News for Week Ending 6/21/2010

Anglican world atwitter over ‘Mitregate’

As we reported last week, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached in London’s Southwark Cathedral. According to Episcopal News Service, Jefferts Schori was pressured by Lambeth not to wear her mitre in the cathedral service. Instead, she carried it. (The Guardian briefly reported on the flap earlier. Ruth Gledhill of the Times provides an interesting perspective here.) Also, The Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop was asked “to provide evidence of her ordination to each order of ministry.” Jefferts Schori called the requirements “nonsense.” “It is bizarre;” she said, “it is beyond bizarre.”

The incident has occasioned considerable comment in the Anglican blogosphere, little of which has been sympathetic to the Archbishop of Canterbury. (See a sampling at Thinking Anglicans.) The incident might have been dismissed as trivial and silly in another context, but it comes after the dueling Pentecost letters from the head of the Church of England (CoE) and of The Episcopal Church—see Pittsburgh Update story here—and just before the General Synod meeting of the CoE at which action is to be taken on the plan to allow for women bishops. That meeting is showing signs of being very contentious. (See next story) Of course, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori is unique as a woman Anglican primate.

CoE General Synod to act on women bishops

The Church of England’s (GoE) General Synod meets next month from July 9 to July 13, 2010. (The agenda and background papers are available here.) The agenda is dominated by the topic “Women in the Episcopate,” the question of how the CoE will provide for women bishops.

Although it had seemed as though the terms under which women would exercise episcopal authority in England had more or less been settled in favor of making women bishops the equals of male bishops—see Pittsburgh Update story here—a late-breaking development threatens to turn the meeting into a donnybrook. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are proposing an amendment to get around the fact that Anglo-Catholics that oppose ordained women not only do not want to be under the jurisdiction of a woman bishop but also want to avoid being under the jurisdiction of a male bishop designated by a female bishop. This story is developing as this is being written. Details are available from The Lead and from the Times. Neither side seems happy with the archbishops’ proposal. Episcopal News Service also covered this story.

TEC Executive Council meets; quizzes Kearon

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church met outside of Baltimore June 16–18, 2010. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council who had recently carried out the Archbishop of Canterbury’s threat to remove Episcopalians from Anglican bodies—see Pittsburgh Update story here—was invited to the meeting and was grilled by Council members. According to Episcopal News Service, Kearon asserted that The Episcopal Church “should have expected consequences” from the consecration of lesbian Mary Glasspool. The Council was clearly not pleased by what it heard. Council member Bruce Garner said that he had “never witnessed so much obfuscation in such a short period of time” in his entire life.

Additional information on the Executive Council meeting can be found here and here.

APLM says covenant will produce ‘hierarchically-centralized Communion’

The Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission (APLM) issued a statement June 13, 2010, asserting that recent developments have shown that the proposed Anglican covenant will lead to a ‘hierarchically-centralized Communion.” APLM describes itself as a group of North American Anglicans working for liturgical renewal in The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada. The APLM statement can be read here. The Living Church covered the story here.

Moravians establish full communion with Episcopal Church

Episcopal News Service reported June 18, 2010, that the Northern Province of the Moravian Church has voted for full communion with The Episcopal Church. The 2009 General Convention approved an agreement establishing full communion with the Northern and Southern Province of the Moravian Church. The Southern Province will vote on the agreement in September.