Monday, March 10, 2008

Canterbury Determined to Ban New Hampshire from Lambeth

From Episcopal Life:

The House of Bishops was informed March 10 that full invitation is "not possible" from the Archbishop of Canterbury to include Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as a participant in this summer's Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.
Robinson, addressing the House, urged the other bishops of the Episcopal Church to participate fully in the conference, and thanked all who are willing to "stay at the table." (A link to Robinson's remarks will follow.)

Robinson told the House that he respectfully declined an invitation to be present in the conference's "Marketplace" exhibit section.

Robinson confirmed for ENS that he plans to be in Canterbury during the July 16-August 3 once-a-decade gathering, but not as an official conference participant or observer...
Not possible? It's a simple matter of picking up the phone and calling Bp. Robinson. That would be the right thing to do, Dr. Williams.

But instead, he has issued invitations to the likes of Abp. Akinola of Nigeria, who has yet to answer questions regarding his involvement in the 2004 massacre of Yelwa. He has invited soon-to-be-deposed Bp. Schofield, even though in a couple of days he will be a Bishop without a diocese. He has invited the pirate Bishop of Bolivia. And he has invited various other closeted gay Bishops. But a Bishop who chooses to be honest? A Bishop who was elected by the people of New Hampshire according to the process established in "this Church"? We are told it is not possible.

When we get to the point that thieves and those advocating violence are preferred over an honest man, maybe it is not possible to continue to support this thing we call the Anglican Communion.

J.

UPDATE: The Lead has posted Bp. Robinson's response to the decision by Canterbury to not invite him to Lambeth. Here's part of it:

...I ask two things of you. Some of you have indicated that if I am not invited, you won't go either. I want to say loud and clear - you must go. You must find your voice. And somehow you have to find my voice and the voices of all the gay and lesbian people in your diocese who, for now, don't have a voice in this setting. I'd much rather be talked to than talked about. But you must go and tell the stories of your people, faithful members of your flock who happen to be lesbian and gay.

For God's sake, don't stay away.

And second, please don't let them separate me from you. Please don't let that happen. It will be difficult, and we will have to be intentional. I know that the last thing you will need at the end of the day is another meeting just so I can catch up with you. But I hope you will be willing to stay in touch with me...
SECOND UPDATE: In the second half of this post at The Lead, the "Marketplace" offer is explained.

It appears that after refusing to allow Bp. Robinson to participate in any of the worship or bible studies at Lambeth, Canterbury suggested that he be hosted by one of the groups with a display booth at the Marketplace and participate in some kind of "high profile" event, such as an interview with one of the British papers. Bp. Robinson declined that offer.

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