I could not have said it any better than the Irish condemnations of today’s ordination in Los Angeles of a partnered lesbian as a bishop.
This is not just another cut in Anglicanism’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’ but the gathering pace of the self mutilation of TEC (The Episcopal Church – the Anglican Church in the USA plus its Affiliates). I suggest this is not just a cut, but a mortal wound.
A sad day for worldwide Anglicans who worked for a solution to this crisis via the authority of the Scriptures, the Lambeth Conference of Bishops, the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury and ‘the listening process’.
Irish Anglicans Condemn Same-sex Consecration
As members of the Church of Ireland we wish to express sorrow that Mary Glasspool, a person who is living in a same-sex relationship, is to be consecrated as one of two new assistant bishops in Los Angeles on May 15.
Many Christians of all traditions and denominations will share our sorrow and see Mary Glasspool’s consecration as a defiant rejection of pleas for restraint and, even more importantly, as a rejection of the pattern of holiness of life called for in Scripture and endorsed by believers over the centuries.
The elevation to senior church leadership of a person whose lifestyle is contrary to the will of God revealed in Scripture is both wrong and disappointing.
The decision to elect and confirm Mary Glasspool to the position of suffragan bishop is a clear rejection of the many pleas for gracious restraint made from within the Anglican Communion, not least by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Windsor Report and the most recent Primates’ Meeting.
The Episcopal Church (TEC) has taken this provocative step despite knowing the division and difficulties created by Gene Robinson’s consecration in 2003. This shows a deliberate disregard for other members of the Anglican family and suggests that TEC does not greatly value unity within Anglicanism and indeed throughout the universal Church.
We wish to express our support for the many people within The Episcopal Church who feel alienated and hurt by this development. We stand in fellowship with them and with those who have separated from that Church for conscience’s sake, many of whom now face legal proceedings and financial sacrifices as a result.
Jointly issued by the committees of: The Church of Ireland Evangelical Fellowship (www.cief.net) The Evangelical Fellowship of Irish Clergy (www.efic.info) New Wine Ireland (www.new-wineireland.co.uk) and Reform Ireland (www.reform-ireland.org). With acknowledgement to David Virtue.
The Primate of All-Ireland expresses his exasperation with TEC here. The Most Revd Dr Harper said in part:
“This is a development which I deeply regret. Whatever may be ‘the mind of a majority of the elected leaders in The Episcopal Church’, it does not reflect the mind of a majority of those in positions of leadership in the Anglican Communion and it is bound to create even greater stresses within the Communion at a time when consultations on an Anglican Covenant are at an advanced stage,”.
Good article today Telegraph.co.uk, First Lesbian Bishop to be consecrated by Anglican Church in America.
Also Same sex moratoria (Lambeth) dashed and Anglican Communion – Global South Meeting.
