The attendance of two Church of Ireland bishops at GAFCON has sent the Church of Ireland into a tizzy. The Church of Ireland claims to “provide a context in which people of diverse views on theology and liturgy can live and worship together.” The statement should read “diverse views that are not too orthodox.”
From here:
Church of Ireland dean accuses conference of ‘tactical use of homophobic rallying calls’
Attendance by two Church of Ireland bishops at the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) meeting in Jerusalem last week has provoked deep anger among the church’s clergy.
They have described it as “an absolute disgrace”, “schismatic”, and as illustrating “how utterly out of touch some senior clergy” were with church membership.
[…….]
On Sunday, Church of Ireland dean of Waterford Maria Jansson asked “how can Bishops Harold Miller and Ferran Glenfield reconcile the vows they made at their consecrations as bishops to ‘maintain and further the unity of the church’ with their support of Gafcon which stridently endeavours to undermine that very unity?”
Their presence in Jerusalem illustrated “how utterly out of touch some senior clergy can become from the average member of the Church of Ireland”, she said.
And what has the Dean done to promote unity?
It’s always fun to watch the “diversity” schtick revealed as hypocrisy.
“Their presence in Jerusalem illustrated ‘how utterly out of touch some senior clergy can become from the average member of the Church of Ireland’, she said”
She might actually be correct in this instance.
As I understand it, Church of Ireland attendance is through the floor, leaving only the elderly and the trendy; both are tiny demographics in a church that always represented a tiny demographic in Ireland.
The former group (the elderly) continues to decline due to – shall we say? – actuarial realities.
The latter group (the trendy) tends to represent the views of the “usual suspects” discussed in this blog. I suspect the dean is voicing the view of this group.
By the way, full disclosure: as a Catholic with Irish ancestry on both my paternal and maternal sides, I generally keep an eye on the religious situation in Ireland. The Catholic church also has declining numbers too, though nothing like the C of I of course. Both the Republic and Northern Ireland are becoming increasingly “modern” and “secular” so this is affecting church attendance across the board.
What is interesting is that one Protestant minority seems to be doing OK: the Methodists. Perhaps that might have something to do with their rather more rigorous attachment to, er, orthodox Christian values?
“provide a context in which people of diverse views on theology and liturgy can live and worship together”
Those who are upset by these Bishops attending GAFCON should give their heads a severe shake. You cannot claim to embrace diversity and then have a childish temper tantrum when someone different than you actually does something that you yourself would not do. The reality is that these people that through around words like “diversity”, “inclusive”, and “welcoming” are the most intolerant hatful bigots around today. They demand that all others fully accept everything they want without question and without hesitation. But are absolute in their own refusal to even think about offering anything to anyone they disagree with. In a word these people are hypocrites.
“You cannot claim to embrace diversity and then have a childish temper tantrum when someone different than you actually does something that you yourself would not do.”
Exactly. Case in point: Islamic views on homosexuality. How do these trendy types reconcile such views with their “welcoming” attitude to Muslims?