Cherie Wetzel and her Monday Lambeth report

From Cherie Wetzel at Anglicans United [boldface mine]:

The 5:00 press conference on the Third stage of the Windsor Continuation Group was preceded by an Episcopal News Service impromptu conference on the lawn outside “the Missing Link” building.

TEC bishops Catherine Roskam, Suffragan, New York and Kirk Smith, Arizona, spoke first about the theme of the day: the Bishop and Interfaith dialogue. Both noted that they have a new respect for the bishops here who live in multi-cultural and multi-faith worlds and really need to dialogue so that all may live peaceably together and get along. Both described their efforts at dialogue as much less serious business.

Moving on to the third session today from the Windsor Continuation Group, both said that they would prefer to see the statements made in a positive and much less negative wording. Bishop Smith said that affirming their relationships as bishops in a positive way would be more acceptable; because it sounds like if you don’t accept this thesis and/or the Covenant, you can’t be part of the group.

Bishop Roskam stated, “We agree on so much. Let what we agree on develop a covenant, not just the problems we don’t agree on. In ’98 at Lambeth, we invited the Communion to take seriously the Christianity of gay and lesbian people. This Lambeth has welcomed the LGTB (Lesbian, Gay Transgendered and bi-sexual) people.”. . .

Read it all.

From the other side: Jim Naughton at The Lead

From The Lead at the Episcopal Cafe [boldface mine]:

Be afraid: some of our bishops think the pastoral forum proposal has a head of steam, that it is what Rowan Williams wants and that he has established the credibility at this conference to get it. They don’t go as far as I am about to, but the implication of their thinking is that the Episcopal Church should prepare to distance itself in some way from the Anglican Communion, or accept some sort of reduced status so as not to a) implode; b) compromise one of the few things that makes us attractive to our rapidly secularizing culture; c) betray our consciences on the issue of full inclusion.

Be not afraid: others folks I have talked to say that we should be glad to have had a look at the Windsor Continuation Group’s work in process because it provides an opportunity to make our views known; that the fact that the recommendation for a pastoral forum won’t be voted on by this conference is a good thing; that the fact that the report will be presented to the Anglican Consultative Council for final action is also a good thing because the ACC is the most widely representative of the so-called instruments of union.

Our bishops will talk this over tomorrow at a provincial meeting. . .

Read it all. (But my favorite line is: "compromise one of the few things that makes us attractive to our rapidly secularizing culture" - what a gulf between us!)

Windsor Continuation Group: Captain Yips is not impressed

From Captain Yips Secret Journal:

. . . Waiting . . .

Update: It's out, and it doesn't sizzle, it fizzles. It goes further down the road of making border crossing the equivalent of the EO's LGBT obsessions, and it seems (at first reading) to intend to subject small church plants like mine, a community never part of the EO at all, to either some remote new commission, or eventually to the Diocese of Chicago. That won't fly barring a complete change of heart here. Granting the EO an inviolable and exclusive Anglican Franchise is a sure way to prevent reform. This won't work, and they know it won't work. More later, probably.

Read it all, and you can check out the Windsor Continuation Group report part 3 here.

"That authority lies with our General Convention": Now, who didn't see that coming?

Okay, Jim Naughton is not an "official" spokesman for ECUSA, but doesn't this sound just like what we will be hearing soon "officially"?

From The Lead at the Episcopal Cafe:

Live, breaking: a pastoral forum

. . . I've talked to several Episcopal Church leaders who favor the full inclusion of GLBT people in the Anglican Communion. None find the proposal acceptable. One said "the train is coming" and it means to run us over. Another said that the report is unlikely to bear fruit, and that the bishops must speak against it in the indaba groups.

It's worth pointing out, as always, that the bishops of the Episcopal Church do not have the authority to assent on the Church's behalf, to this proposal--not that that is likely. That authority lies with our General Convention. . .

Read it all.

Lambeth: Is Inquisition on the cards?

From George Conger:

Canterbury: A “bombshell” report is expected to be delivered to bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference on July 28 that is expected to call for the Episcopal Church to abandon its push for gay bishops and blessings.

The request is expected to come in the third presentation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) to the bishops at Lambeth and follows a call for the creation of an Anglican Holy Office to police the boundaries of the faith.

Backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican “Faith and Order Commission” will be a fifth instrument of unity for the Anglican Communion.

Plans for were disclosed on July 23 during the second of three briefings on the work of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) chaired by the former Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop Clive Handford.

In its briefing paper to the bishops, the WCG commended the creation of an “Anglican Communion Faith and Order Commission that could give guidance on the ecclesiological issues raised by our current ‘crisis’.”

The Anglican Inquisition proposal came in the last sentence of the briefing paper delivered by Bishop Handford to the bishops. “One person said it would be a good thing and welcomed it,” Bishop Handford explained, but noted there was little substantive discussion of the proposal by the bishops.

Created by Dr. Rowan Williams to advise him on “matters arising from the Windsor Report,” the WCG has prepared three briefings for the bishops that asks “Where we are now”, “Where we should be?”, and “How do we get from here to there.”

The first two briefings addressed the “severity of the situation” within the Communion, focusing on the “inconsistency between the stated intent and the reality” of the steps taken by the Episcopal Church to conform to the primates’ request.”

“The implications of requests and responses are either not fully thought through or they are disregarded. The consequences of actions have not always been adequately addressed,” they said. . .

The state of the Episcopal Church was one of “turmoil” the briefing said, with parishes and dioceses seceding to join other provinces, and “litigation and interventions” becoming “locked into a vicious spiral.”

In discussion following the first presentation, 21 bishops spoke, of whom 17 were white Western bishops. Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy (Illinois) spoke of the difficulties faced by traditionalists in the United States, while Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield (Illinois) enumerated the innovations of doctrine and discipline that have occurred in the Episcopal Church in recent years.

However, the majority of speakers at the closed-door session came from the Episcopal Church’s liberal wing, and argued the American church was being unfairly caricatured. Bishop James Mathes of San Diego complained of cross-border interventions into his diocese by overseas primates, while other bishops suggested the wider Communion did not understand the unique circumstances of the United States.

On July 25, the Bishop of Washington, the Rt Rev John B Chane dismissed comments made by the Primate of the West Indies, Archbishop Drexel Gomez that the American church was unravelling. Archbishop Gomez’s observations were “dishonest”, Bishop Chane told his American counterparts. . .

Read it all.

Archbishop Drexel Gomez on ECUSA

From Jim Naughton at The Lead at the Episcopal Cafe:

Some of the blogging bishops whom the Café is following have written about yesterday’s hearings on the “impressions” handed out by the Windsor Continuation Group. A few things I haven’t heard said:. . .

Bishop John Chane questioned whether the Primates had claimed too much power in the current controversy. He was followed to the microphone by Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, the primate who chairs the Covenant Design group. Gomez blamed the continuing crisis on the Episcopal Church for not assenting to the creation of a church within a church, led by the so-called Windsor bishops. This recommendation, which called upon the Episcopal Church to surrender some of its authority to a panel of foreign primates was made by the Primates. However, according to Gomez, a Primate, it was not an indication that the Primates, whose authority extends only to the borders of their own provinces, were exercising undue influence.

Read it all.

Archbishop’s letter to Lambeth bishops still not sent

From the Living Church:

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams discussed his hopes and called on all Anglicans to pray for the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in a seven-and-a-half minute video published on the internet on April 23. . .

A spokesman for Archbishop Williams told The Living Church the internet video presentation was “not related” to his forthcoming letter to the bishops of the Communion. In that letter, the archbishop is reported to ask that they predicate their attendance at the Lambeth Conference upon their willingness to accept the Windsor Report and Anglican Covenant processes.

The video presentation, titled “Better bishops for the sake of a better church,” was a pastoral didactic tool, the spokesman. The presentation broadcast on the internet video service, outlines the archbishop’s hopes for the conference. . .

The letters affirming support for Windsor and the covenant processes had not yet been mailed, but would go out presently, the spokesman said.

Read it all.

New ultimatum to Lambeth bishops

From George Conger [boldface mine]:

Bishops attending the Lambeth Conference will be asked to affirm their willingness to abide by the recommendations of the Windsor Report and work towards the creation of an Anglican Communion Covenant.

A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams told The Church of England Newspaper that letters affirming support for Windsor and the Covenant process had not yet been mailed, but would go out presently.

Bishops attending Lambeth must have a “willingness to work with those aspects of the [Lambeth] Conference’s agenda that relate to implementing the recommendations of [the Windsor Report], including the development of a Covenant,” Dr. Williams wrote in his Dec. 14 Advent pastoral letter.

The Windsor Report calls for a ban on gay bishops and blessings and discouraged violating the diocesan boundaries of bishops in opposing theological camps. Affirming the recommendations of the Windsor Report may cause difficulty for US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other progressive American, Canadian, Brazilian and British bishops who have given either their formal or informal support to moves to normalize homosexuality within the life of the church. It also closes the door on full participation in the conference of the Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson.

Overseas primates who have backed the violation of diocesan boundaries by African-consecrated American missionary bishops, could also fall afoul of Dr. Williams’ dictate. However, as the principle provinces backing overseas missionary bishops-Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda-will not be at Lambeth, the warning is a “moot point”, one overseas primate told The Church of England Newspaper. . .

Read it all.
H/t to Brad Drell.

Bishop John Howe responds to Petre’s report and provides details of the plan

From Matt Kennedy at Stand Firm, a response from Bishop John Howe of Central Florida to yesterday's story on the "Secret plan to avoid church split" [boldface mine]:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is not quite 11:30 PM here in Orlando. In London it is not quite 4:30 AM tomorrow. And Jonathan Petre of the London Telegraph has just released a story about yesterday's meeting between four American Bishops (Howe, Central Florida; MacPherson, Western Louisiana; Smith, North Dakota; and Stanton, Dallas) with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.

Petre could not have been much more inaccurate! Here are his opening remarks:

"The Archbishop of Canterbury is backing secret plans to create a 'parallel' Church for American conservatives to avert fresh splits over homosexuality.... Dr Rowan Williams has held confidential talks with senior American bishops and theologians who oppose the pro-gay policies of their liberal leaders....

"Dr Williams is desperate to minimize further damage in the run up to the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference this summer which could be boycotted by more than a fifth of the world's bishops....

"According to insiders, Dr Williams has given his blessing to the plans to create an enclave for up to 20 conservative American bishops that would insulate them from their liberal colleagues."

No, Dear Friends. Here is a summary of what we presented to the Presiding Bishop yesterday. We were not quite ready to release it, but in the light of this significant distortion, I am doing so tonight:

Communion Partners

In the context of the Episcopal Visitors concept announced by the Presiding Bishop at the House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans, a number of us have reflected a need for a larger gathering which we are calling Communion Partners. We believe such a gathering will afford us the opportunity for mutual support, accountability and fellowship; and present an important sign of our connectedness in and vision for the Anglican Communion as it moves through this time of stress and renewal.

Purpose:

To provide a visible link for those concerned to the Anglican Communion

Many within our dioceses and in congregations in other dioceses seek to be assured of their connection to the Anglican Communion. Traditionally, this has been understood in terms of bishop-to-bishop relationships. Communion Partners fleshes out this connection in a significant and symbolic way.

To provide fellowship, support and a forum for mutual concerns between bishops

The Bishops who have been designated Episcopal Visitors together with others who might well consider being included in this number share many concerns about the Anglican Communion and its future, and look to work together with Primates and Bishops from the Global South. In addition, we believe we all have need of mutual encouragement, prayer, and reassurance. The Communion Partners will be a forum for these kinds of relationships.

To provide a partnership to work toward the Anglican Covenant and according to Windsor principles..

The Bishops will work together according to the principles outlined in the Windsor Report and seek a comprehensive Anglican Covenant at the Lambeth Conference and beyond.

Scope:

The Communion Partners will be informally gathered – there will be no "charter" or formal structure

Are committed to non-boundary-crossing: the relationships will be governed by mutual respect and proceed by invitation and cooperation

Will work with mutual cooperation within and beyond the partnership

Participants:

The Episcopal Visitors who desire to participate (EVs named at House of Bishops New Orleans)

Those Bishops who are willing to serve as EVs

Initially, five Primates of the Global South: West Indies, Tanzania, Indian Ocean, Burundi, Middle East

Transparency:

Communication of activities with both the Presiding Bishop and Archbishop of Canterbury

Respect for the canonical realities, integrities and structures of the Episcopal Church and other Churches

Our purpose in meeting with Bishop Schori yesterday was to apprize her of this plan, seek her counsel, and assure her that we remain committed to working within the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, and that the Primates involved in this discussion are NOT involved in "border crossing," nor would we be. We will visit
no congregation without the Diocesan Bishop's invitation and permission. We do believe this is a step forward, albeit a small one.

I hope this is helpful, and I thank you for your prayers regarding this important meeting.

Warmest regards in our Lord,

The Right Rev. John W. Howe
Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida

Check it out, and here's more from George Conger:

US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has endorsed a programme of alternative Episcopal oversight brought to her by a group of conservative American bishops.

The “Anglican Bishops in Communion” seeks to meld the Primates’ Dar es Salaam pastoral council scheme with the “Episcopal Visitor” programme created by Bishop Schori in a bid to hold the fissiparous elements of American Anglicanism together until an Anglican Covenant is agreed. . .

Okay, we've had the Camp Allen bishops, the Windsor bishops, the Episcopal Visitor bishops, and now we have the Anglican Bishops in Communion - sorry, I think I agree with Philip Bowers commenting at Stand Firm [boldface mine]:

. . . TEC will not be disciplined by the AC. A Church that does not discipline is not a Church. The only way forward for the orthodox is GS realignment, and if that fails to materialize, it’s to some other branch of Christ’s Body I go. Despite the best intentions of Radner and Seitz, it seems to me that border crossing is a red herring in this mess. Everyone has forgotten or ignored the primates clarification and adjustment of Windsor at Dromatine that placed border crossing at a much lower level of seriousness than heterodox moral teaching and practice, yet it is the latter that will entail no discipline, no official sanctions and consequences, that will continue unabated and uninhibited, and it is the minor issue that the primates recognized as an unfortunate necessity that is being addressed by the communion. TEC has won the battle for the hearts and minds of the Canterbury AC. The GS needs to get on with a separate structure.

The so-called Windsor bishops are a great disappointment. They are proven to be institutionalists who are too cowardly to defend the faith. Just remember their collective silence at N[ew] O[rleans] that was heard around the world. How shameful. It will take only two generations for the heterodox revisionists to consolidate their hold as the remaining orthodox bishops face retirement. It is sad to see that these bishops cannot see that the political game is over; there remains only mop-up operations that will continue at full speed from PB Shori and 815.

AAC message from Bishop David Anderson

Via email [boldface mine]:

Beloved in Christ,

At this time of year one is prone to think back over the past year: reflecting on what has and hasn't happened, on what we did and didn't do, and how that can help shape our decisions for the next year.

Intrinsic to this is discussing it all with God and confessing the things done that shouldn't have been done, and those things undone that should have been done, and asking the Lord to forgive our feeble attempts at obedience. If we do not discuss our year's work with the Lord, it will not be truly Christian work or ministry.

This last year has been an epic battle within the Anglican Communion. A year ago the American Anglican Council was making preparations for our presence and ministry at the Dar es Salaam (DeS) Primates' Meeting that was held in February. At the last three Primates' Meetings the AAC has arranged to be nearby for news gathering, communication, document gathering and sharing, and the deployment of trained volunteers to assist with any requests for informational materials. The AAC is uniquely structured to put such teams in the field, drawing from our own domestic volunteers in the USA and also turning to missional partners globally to bring together a cross-cultural group that can analyze, report, counsel and advise as occasion arises. In DeS we also provided photos to news organizations on several continents.

Always there are high hopes that the right people would come together as leaders and do the right thing. Our default setting seems to be on HOPE, thinking that surely next time the powers at the top will actually do what a reasonable Anglican would pray that they do.

When the Panel of Reference (POR) was created, it could have done so much to prevent the rupture within the Communion, but they were given no funding, little encouragement, and sparse opportunity to meet and complete. Dr. Williams may have thought (and I shall for the moment give him the advantage of the doubt) that they could produce something useful when he set them up, or else WHY would he had done so?

Subsequent decisions by the Palace however, guaranteed the POR's inability to forcefully address the requests and problems because they were not resourced and not put under a time schedule to produce results - results that would be enforceable in some substantive way. A less optimistic view would be that Dr. Williams knew this all along and it was designed as yard art, to look like he was really trying but guaranteed to fail. Perhaps only Dr. Williams and God know which view, the optimistic or the other, is true. Someday all will know for certain, though by then it may not matter.

Dr. Williams came to believe that a mystical group called the "Windsor bishops" was the key to moving the Anglican Communion forward. He appeared willing to sacrifice the troubling revisionists and the most orthodox and go with a minimalist group which could find agreement in the Windsor Report (however interpreted and described). He forced through the DeS Primates' Meeting a Communique which had several dubious parts, including a belief that TEC might move toward the center if given encouragement. It gave TEC until September 30 to decide, a date which came and went. The AAC documented TEC's lack of compliance during that seven month period, and yet even with this documentation in hand, Dr. Williams could not bring himself to say forthrightly that TEC had failed the Communique test and would be disciplined. Truly, in Dr. Williams mind, the missionary rescues in the USA by overseas Provinces seem to be more objectionable than the issues behind such actions; in his view, "Border Crossings" are worse than pantheism, syncretism, Bible editing, and the homosexual agenda promoted by the revisionist TEC leadership.

Perhaps it is true that one definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expect a different outcome, but we do keep expecting someone to do the right thing. Although we had hoped that it would be Canterbury who would step forward as the "father in God" of the entire Communion, it is again the Primates connected to the Global South who, full of conviction and the truth of the Gospel, have courageously filled the leadership vacuum.

Orthodox Primates with other leading bishops from across the globe are inviting fellow Bishops, senior clergy and laity from every province of the Anglican Communion to a unique eight-day event in Jerusalem, to be known as the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2008. This GAFCON event, which was agreed upon at a meeting of Primates in Nairobi a few weeks ago, will give the orthodox Anglicans from around the world the opportunity to gather, to learn, to take counsel together and to go forward equipped to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to a world sitting in the shadow of unbelief. The gathering will be in the form of a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church's faith: thus this journey begins with a pilgrimage.

The first thing that springs to my mind is the planning necessary to accommodate all the people who will want to come. I remember the summer of 2003 when Canon David Roseberry and I had planned a small gathering of church leaders at his church near Dallas, to take place after the General Convention in Minneapolis and to be jointly hosted by Christ Church, Plano, and the American Anglican Council. As people heard of the gathering, more wanted to come, so we upped our estimated attendance several times. Finally, as a number of unfaithful and unholy decisions were made by the General Convention of TEC, the rallying cry of the orthodox became, "See you in Plano," and David Roseberry and I had to begin to think really big. Hurting people who wanted to be hopeful came, bishops, priests and deacons and laity came, over 2000 in all. Over 800 clergy were vested in the great procession in the Eucharist. A note of encouragement from Cardinal Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict, was read by Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh. Plano became a term and Plano II and Plano West happened as people took the hope and enthusiasm back home to their areas. The relentless grinding down of the orthodox members by the Episcopal Church, the subsequent departures and planned departures, the law suits and litigation, the depositions and deceit of TEC have all taken their toll, and many of our faithful Anglicans in North America are hungry and hopeful.

Could Jerusalem 08 (GAFCON) be more than a simple gathering of the faithful? Might this meeting be on a global scale what Plano was in the USA: the crystallization of the future; the future taking form and substance in our midst, and bringing us forward into a reality shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit of God? What might God do with Jerusalem 08 and GAFCON?

Have a Holy New Year, and open your heart and soul for all the blessings that God has for you.

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President & CEO
American Anglican Council

So I took a little vacation over Thanksgiving. . .

And it came to me (although I’m sure everyone has already realized this) that the Anglican Communion is one big soap opera.

You know how you can not watch a soap opera for a few days or even a few weeks, and when you finally get a chance to sit down and turn on the TV, you discover that you can jump right back into the storyline where you left off. Not much has actually happened, but there has been tremendous sturm und drang.

Which is particularly interesting when you realize that

the term Sturm und Drang first appeared as the title to a play about the American Revolution by German author Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, published in 1776, in which the author gives violent expression to difficult emotions and heralds individual expression and subjectivity over the natural order of rationalism

(Heh - Wikipedia is good for something)

So the Americans once again have created storm and stress, but not much else.

• ++Gregory Venables is still offering a safe haven for those American (and now Canadian) parishes/dioceses that need his help


• ++Katharine Jefferts Schori is continuing to act papal while denying her ability to do anything


• Stand Firm is still standing firm


• Another Episcopalian/Anglican bishop has swum the Tiber


• Windsor bishops are vanishing at an astonishing speed


• Camp Allen bishops have completely disappeared, and


• Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is working hard to deflect criticism of his leadership of the Anglican Communion by drawing criticism on his understanding of American foreign policy (and doing a mighty fine job of it, too)

The only truly exciting event that has happened over the past few weeks is that I can now buy a Kendall Harmon/TitusOneNine coffee mug (described as "hefty"). And, yes, my order is in.

ACI: A statement regarding upholding the ministry of faithful bishops

From TitusOneNine, a reaction from the Anglican Communion Institute on Bishop Howe's recent letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has recently written Bishop Howe of Central Florida, in a letter now made public, concerned that traditionalist parishes ought to see the Diocese, in distinction to ‘the National" or "provincial Church,' as the main unit of Christian faith and teaching, in sacramental unity with the Anglican Communion through his own office. (This view has been generally accepted as a definition of fundamental Anglican polity and has been explicitly assumed in all of the recent Anglican-Roman Catholic Agreed Statements.) The Primates have also recognized bishops like Howe who uphold the Camp Allen principles. In a climate where the ‘National Church' may seek to arrogate to itself more authority than the Archbishop of Canterbury believes is proper, individual Dioceses appear vulnerable to many - especially when alternatives present themselves in the name of offering a more secure reality, outside of TEC altogether.

One of the useful aspects of the Network was its granting to ‘traditionalists' a measure of identification, still inside TEC, but laterally with other Dioceses, as the main unit of Christian faith and teaching, to pursue the Archbishop's stated concern. Bishops like Howe, Stanton, Salmon and others availed themselves of this for this reason, and also because it was consistent with what the Archbishop here writes. In the meantime, however, the Network as originally intended has collapsed, and in its place or alongside it a new reality has emerged in the form of a Common Cause College, whose mechanisms for ‘unity in faith' are different to what the Archbishop describes. This has made the plight of Bishop Howe and others more complicated, precisely as parishes seek to leave and find places in this College or somewhere else.

What is necessary, then, is for the diocesan unit, in conjunction with other dioceses who affirm the Communion's teaching and discipline as Windsor and the Camp Allen principles outline them, to find the place that the Network sought to provide, and to build on what the Archbishop is here underscoring. . .

Read it all.

TLC: U.S. bishops ask Archbishop of Canterbury for clarity

From Steve Waring of The Living Church:

Bishops who have made a public commitment to support the Windsor Report have asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to be clear and articulate in explaining what the consequences will be if the House of Bishops fails to give the assurances sought by the primates.

Seventeen diocesan bishops and one bishop suffragan from The Episcopal Church received an extensive briefing on the primates’ communiqué from the Rev. Canon Gregory Cameron, and shared with him their hopes for the meeting in September between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the House of Bishops during a conference held Aug. 9-10 at Camp Allen near Houston.

Canon Cameron is deputy secretary general and director of ecumenical affairs for the Anglican Consultative Council. He also has served as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s secretary at recent primates’ meetings and wrote the final draft of the primates’ communiqué. The Most Rev. Rowan Williams is scheduled to attend the first two days of the bishops’ meeting Sept. 20-25 in New Orleans.

During the Texas meeting the bishops decided not to issue a public statement and agreed not to discuss meeting details. This is the fifth time that “Windsor bishops” have met at Camp Allen to consider the Windsor Report and The Episcopal Church’s response to it. At previous meetings the bishops have issued statements and The Living Church was assured by several participants at the Aug. 9-10 gathering that the overall goals and objectives remain consistent with what has been previously published.

[all boldface mine]

Read it all, and h/t to BabyBlueOnline.

Windsor bishops meeting at Camp Allen

From the Midwest Conservative Journal, a report and commentary on the Windsor bishops meeting in Camp Allen this week:

For the Windsor bishops, the nightmare scenario runs roughly as follows: what happens if TEC holds firm and Dr. Williams doesn't give the Windsor bishops what they want after the September meeting? Do they back down, go to Lambeth anyway and hope that TEC completely changes its mind next year?

How TEC would be persuaded to do that is about as doubtful as it is possible for anything to be. If the Windsor bishops do cave, their leverage is gone. If TEC stiffs Dr. Williams in September and he still invites them to Lambeth, my gracious lord of Canterbury fatally undermines the position of the primates and for all intents and purposes, kills not only the Dar es Salaam Communiqué but the Windsor Report itself.

And if, after all that, the Windsor bishops still proclaim their love and affection for the Anglican Communion, they effectively link themselves to a group with no serious principles of any kind. And what is so noble about proclaiming oneself a "Windsor bishop" when TEC tramples the Windsor Report underfoot and is allowed by the Anglican Communion to get away with it?

Check it out.

Upcoming meetings of interest [Updated & bumped]

Update II: Another update to list which events AnglicanTV and Stand Firm are covering online, depending as always on funding, so DONATE here and here.

Thanks to Sarah Hey for additional info.

I have had all of these dates and meetings rattling around in my head for the past several weeks and decided that it was time to organize! So, to the best of my knowledge (and please let me know if I've missed anything), here is a list of upcoming Anglican meetings of various sorts from now until Lambeth 2008.

I've listed who is sponsoring the meeting, when, where, why (the purpose of the meeting), and who has been invited (but I can't vouch for who actually may show up).

Anyway, here is my best guess effort (listed chronologically):

July 30-31, 2007
Anglican Communion Network
St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas
Annual Council Meeting
Invited are all Network bishops. The Bible teacher for the meeting will be Gregory Venables, Archbishop of the Southern Cone.
AnglicanTV will definitely be there.

August 9-10, 2007
Windsor Bishops
Camp Allen, Texas
Continuing discussions
All ECUSA bishops who subscribe to following the process outlined in The Windsor Report

August 30, 2007
Consecration of Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch
Nairobi, Kenya
AnglicanTV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

September 2, 2007
Consecration of John Guernsey (and an African Ugandan priest)
Mbarara, Uganda (southwest of Kampala)
AnglicanTV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

September 20-25, 2007
ECUSA House of Bishops
New Orleans, Louisiana
Scheduled fall gathering
ECUSA bishops, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC (but it is unclear who from the standing committee will attend)
Both AnglicanTV and Stand Firm will definitely be there.

September 25-28, 2007
Common Cause Council of Bishops
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
First meeting of this group
Invited are all bishops of the Common Cause Partnership, including:

• American Anglican Council


• Anglican Coalition in Canada


• Anglican Communion Network


• Anglican Essentials Canada


• Anglican Mission in America


• Anglican Network in Canada


• Anglican Province of America


• Convocation of Anglicans in North America


• Forward in Faith North America


• Reformed Episcopal Church

AnglicanTV will definitely be there.

October 26-28, 2007
ECUSA Executive Council
The Hyatt Regency Dearborn, Michigan
To consider the Executive Council drafting group's proposed response to the Anglican Covenant (this meeting is meant to meet the January 1 Anglican Covenant comment deadline)
Anglican TV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

July 16-August 4, 2008
Lambeth 2008
University of Kent in Canterbury, England
Regularly scheduled every 10 years
Invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury and includes bishops and archbishops within the Anglican Communion, as well as those in certain kinds of formal relationship with the Anglican Communion
As for who will be covering this one, wouldn't we all want to be!

Also, per the Global South Anglican statement of July 18, there may be additional Primates' meetings depending on unfolding events.

Upcoming meetings of interest [Updated yet again]

Update II: Another update to list which events AnglicanTV and Stand Firm are covering online, depending as always on funding, so DONATE here and here.

Thanks to Sarah Hey for additional info.

I have had all of these dates and meetings rattling around in my head for the past several weeks and decided that it was time to organize! So, to the best of my knowledge (and please let me know if I've missed anything), here is a list of upcoming Anglican meetings of various sorts from now until Lambeth 2008.

I've listed who is sponsoring the meeting, when, where, why (the purpose of the meeting), and who has been invited (but I can't vouch for who actually may show up).

Anyway, here is my best guess effort (listed chronologically):

July 30-31, 2007
Anglican Communion Network
St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas
Annual Council Meeting
Invited are all Network bishops. The Bible teacher for the meeting will be Gregory Venables, Archbishop of the Southern Cone.
AnglicanTV will definitely be there.

August 9-10, 2007
Windsor Bishops
Camp Allen, Texas
Continuing discussions
All ECUSA bishops who subscribe to following the process outlined in The Windsor Report

August 30, 2007
Consecration of Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch
Nairobi, Kenya
AnglicanTV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

September 2, 2007
Consecration of John Guernsey (and an African Ugandan priest)
Mbarara, Uganda (southwest of Kampala)
AnglicanTV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

September 20-25, 2007
ECUSA House of Bishops
New Orleans, Louisiana
Scheduled fall gathering
ECUSA bishops, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC (but it is unclear who from the standing committee will attend)
Both AnglicanTV and Stand Firm will definitely be there.

September 25-28, 2007
Common Cause Council of Bishops
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
First meeting of this group
Invited are all bishops of the Common Cause Partnership, including:

• American Anglican Council


• Anglican Coalition in Canada


• Anglican Communion Network


• Anglican Essentials Canada


• Anglican Mission in America


• Anglican Network in Canada


• Anglican Province of America


• Convocation of Anglicans in North America


• Forward in Faith North America


• Reformed Episcopal Church

AnglicanTV will definitely be there.

October 26-28, 2007
ECUSA Executive Council
The Hyatt Regency Dearborn, Michigan
To consider the Executive Council drafting group's proposed response to the Anglican Covenant (this meeting is meant to meet the January 1 Anglican Covenant comment deadline)
Anglican TV plans to be there, but still needs funding.

July 16-August 4, 2008
Lambeth 2008
University of Kent in Canterbury, England
Regularly scheduled every 10 years
Invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury and includes bishops and archbishops within the Anglican Communion, as well as those in certain kinds of formal relationship with the Anglican Communion

Also, per the Global South Anglican statement of July 18, there may be additional Primates' meetings depending on unfolding events.