Diocesan Autonomy?

April 27, 2009


A group of bishops and others who profess loyalty to the Episcopal Church have been floating an idea that the Episcopal Church is ‘an interdependent collection of dioceses’ that are in no way subject to the National Church. (See link http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=74103) It is wishful thinking on their part to assume that they are not subject to the constitution and canons of the General Convention. What it appears they are after is the right to sign on to the proposed Anglican Covenant if the Episcopal Church through the agency of the General Convention declines to sign. Why is this not more confusion and obfuscation? Surely if you are loyal to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion you find such argument troubling at best. It sounds as though loyalty to the Episcopal Church only lasts as long as the Episcopal Church is willing to sacrifice its GLBT members for the mess of pottage that is membership in the Communion rather than the exercise of Christian leadership for the Communion with the Gamaliel principle as the safety clause.

I realize that I am commenting less and less on this kind of stuff as I am more and more tired of it. There is an excellent and helpful blog piece by Ruth Gledhill in The Times Online and you can read it here: http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/04/episcopal-email-conspiracy-unwrapped.html