It is a day of great rejoicing when a historic church rediscovers its spine and testes. It is a day of great rejoicing when truth is stated plainly, and those in error are given consequences. From the Guardian.
A permanent split in the global Anglican communion over gay rights has been averted after archbishops overwhelmingly agreed to impose sanctions against the liberal US church and issue a statement in support of the “traditional doctrine” that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
The punitive measures and conservative statement came after four days of “painful” talks in Canterbury aimed at moving the world’s 85 million-strong Anglican fellowship beyond deep divisions over homosexuality between liberals and conservatives.
An agreement, published on Thursday evening, said the US Episcopal church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage represented “a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our provinces on the doctrine of marriage”.
In a passage that dismayed liberal Anglicans, the agreement explicitly added: “The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching.”
Under the agreement, the US Episcopal church has been banned from representation on key bodies and barred from voting on issues relating to doctrine or strategy for three years. However, it will remain a member of the Anglican communion.
The full text, released by the Archbishops, reads:
1. We gathered as Anglican Primates to pray and consider how we may preserve our unity in Christ given the ongoing deep differences that exist among us concerning our understanding of marriage.
2. Recent developments in The Episcopal Church with respect to a change in their Canon on marriage represent a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our Provinces on the doctrine of marriage. Possible developments in other Provinces could further exacerbate this situation.
3. All of us acknowledge that these developments have caused further deep pain throughout our Communion.
4. The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching.
5. In keeping with the consistent position of previous Primates’ meetings such unilateral actions on a matter of doctrine without Catholic unity is considered by many of us as a departure from the mutual accountability and interdependence implied through being in relationship with each other in the Anglican Communion.
6. Such actions further impair our communion and create a deeper mistrust between us. This results in significant distance between us and places huge strains on the functioning of the Instruments of Communion and the ways in which we express our historic and ongoing relationships.
7. It is our unanimous desire to walk together. However given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.
8. We have asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a Task Group to maintain conversation among ourselves with the intention of restoration of relationship, the rebuilding of mutual trust, healing the legacy of hurt, recognising the extent of our commonality and exploring our deep differences, ensuring they are held between us in the love and grace of Christ.
Now the episcopal elite, at least in the USA, are apostate. They see what they are doing as right and proper, and that doctrine is a matter for popular vote. In this they are like the PCUSA, who voted to confirm marriage is between two people and remove any mention of sex (or children). The violence these people do to the first chapters of Genesis, and the teaching of Jesus, we can leave for another day. But they rage.
They feel they were treated unfairly by Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The demand respect, though they deserve none. They have turned the Episocopal church into a dead zone, and consider it good.
“This is not how Anglicans should behave,” said Christina Rees, a member of the General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England. “It’s awful. It’s a terrible outcome to the meeting of the primates in Canterbury. What action will now be taken against all those churches in the Anglican Communion who treat gay men and women as criminals? Will they be suspended for three years, too?”
Jim Naughton, former canon for the Archdiocese of Washington and now a communications consultant specializing in the Episcopal Church, called the sanctions a “weird” attempt by the primates to take power away from elected bodies and claim it for themselves.
But Naughton expects no impact in the life of the Episcopal Church.
“We can accept these actions with grace and humility but the Episcopal Church is not going back,” Naughton said. “We can’t repent what is not sin.”
Bishop Ian Douglas of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut wondered whether the Anglican primates wanted the Episcopal Church to repent for its position on same-sex marriage. “Or were they asking for an apology for how the (church’s governing body) went about opening all the roles and rites of the church, including marriage, to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians?”
Kevin Eckstrom, director of communications for Washington National Cathedral, the seat of newly installed Presiding Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry, said that while this suspension will be greeted by sadness in the Episcopal Church, it has been on a parallel track with the Anglican Communion for a while.
“It is not unlike a couple who are having marital problems and are sleeping in separate bedrooms,” he said. “Maybe now they are going to formalize the separation.”
Eckstrom is speaking evil. God hates divorce. Divorce is not something that ought to be. And there can be no deviation from what is the truth. You cannot disavow Christ, no more than you can disavow gravity.
What we are seeing here is an attempt to bring the Churches of the Anglosphere back from the brink. The episcopal church is a warning to us of what can happen when you let social justice enter and become the purpose of a church. The people of faith leave; there is now a parallel Anglican church in the United States (and probably Canada). All efforts to bring unity within a commonwealth of nation churches are rejected. Warnings are ignored. People go their own way.
So, three cheers for Bishop Welby, who has stood for the truth and for the bishops who stood with him to stem the apostate tide. And as for that apostate elite, be not part of them.
However much too little and much too late. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church have already years ago abandoned the Anglican movement. These were official statements from both, and that was years ago. The Anglican Movement has been officially apostate since. As you can see, we do not even use therm “church” and “Anglican” together. We refer them as the “Anglican Movement”. It already does not exist as a church. The official church in England is returned to the Orthodox.
Paul, you do realize that my theology is reformed? To paraphrase my Orthodox friends, I would have to repudiate both Calvin and the Catholic theologians he diagreed with.
The English Church chose to ally with Rome before the Norman Invasion. The original Anglican bishops came out of Henry’s Church, which was Catholic in theology but a creature of the crown.
The orthodox church in England is small. Of course, size is not all: the reformed church in NZ is equally small. And there is a need for a faithful remnant.
However, my experience of living as a believer in a post Christian country is that only those who are of the remant remain within the church. The state has shattered the Catholic position where all countrymen go to their parish church for succor and comfort. Although the church is open and witness continues, most ignore it. And in these churches there is a push back to biblical theology, and a tendency to ignore ecclesiology. When your allies are Papists and the local Russian Priests, you don’t argue about the nature of the Theodokos. On most issues most churches agree.
The modern liberals are the outliers. They are the apostates. There are still faithful Anglicans, Presbyterians, etc. And we all need to cover our brother’s backs.
I am glad for the decision, but it would have been better to kick the U.S. and Canadian churches out, and have the schism that’s bound to come, now.