The great Mad One of Newcastle has a splendid editorial on the demise of B033, and urges us Yanks to take heart, and reminds us that we will ultimately win this thing.
The ball is in the court of the rest of the Anglican Communion. If they want to throw us out, so be it, but I don't think that is very likely. Homos just aren't the communion breaker for most of the rest of the world, that they are for Nigeria, the Southern Cone, and the very loud and well-financed right wing clergy cabal that started this whole unpleasantness.
The schismatics will soon turn on each other. The Anglo Catholic woman haters in lace won't travel far with the fire-breathing Evangelical Bible thumpers. The splits over women's ordination are already starting. The homos are the only thing that holds them together. They need us as enemies. Expect them to continue firing shots at us long after they've left the hall.
The schismatics don't even pretend to stand for anything positive. They are the religious wing of all those who fear the future and are fueled by nothing but resentment. They are part of that mind-set that believes enfranchisement is a zero-sum game; "whenever someone gets something, it means that I've lost something."
Which is the church that really offers hope to a bleeding world torn apart by greed, ambition, fanaticism and bigotry? The one that requires that you to pass a 10 page examination and a blood test, or the one where even the homos are welcome to the party so it must have room for you?
This news together with Bastille Day makes it worth my while to post L' Hymne a l'amour again.
It's a good day, huh Doug?
ReplyDeleteCome to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28
All, all, all, all... All!
Vive l'Eglise Americain!
ReplyDeleteWhat's "Episcopal" in French, all you Francophones out there?
l'Eglise Americaine...
ReplyDeleteDont' think there is an equivalent ;=)
I suppost one could say Épiscopal - but that would probably n o t sound French.
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, I am so happy this Bastille Day, that I am about to burst. Whatever the consequences, the two houses of the Episcopal Church did the right thing in voting for justice for all the baptized. Honestly, I was shocked by the lop-sided vote in the HOB. I believe that, despite his intentions, Rowan Williams helped make it happen there.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the lovely song by ma chère Edith.
I suspect that the passive-aggressive reindeer games Williams played with the American bishops at Lambeth and at his GC appearance last week, contrasted with the free pass he has given to the African and South American interventionist primates, has pissed-off a sufficient number of "moderate" TEC bishops to produce the unexpectedly large, two to one, majority for overturning B033. I also suspect that the bishops intended to leave no wriggle-room for Williams to try in future to play one faction against the other. Our bishop (Henderson) who proposed B033 three years ago, yesterday moved the successful amendment to D025 and then voted in favor of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, never forget that Williams still needs TEC's money.