It\u2019s a long way from Archbishop Moses Tay\u2019s Singapore cathedral to the Philadelphia Convention Center and the Episcopal Church\u2019s latest debates about sin, sacraments and sex.<\/p>\n\n
The soft-spoken Asian primate isn\u2019t planning to make the trip. Nevertheless, his voice is being heard at the 72nd General Convention of Anglicanism\u2019s bitterly divided American flock, which ends July 25. Many Episcopalians want to know: What did Tay say and when did he say it?<\/p>\n\n
The archbishop has declined, via fax, to confirm or deny published reports that, during a March meeting of archbishops in Jerusalem, he proposed that the Episcopal Church be expelled from the Anglican Communion. Meanwhile, the U.S. hierarchy denies the primates discussed excommunication \u2013 at least during on-the-record sessions.<\/p>\n\n
What is clear is that most bishops in Asia, Africa and other Southern Hemisphere churches believe trends among America\u2019s 2 million Episcopalians could shatter the Anglican Communion. At least 75 percent of the world\u2019s 70 million Anglicans live in the Third World.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned that the setting aside of biblical teaching in such actions as the ordination of practicing homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions calls into question the authority of the Holy Scriptures. This is totally unacceptable,\u201d wrote 80 bishops from 20 of Anglicanism\u2019s 35 provinces, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. \u201cWe need to learn how to seek each other\u2019s counsel \u2026 and to reach a common mind, before embarking on radical changes to Church discipline and moral teaching. We live in a global village and \u2026 the way we act in one part of the world can radically affect the mission and witness of the Church in another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Tay\u2019s province immediately raised the stakes, endorsing the Kuala Lumpur statement and saying it will \u201cbe in communion with that part of the Anglican Communion which accepts and endorses the principles aforesaid and not otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
\u201cOne reason Archbishop Tay isn\u2019t talking to the press \u2026 is that he believes the southeast Asia resolution says everything that he needs to say,\u201d said Father Bill Atwood of Dallas, a traditionalist who has spent a year crisscrossing the globe visiting traditionalist bishops.<\/p>\n\n
Those final words \u2013 \u201cand not otherwise\u201d \u2013 signal that Singapore may back efforts to break communion with those who support the Episcopal Church\u2019s de-facto policy of blessing same-sex unions and ordaining those sexually outside of marriage. An Episcopal court already has ruled that Episcopalians have no \u201ccore doctrine\u201d on marriage. Bishops and delegates gathered in Philadelphia will consider several other progressive actions linked to sexuality.<\/p>\n\n
However, Third World events have caused a strategic reversal. Right now, the Episcopal establishment is emphasizing unity and quiet change, while the right wants painful clarity, such as a yea-or-nay vote on the Kuala Lumpur statement. Why? A doctrinal earthquake in 1997 would rock 1998\u2019s Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, a once-a-decade conclave in which Third World bishops share the spotlight with richer and more powerful First World bishops. If the Episcopal left is patient, its leaders won\u2019t have to face overseas prelates until 2008. This also will be after the retirement of morally conservative Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.<\/p>\n\n
In his diocesan newspaper, Philadelphia Bishop Charles Bennison said clear action on same-sex unions might have to wait until 2000. \u201cWhen this one goes over the top, I want it to go over in such a big way that everyone is swept along with it and it becomes a slam dunk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
But it will be hard to keep peace in a communion that is stretching to include bishops with clashing views on everything from biblical authority to the acceptability of worshipping other gods at Christian altars. Also, some Episcopal progressives believe they have waited long enough.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe matter of same-sex relationships and their blessing by the Church is extremely complicated and conflicted,\u201d wrote New Hampshire Bishop Douglas Theuner. \u201cAfter nearly 2,000 years, there is not consensus in the Church Catholic about the nature and purpose of marriage or about the role of sexuality. \u2026 If we were able to act only when the Church Catholic is of a common mind, we would not be able to act at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a long way from Archbishop Moses Tay\u2019s Singapore cathedral to the Philadelphia Convention Center and the Episcopal Church\u2019s latest debates about sin, sacraments and sex. The soft-spoken Asian primate isn\u2019t planning to make the trip. Nevertheless, his voice is being heard at the 72nd General Convention of Anglicanism\u2019s bitterly divided American flock, which ends […]<\/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-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n