aid and abet one of the worst aspects of Western culture: the severing of relationship when the going gets tough -- the real threat to our unity in Christ?

TitusOneNine has also posted this news. You can read Kendall Harmon's post and comments here.

MadPriest all but begs the Americans not to be parochial:

Of course, it's bittersweet for me because it means my prediction will come true. TEC will go off on its own. A few provinces, like Canada and Scotland will follow (Brazil already being quite a way ahead of the American Church). Most Global South provinces will just get more homophobic and boring "don't upset the applecart" provinces like England will carry on as usual pretending that the stork brings little babies and drops them down the chimney of newlywed's houses.

The American Church ought to grab this opportunity and become a truly prophetic voice in the world Church. Leading us all into the Kingdom of God. But they won't. They will just feel smug and go off and play with their own ball on their own. The problem is that Godly American Episcopalians do not realise how strong they are in their own country compared to Kingdom Christians elsewhere. They think we can just do the same as they are doing. But we can't. The English Church does not allow the voices of it's members who are not company men and part of the establishment, to be heard. And although some of these insiders may truly want reform they are not going to attempt to achieve it by rocking the boat they one day want to be an officer on.

No doubt, newspapers will be carrying the story in the morning. We will rely on our friends at EpiScope to track those developments.

At StandFirm, Matt Kennedy commends the bishops for taking a stand:

This is perhaps the most admirable and honorable official statement yet from an Episcopalian body. The bishops are bold and forthright. They are to be commended. They have taken their stand. The ideologues have overcome the institutionalists.

Father Jake has broken his Lenten silence with several excerpts from the bishops resolutions, and a bit of commentary, concluding with this:

I could not have stated the case better. We cannot allow foreign Archbishops to have the authority to make decisions and take actions that will effect the members of TEC, period. End of discussion.

Keep in mind that there will most likely be a further statement released later in the day. It seems to me that it will be difficult to now back away from these very forthright lines in the sand. Thank God! It is a good day to be an Episcopalian!

Now, will I be returning to silence? Hmmm...probably not, since I've pretty much broken it already. But I wasn't going to miss this opportunity to commend our Bishops...who knows when we'll get another chance?

It's good to have Jake back in the blogosphere.