Anglican Communion Institute (ACI)

The 76th General Convention has come and gone.  In some ways it was exactly like all of the previous six General Conventions I have been to as your Bishop.  Issues of human sexuality, and specifically homosexuality, were once again front and center and I will get to them in a moment. But first let me say how totally proud I am of our deputation.

originally posted at http://communionpartners.org/?p=64 104th Archbishop of Canterbury Lambeth Palace London, England SE1 7JU Your Grace: You will be sent a hard copy of this letter, statement and the list of signatories, but because of our desire to put this material in front of you soon, we are e-mailing this correspondence as well.  We must share with you that this letter will also be made public via the trusted websites of the The Livng Church and The Anglican Communion Institute. Enclosed, please find a statement of the Communion Partner Rectors who welcome and declare ou

At its recently concluded General Convention, The Episcopal Church passed resolutions that are widely regarded as repudiations of prior commitments to the Windsor moratoria that have been officially implemented by the Anglican Communion. Apparently reacting to the swift denunciation of these actions by many in the Communion, various constituencies in TEC are now scrambling to re-interpret General Convention's actions. ENS withdrew and revised its story about a key vote and Convention participants have produced wildly inconsistent, if equally far-fetched, interpretations of what took place.

We deeply regret yesterday's decision by the House of Bishops to repudiate the Anglican Communion's moratorium on the consecration of bishops living in homosexual relationships. As recently as May of this year, the Anglican Consultative Council officially affirmed the "implementation" in the Communion of the moratoria called for by the Windsor Report, including the moratorium rejected yesterday by the House of Bishops.

The President of the House of Deputies, in remarks made in an internet-viewable report of a private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressed the view that the polity of the Episcopal Church is unique ('anomalous')and must be appreciated as such (9 July 2009). This opinion appeared to be directed at an account of the church that has given and gives significant and prioritized room for communications and directives to be made from Bishop to Bishop.

A Concluding Postscript to "The organizational basis of the Anglican Communion:  a theological consideration" by Ephraim Radner I My colleague Prof. Radner traces a significant history"”one that locates the authority of Bishops as prior to that of the administrative structures into which they were later folded.  The prior authority of the Episcopal Office, in the tradition of the church, rests not in its structural position within a hierarchical order but in self-expenditure on behalf of the church on the part of those who hold office.

Chief among the claims now made by The Episcopal Church (TEC) is that it is an inclusive church that is open to a variety of opinions and practices.  This self-definition is an updated version of the traditional claim that Anglicanism represents a via media between extremes of one sort or another"”Catholic/Protestant, liberal/conservative, modern/traditional, etc.  The simple fact is, however, that the policies and actions of the progressive leadership of The Episcopal Church have exposed the false nature of these claims, at least as in so far as they are applied to TEC. The false nature of t

In May, 2007 the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada issued a Pastoral Statement on same-sex blessings. At the end of the statement, the bishops made the following request: "Looking ahead, we ask the Primate and General Synod for a report on: The theological question whether the blessing of same-sex unions is a faithful, Spirit-led development of Christian doctrine (St.