The Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway was so upset he did something sophisticated church leaders rarely do \u2013 he said precisely what was on his mind.<\/p>\n\n
The Anglican primate of Scotland told reporters he felt \u201clynched,\u201d \u201cgutted\u201d and \u201cshafted\u201d when Anglican bishops assembled at Canterbury strongly affirmed centuries of doctrine that sex outside of marriage is sin. This was a stunning blow for bishops who support gay rights in pulpits and pews. Thus, Holloway lashed out at the Africans and Asians who dominated the vote.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe tried to understand that they live in Islamic countries and therefore Islamify Christianity, making it more severe, Protestant and legalistic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
Holloway could not have tossed a more infuriating verbal grenade at the African and Asian bishops, many of whose families and flocks had been torn in bitter conflicts in the Sudan, Uganda, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere. But he didn\u2019t stop there, as he addressed the major role that Two-Thirds World bishops are beginning to play in Anglican affairs. They must learn to use reason, he said, not just simple displays of authority, if they want to change minds in \u201cnorthern Atlantic\u201d and other \u201cpost-traditionalist\u201d societies.<\/p>\n\n
Perhaps the Africans and Asians weren\u2019t to blame. Perhaps they were manipulated by American conservatives who wooed them with free barbecues, strategic advice and technological support throughout the 13th Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade gathering that ended on Aug. 9. Holloway wasn\u2019t alone in suggesting many had been swayed by \u201cchicken dinners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda wasn\u2019t amused at the charge. \u201cWe have chicken back home in Africa, you know,\u201d he told the Christian Challenge. \u201cOnly one thing bought me and still buys me, and that\u2019s the cross and nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Actually, lobbyists on both sides worked overtime. The left said conservatives waved money at bishops from lands that desperately lack resources. Activists on the right said many in the Anglican establishment were poised to cut mission grants to bishops who rejected the ordination of women and other modernization efforts.<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, conservative groups did share a high-tech headquarters. While they cornered bishops during dinners and seminars at the Franciscan Centre, progressives pushed the gay- rights cause during open-bar sessions at Canterbury\u2019s Bishop\u2019s Finger pub. Also, the First World enjoyed its usual advantage in the Lambeth staff offices. As Lambeth veterans say \u2014 Americans pay, Africans pray and the British write the resolutions.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s reasonable for the left to feel threatened, right now. Africans and Asians are considering traveling to the First World as missionaries, to pray at altars supposedly under the jurisdiction of other bishops. Thus, Anglicanism\u2019s old guard won a key victory when the Lambeth conference voted, in its final business session, to urge bishops not to invade each other\u2019s dioceses. The resolution urged primates to remind bishops in their provinces not to \u201cexercise episcopal or pastoral ministry within another diocese without first obtaining the permission \u2026 of the ecclesiastical authority thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This was part of an effort to convince Bishop John Rucyahana of Shyira, Rwanda, to cancel an upcoming visit to one of his missions \u2013 the newborn St. Andrews Church in Little Rock, Ark. Shortly after the diocesan-borders resolution passed, Rucyahana said he would take the vote seriously. However, he also said, \u201cwe must defend the Bible and the doctrines of our church, above all else. We will find some kind of strategy to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Early this week, Father Thomas Johnston said he has been assured his African bishop will visit his flock in Little Rock on Sept. 20, whether Arkansas Bishop Larry Maze and U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Tracy Griswold III want him to or not. Ironically, Newark Bishop Jack Spong \u2014 who recently rejected theism, the resurrection and other basic Christian doctrines \u2014 will be in town, with Maze\u2019s blessing, on the same weekend.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo we will have two episcopal visitors in Little Rock,\u201d noted Johnston. \u201cBishop John will represent the clear direction set by the Anglican Communion, as expressed at Canterbury. Bishop Spong represents a 180-degree turn away from Lambeth. \u2026 We couldn\u2019t ask for a more symbolic pair of visitors, now could we?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway was so upset he did something sophisticated church leaders rarely do \u2013 he said precisely what was on his mind. The Anglican primate of Scotland told reporters he felt \u201clynched,\u201d \u201cgutted\u201d and \u201cshafted\u201d when Anglican bishops assembled at Canterbury strongly affirmed centuries of doctrine that sex outside of marriage is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n