News for Week Ending 8/10/2009

Archbishop’s message provokes more responses

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ reflections on the Episcopal Church’s General Convention—see Pittsburgh Update story here—continues to provoke controversy. This week’s most notable development was the publication, by a group of 13 organizations within the Church of England, of a statement critical of “Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future”. The August 4, 2009, statement can be read on the site of Inclusive Church. It accuses the Archbishop of Canterbury of inconsistency and expresses “grave concerns” about the archbishop’s reflections. The Times religion correspondent, Ruth Gledhill, citing the statement, wrote a column with the perhaps exaggerated title “Liberal Anglicans declare war on conservatives in the Church.”

The Guardian ran a series on the topic “Who cares about the Anglican schism?” Links to the diverse views expressed in response to the archbishop’s ruminations can be found at Thinking Anglicans. Additional commentary on the archbishop’s reflections is summarized at Thinking Anglicans here.

In collaboration with the Anglican Communion Institute and Fulcrum, Bishop of Durham N.T. Wright wrote an analysis of “Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future” shortly after its publication. Wright explained what he thought the archbishop was saying and then declared what he thought the archbishop should do. The LGBT advocacy organization Changing Attitude is now running a two-part attack on Wright’s essay. The first part is available here; the second part is to be published August 11.

Committee on Canons to hold public forum

The Committee on Canons of the Diocese of Pittsburgh will hold a public meeting August 12, 2009, to present its recommendations for changes to the constitution and canons of the diocese. The event will take place at St. Andrew’s, Highland Park, at 7:30 PM. Pittsburgh Episcopalians can ask questions about the recommendations or make suggestions before the committee issues its final report. Details are available on the diocesan Web site. The committee’s recommendations can be downloaded here.