The Age To Come

I’m going to scream and scream and scream and scream and…..

The Windsor Report Response Group

The Windsor Report Response Group was asked to prepare a draft response to the Windsor Report on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada. The members of the group were chosen in 2004 from the Partners in Mission Committee, the Faith Worship and Ministry Committee, and the House of Bishops, with staff support.

Following the publication of the Windsor Report in October 2004, Canadian Anglicans were asked by the Primate to send in responses to it. The Windsor Report Response Group read the responses and recorded opinions and concerns. A report was prepared for the Primate to take to the Primates’ Meeting in Dromantine in February 2005.

The group has been called together again and has prepared a draft response for the Council of General Synod to consider. The final response will be brought to the General Synod for approval and forwarding to the Anglican Communion in June 2007.

A Summary of the Draft Response
    •     As Canadian Anglicans, we are committed to our membership in the Anglican Communion
    •      We see our response as part of a process of exploration and discernment, as we work with other Provinces to understand the nature of the Communion we share. The Windsor Report is an important contribution to this process

In the report, we find much to affirm and celebrate:
    •     Our unity based on “our common identity in Christ”
    •     Our commitment to “the furtherance of God’s mission within the world”
    •     Our growing understanding of that call to unity in diversity
    •     The importance of Scripture and our commitment to exploring Scripture together
    •     Our commitment to the Lambeth Quadrilateral
    •     The role of bishops in the Anglican Communion and our concern over the intervention of some bishops in Provinces, dioceses and parishes other than their own
    •     The Shared Episcopal Ministry scheme as an appropriate model of supplementary episcopal oversight
    •     Our commitment to the listening process
    •     Our concern for the human rights and pastoral care of all
    •     An acknowledgement that our processes of synodical decision-making take time

We outline recent events and actions in the Anglican Church of Canada relating to the blessing of same sex unions, noting the expression of regret of the Bishop of New Westminster in response to the call of the Windsor Report. We await the discussion of the Windsor Report and the St. Michael Report at General Synod, 2007.

We find some areas where we feel more work needs to be done in our own church and in the Communion:
    •     A deeper understanding of how reports and statements of international Anglican bodies are received and made effective in each member Province
    •     Further discussions on the authority of Scripture
    •     More exploration of how authority is exercised in the Communion
    •     A recognition of the importance of providing opportunities for laity and clergy to share in decision-making at all levels
    •     Further work on the development of an Anglican Covenant, exploring a variety of models.

Conclusion

We affirm our willingness to work with other Provinces to develop a relationship of trust in the Anglican Communion.

Possible Resolutions to Consider at General Synod
    1     A motion to forward the response to the office of the Anglican Communion.
    2      A motion to affirm the commitment of the Anglican Church of Canada to membership in the Anglican Communion, and our willingness to participate in ongoing discussions about life in the communion.
    3      A motion expressing regret at the hurt felt as a consequence of actions taken by our church.
    4      A motion affirming our resolve to maintain and increase at a variety of levels partnerships and visits, exchange and communication, in order to foster communion relationships.
    5      A motion to affirm our commitment to the Lambeth Quadrilateral, noting with appreciation the statement of the primates in 2000.
    6      A motion affirming our willingness to enter into the process of developing an Anglican Covenant

Membership of the Windsor Report Response Group

Dr. Patricia Bays, Diocese of Ottawa (Chair)
The Rt. Rev’d Michael Bedford-Jones, Bishop of Trent Durham, Diocese of Toronto
The Rt. Rev’d Peter Coffin, Bishop of Ottawa
Canon Dr. Timothy Connor, Diocese of Huron
The Rt. Rev’d James Cowan, Bishop of British Columbia
The Ven. Peter Fenty, Diocese of Toronto
Ms. Cynthia Haines-Turner, Diocese of Western Newfoundland
The Rt. Rev’d Colin Johnson, Bishop of Toronto
Staff: Canon Dr. Alyson Barnett-Cowan, the Ven. Paul Feheley

Please send responses to Canon Barnett-Cowan, 80 Hayden St., Toronto On M4Y 3G2,

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to say nothing in so many words until I had the misfortune to read this vapid ‘response’.

 (h/t to felix hominum)

You’ll find me from time to time on ‘liberal’ (I use the term reluctantly) Anglican blogs because I still think it’s important to communicate, or at least try and understand how the other ‘side’ thinks.

Right now they generally appear to be flip-flopping between “All is well” and “It’s all your fault”.  The main sense I get is one of immaturity, a willful inability to face things as they really are.   I guess when you’ve been extolling the virtues of the ‘new thing’, looking to lead people into the promised land of inclusivist heaven, and when you can no longer ignore the fact that the picture is nothing like the one you’ve been painting, then you’ve got to blame somebody – anybody.  The alternative would be admitting that you might be wrong.  That this ‘new thing’ might not be all its cracked up to be.  And that seems to be an intolerable option.

Now, that’s not to say that one side has a monopoly on immature behaviour.  Indeed, I see plenty on some ‘conservative’ blogs. But this frantic denial of reality, this grasping at anything but the truth, this desperate blaming of anything and anybody but themselves indicates a mindset in denial.

This just increases my sense of an inevitable separation – for the sake of both sides.  I use the word separation rather than divorce as I think there is always hope for an eventual reconciliation, somewhere down the road.  I hope, but I am not sure it will ever come to pass.

Indeed I wonder if what we might see in TEC/ACC and other liberal Anglican bodies is a slow, continual decline into a small gnostic sect holding the ‘secret’ knowledge of radical inclusivity, secure in the pride of their ‘new thing’, looking askance at a mainstream Christianity who continue not to ‘get it’.  Meanwhile, their lover, the spirit of this age, will ignore and be indifferent to them, as they continue to espouse an emasculated and insipid parody of Christianity.

Separation is inevitable.  I just hope that, unlike the reformation, all sides will come to recognise both the necessity and the tragedy.

Yet again, the Anglican Journal is full of letters that I could charitably refer to as ‘daft’.  Check this link for the latest issue.  The first letter is the one that grabbed my attention, and again the really daft stuff is saved for the punchline.

I could go with the equality before God thing, but who has the chutzpah to say we are ‘deserving of all his blessings’?  We deserve only one thing, and that is a one way ticket to hell, to be frank.  Everything else is through the grace of God alone.  Why are some so theologically illiterate as to equate Christianity with a rights-fest trip?

Anyway, with that said, you may like to read the second letter.  They’ll be no more hiding the identity of Binky, CaNN chief anymore.  All is revealed.  I was shocked, shocked I tell you, when I read this.

I’d be fascinated to know how he gets around the paw/keyboard impediment…..