The Society of Catholic Priests

With a celebration of Solemn High Mass at Christ Church, New Haven, the North American province of the Society of Catholic Priests was founded on November 10, 2009.

Why the SCP? To quote the Patron of the Society, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, "If you believe that ordained ministry in the Anglican Church is part of the continuing witness of the whole Christian and Catholic tradition, Eastern and Western; if you believe that the priestly task is to be what Austin Farrer called a 'walking sacrament' (not just a leader or co-ordinator or even teacher); and if you also believe that the specific shape of this priesthood can properly develop as the Church moves on, to include those among the baptised who have regularly been excluded, SCP exists to help you flourish as a deacon, priest or bishop in the Anglican Church."

I and several other clergy in Rhode Island have joined the Society and are planning to host a gathering after the holidays for others who may be interested . For now there is more information at the Society's website: www.thescp.org

Sudanese Bishop visits St. Paul's

The Rt. Rev. John Zawo, Bishop of the Diocese of Ezo in Sudan, will be at St. Paul's for our service of Taizé Prayer on Sunday, November 29, at 5:00 pm. A simple reception will follow with the opportunity to welcome Bp. John and engage in conversation.

Taizé Prayer is a gentle service of song and prayer, using the music of the Taizé Community in France. The service is offered in a setting of darkness, candles and icons. Please join us.

For Veteran's Day

With thanks to Videtur Quod, the blog of S. Stephen's Rector Fr. John Alexander, SSC, here is a video that is powerful and challenging as we approach Veteran's Day while engaged in two wars.

On the other hand...

Recent posts have all been about the work and trials and joys of General Convention, parsing the Archbishop of Canterbury's response to GC 2009, the sturm und drang of episcopal elections... All important things, worthy of attention.

On the other hand, there is this view from our campsite in Vermont. And one is reminded that there is more to life with God than the institutions and affairs of the human part of Creation. The hills of Vermont were here long before the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, and will no doubt be here long after. There is a breadth and depth to the beauty of God's work that evokes wonder and praise - even when it rains (Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew..). How important it can be to change up the rhythm of life. It's amazing how easy it can be to sit in a chair and seemingly do nothing - except look at beauty, and think a thought or two, and offer a prayer. The other rhythms of life will be back soon enough.

And yes, I am posting this from the campsite. Who would go to a campground without wifi?

Northern Michigan election "null and void"

The Presiding Bishop has officially informed the Diocese of Northern Michigan that she has not received consent from a majority of the Standing Committees of the church to the ordination and consecration of the Rev'd Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop, and therefore the election is null and void (you can read it here).

Much reaction - prior to the PB's statement as well as now - has decried a conservative campaign against the bishop-elect, a resistance to creativity and innovation and change, and an unwillingness to countenance any new ways to imagine the episcopate (such as the proposed team approach in N. Michigan) - all fueled by the malevolent pressures of blogs and internet.

As a member of a Standing Committee that withheld consent, I have long wanted to say those things are all no doubt true - AND, there have also been thoughtful, reasonable people (enough, in fact, to constitute a majority of the 110 Standing Committees of the Episcopal Church) who examined the evidence, read the bishop-elect's sermons and writings and liturgical creations, studied the materials from the diocese, and concluded that his theological positions and liturgical changes were beyond what one would look for from a bishop of the Church. Yes, the Episcopal Church does have standards.

Either the elected lay and clergy leaders (in the form of the Standing Committees) of the church are nastily reactionary (the recent General Convention would seem to suggest otherwise), or they are so clueless as to have been led around by the nose by those terrible bloggers -- or perhaps the process of review and consent can be entered into carefully and faithfully and will sometimes - very rarely - produce a "no", even when that is disappointing and difficult for a diocese and its bishop-elect.

The Archbishop Reflects

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, has issued a reflection on the recent actions and decisions of General Convention 2009. His reflection can be found here. There is much good comment out there, including at Thinking Anglicans and Seven whole days.

I found myself taking issue with a couple of things that the Archbishop wrote. The first comes near the beginning, when he disappointingly repeats the notion that a concern for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the church is a matter of human rights and civil liberties. This is usually held out as somehow being in opposition to a Biblically and theologically based concern. He then goes on to suggest that the requisite exegetical and theological work have not been done. It seems clear to me that for many people, the concern for full inclusion is precisely a matter of trying faithfully to live out the demands of the Gospel. For so many people, an attention to the sweep and fullness of Scripture - not just a handful of verses - leads to the conclusion that the church needs to move in new directions. As many have pointed out, exegesis and theologizing have been going on for decades. While there is always a need to do a better job of thinking clearly and deeply, and of communicating that work, perhaps the issue here is that some folks just don't like the conclusions that have been drawn from that work.

Another concern is with this statement: "...a person living in such a (same sex) union is in the same case as a heterosexual person living in a sexual relationship outside the marriage bond;" Is this not the tired, frustrating circular argument that "we will not recognize the validity of your committed relationship, therefore you are living in sin just like a promiscuous heterosexual person because you are not in a valid relationship because we won't recognize the validity....?"

Finally (in order for me to have the traditional three points), Archbishop Rowan raises the thorny question of the need for consensus/agreement across the church in order to make changes. The Communion, let alone the Church Catholic, is not in agreement on these issues of full inclusion, and so we should not be proceeding. Really? While the need to respect the larger church community and recognize our deep interconnectedness is profoundly important, and it can be way too convenient to claim the movement of the Holy Spirit and charge off in our own new direction, must there be full agreement before anything can change? Would we have changed positions on race, or women, or circumcision if everyone had to approve? What about the little matter of the English Reformation - where was Rome's approval?

There is much to ponder and digest in Archbishop Williams' reflection. I invite your thoughts and comments.

Last thoughts on General Convention

One of the challenges of the Episcopal Church is to live up to our slogan: "The Episcopal Church welcomes you." Part of our ongoing work - in Constitution and Canons and resolutions, in processes and structures, in our own hearts - is to live into the deep and life changing hospitality and invitation of the Gospel. It seems to me that General Convention 2009 has taken one more step on the way. In a calm and reasonable way, we tried to describe where we believe God has led us, to say that the Church is made up of all kinds of people - including gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender people - and God just might call any one of us into one of the orders of ministry or into a committed, loving relationship. As the bishops added: "ain't it a mystery?"* As we heard on the First Sunday After General Convention, also known as the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: "in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." The life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus has overcome our deeply human tendency to try to decide who's in and who's out, who is worthy and who isn't, who's in the wrong group. Whether it's a matter of circumcision, or race, or sexuality or gender identity, the Church has struggled to live into that new reality. The struggle isn't over, but at least we've taken another step.

*not a direct quote