Tuesday, September 25, 2007

"Moratoria" Deliberately Not Used in Mind of the House Statement, according to Presiding Bishop

At a second press conference following the bishops' Eucharist on Tuesday afternoon, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other members of the House of Bishops clarified that the term "moratoria" intentionally was not present in today's final mind of the house communique.

When questioned about whether the House had ignored the requests of the primates for moratoria on consents to the consecrations of bishops living in a same-sex relationship and same-sex blessings, the bishops assembled were quick to correct what they said was a misunderstanding.

It is "not accurate to talk about moratoria," said Bishop Thomas Ely of the Diocese of Vermont. "This House is committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. We have ... work to do" to bring the rest of the Communion along, he said.

Bishop Nathan Baxter of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, responding to the same question, said, "We're on a journey, and the journey has not changed." He cited John 13:35-36 as a theme verse, apparently in connection with the Episcopal Church's struggle for the "full inclusion" of gays and lesbians.

At the end of the press conference, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, who clarified that "Moratoria is not the word we used," made the most revealing comment. She said that one member of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Consultative Council had told them that they had a role to play in demonstrating the gifts of gays and lesbians to the wider Anglican Communion.

1 comment:

Kevin said...

You are gravely mistaken that this is a response to the Primate, rather it's more dictating to the Primates what TEC HoB believes is best ... else PV would not be change for concern about GLBT in other parts of the Communion, the absence of any reference to litigation, but screaming about "incursions" {freshly market-tested word please update everyone's style sheet} and much language about how they're correct on this issue but will repeat B033 since that made the Subcommittee happy in February.