The Presiding Bishop's Lenten Message, from Walking With Integrity

Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori speaks to us, the Church during this holy Lent:

I greet you at the beginning of Lent.

In this year I’m going to invite you to think about the ancient traditions of preparing in solidarity with candidates for baptism, to think about the old disciplines of prayer and fasting and alms-giving and study, through the focus on those beyond our communities, in the developing world, who live in abject poverty.

I invite you to use the Millennium Development Goals as your focus for Lenten study and discipline and prayer and fasting this year. I’m going to remind you that the Millennium Development Goals are about healing the worst of the world’s hunger. They’re about seeing that all children get access to primary education. They’re about empowering women. They’re about attending to issues of maternal health and child mortality.

To read all of ++Katharine's message, please go here.

Mitregate

By now many of you have heard about what happened in Southwark Cathedral when ++Katharine Jefferts Schori, Primate of the Episcopal Church USA when she processed at the beginning of the service, when she preached, when she celebrated Eucharist and when she recessed at the end of the service. 

In a word.

Mitregate.

Here are some links to the story from a few sources.  Each source lends a new perspective on what happened on Sunday last.

The EpiscopalChurch.org covered one view with this headline:

Lambeth Palace tells presiding bishop not to wear symbol of office:

Jefferts Schori carries mitre during recent visit to Southwark Cathedral

Another headline was from Ruth Gledhill, columnist for The Times London with a different angle: 

Bishop crossed in mitre row

Then there was this picture taken by Andrew Gerns+ who was there in the service and he took this picture of our steadfast and persevering Presiding Bishop:

Then there is this little tidbit from a Facebook priestly friend who was very clever who remarked on a photo from Wikipedia with a clever headline.  I think it should be her new dom de plume:

 

 ++Kat in The Hat...

John Bryson Chane's Letter to, well, all of us...

Here is a view from a clear-thinking Episcopal bishop--one of many--on the recent developments in the Episcopal Church USA. His view is expressed in his letter below, to his diocese, but it may as well be to all who are a part of the REAL Episcopal Church, that has REAL provinces and not imaginary ones.

I commend it to you, my sisters and brothers:

December 9, 2008

To the Clergy and Congregations of the Diocese:

Last Thursday a front page article appeared in the New York Times, and a smaller article in the Washington Post, about the proposed formation of a new non-geographical province within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Episcopal Church. The proposed archbishop of this envisioned province is Bob Duncan, deposed bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. First and foremost, let me assure you that the formation of a non-geographical province within an existing province is highly unlikely. Before the establishment of any such province, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church would have to give her consent, and it is difficult to imagine that she would do so. If consent was given, the Archbishop of Canterbury would then form a committee of primates to discuss the feasibility of forming the new province. If two thirds of the primates felt that such a new province would assist and strengthen the ministry of the Anglican Communion, then the primates would forward their recommendation to the Archbishop of Canterbury who in turn would forward his recommendation to the Anglican Consultative Council for final vote and action. At present, neither two-thirds of the primates, nor the Archbishop seem favorably disposed to this development.

The gathering in Wheaton, Illinois of Duncan, Martyn Minns and several hundred of their supporters who seek the formation of the non-geographical province came as no surprise to most of us in the House of Bishops. But the press it has received, especially in the New York Times, was well beyond what was warranted considering that the proposed province is, at most, about 5 percent of the size of the Episcopal Church and that its chances of recognition are dim. I realize, however, that this most recent installment in the media’s coverage of how the sky is allegedly falling on the Episcopal Church caught many members of our diocese by surprise, and I want to allay their anxieties. We face our share of problems in the Episcopal Church, but wholesale defections to a movement committed to denying gay and lesbian Christians the birthright of their baptism is not one of them.

The Archbishop of Canterbury wisely did not invite any of the bishops consecrated to serve in the Nigerian, Ugandan, Rwandan or Kenyan incursions into the United States to last summer’s Lambeth Conference. Nor did he invite bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church, which broke from the Anglican Communion almost 130 years ago. Williams seems unlikely to reverse course now. He knows that the leaders of the proposed province have been working, overtly and covertly, to undermine the Episcopal Church for almost a decade, so what was a front page story to the editors of the New York Times was old news to him. It would be folly for the Archbishop to even consider recognizing a non-geographical province because it would unleash chaos in the Communion, with theological minorities in every jurisdiction seeking to affiliate with likeminded Anglicans in other provinces. Unfortunately, the Archbishop has contributed to the confusion and anxiety the leaders of the proposed province have sought to foster by meeting on numerous occasions with Duncan and his allies. These meetings have bestowed an unwarranted sense of legitimacy on those who seek to deconstruct the Anglican Communion.

What Duncan and Minns propose – that Duncan become the Archbishop of a newly minted non-geographical province with the support of GAFCON primates such as Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Henry Orombi of Uganda – is a rejection of the respectful diversity and generous orthodoxy that defines the Communion. It is a repudiation of the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in our communal life. It flies in the very face of what it truly means to be an Anglican. For Minns to suggest that he is leading a “new reformation” is ludicrous and demeans the historicity and value of the real Reformation as we know it and live it. The movers of the proposed new province embarrass themselves, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion by the self-serving media coverage they have worked so hard to achieve. The news of the proposed province appears at a time when more than 28 million Americans are living on food stamps, one out of every 10 new mortgage holders is facing foreclosure, unemployment is at its highest level in decades, the auto industry is “tanking” and the real danger of deflation or a possible depression looms large on the horizon. In the global south, millions live on $1 a day, and wars, ethnic and religious violence, poverty and the AIDS epidemic continue to wrack the African continent. To learn in this context that Duncan, Minns and their allies think that the most important issue facing the church is the sexuality of the Bishop of New Hampshire suggests a level of self-absorption that is difficult to square with the teachings of Christ. And to learn that the New York Times considers the complaints of these deposed, retired and irregularly consecrated bishops to be front page news suggests a fixation on “culture wars” reporting that deprives readers of a true sense of the challenges facing the church in this country.

I write this to you because our clergy and congregations need to know the current status of the irregularly proposed new province within our church. I also need to share with you my disappointment in the behavior of men who were once bishops in the Episcopal Church. Some of these men have been my friends, but they have now taken their own personal agendas for power and control beyond the limits of common Christian charity and decency. As you may already know, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church has deposed Duncan and John-David Schofield as bishops and priests in the church, and the Presiding Bishop has recently inhibited Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth and determined that he has renounced his orders. The case of Keith Ackerman, the former Bishop of Quincy, remains to be reviewed.

During this season of Advent, please keep Rowan our Archbishop in your daily prayers, as I know you will continue to pray for Katharine our Presiding Bishop and primate. Pray for the church, the body of Jesus Christ, that it might be a center of strength and a beacon of light and hope during these very tough economic times for those we serve here in the Diocese of Washington and in the global community.

In Christ’s Peace, Power and Love,

The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, D.D.
Bishop of Washington

The bishop has his email readily available on the diocesan website but I make it available to you here as well. E-mail: jchane@edow.org

Newsy Views and ++Katharine's message to us

Newsy Views that run the gamut of good and not so great news and information. There is so much that has happened in TEC and beyond and that it is veritably a challenge to keep up on the latest breaking information. That is why I haven't posted much in the way of "news" because I was so overwhelmed by its rush and tumble, and spin.

So let's get this sound bite started…as only Episcopalians and Anglicans can:

Here is some truly progressive news that shows that not all Third World Anglican provinces are backward. In a province of India, women--for the very first time in the Church's history there--have been ordained as Anglican priests. And doesn't it make you wonder why, in our country and some other First and Second World countries, women are still be denied this calling and privilege, including some dioceses in our very own United States of America. One need only to look to the former diocese of the old Fort Worth, Quincy, San Joaquin and so forth to see the backwardness of the Church there, where women are denied the fulfillment of their calling to the Episcopal priesthood or diaconate by supposed forward-thinking good ol' boys. Congratulations to the province--who's name I cannot for the life of me find--in India for being more First World in the Church than our own country and others like us.

The newly freed dioceses of Fort Worth and Quincy are reorganizing and carrying on the true ministry of Christ's church in Texas and Penn state. The beat indeed does go on there, and now women can fulfill there callings where they were denied that freedom and right within TEC in their old dioceses that are now, for the lack of a better word, Cone-related.

Most recently the former bishop of Fort Worth, Jack Iker, was inhibited--by our Presiding Bishop Katharine--from engaging in ministerial business since he and his cronies had supposedly led the diocese out of TEC to the Southern Cone. You can read a first-hand account of the steps to transition at Desert's Child where Katie Sherrod fills us in, and Feathers and Faith lends its own perspective thanks to Barbi Click. Of course Jack would huff back that she has not and never has had any jurisdiction over him. And yet yesterday, he renounced his vows and ordination in the Episcopal Church USA to our joy and relief. Thankfully this saves the Church a lot of time, money and progress in reconstituting the new diocese of Fort Worth on behalf of the faithful. What a nice parting favor. Thank you, Jack.

On top of all this reconstituting business is the news that the defective ones have--all on their misled own--created a new province for the disaffected and allegedly orthodox Anglicans in North America. It cannot be found geographically because it doesn't exist geographically. Only on paper and in the limited minds of those who think it is a good and fun idea does it truly exist. They think they can just wish it into existence, but that is not so. Looking for details? I recommend a visit to The Episcopal Cafe's "The Lead". There are rules and protocols to be followed according to the Anglican Consultative Council, and that process could take up to 10 years before this alleged new province is even considered for recognition in the World Wide Anglican Communion. The real versus the imaginary Church. You pick the one you wish to know as concrete and tangible. I choose TEC because it is real, legitimate, follows the true apostolic succession, and is the majority of Anglicans in America. And it has a real, officially and constitutionally elected Presiding Bishop, ++Katharine. Not an archbishop, as Bob Duncan and the other miscreant bishops and priests of the Cone pretends he is in this imaginary province of their own invention.

On a lighter and Advent-oriented note, ++Katharine has issued her Christmas Address to TEC:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:5).

The world settles into winter, at least in the northern hemisphere, and life to many seems increasingly bleak. Foreclosures, layoffs, government bailouts and financial failures, continuing war on two fronts, terrorist attacks, murders of some identified only by their faith -- this world is in abundant need of light. We know light that is not overcome by darkness, for God has come among us in human flesh. Born in poverty to a homeless couple, to a people long under occupation, Jesus is human and divine evidence that God is with us in the midst of the world's darkness...You can read the rest of her message here.

And on her hopeful and meaningful message, I close this entry.