It isn’t easy to stop bishops talking, but Primate Fred Hiltz has found a new weapon to wield in the ceaseless struggle to silence garrulous bishops: he is compelling them to be nice to each other, thus leaving them with nothing whatsoever to say.
The trick appears to be to convince them to engage in “quiet and theological reflection”: the bishops are locked in separate soundproof rooms where, no matter how well projected and resonant their battology, they cannot be heard.
Anyone who has had to listen to an ACoC bishop preach a sermon would applaud this effort.
The primate is concerned that this may inhibit the bishops from making “clear, public statements to the church” – something that last occurred by accident in 1945.
From here:
The latter, a twice-yearly gathering of Canadian Anglican bishops is one of the livelier meetings the Primate chairs. The house has seen hot conflict over theological issues, especially same-sex blessings and scriptural interpretation.
Hiltz has worked to cool the mood. As chair and liturgical leader, he’s given the bishops more time for quiet and theological reflection. He’s said his goal is to ensure that bishops do not leave these meetings more tired than when they came.
Yet some view this new civility as a kind of “silencing,” says Hiltz. Heading into a new triennium, he wonders how the bishops should balance personal reflection with the need to discuss hard topics and make clear, public statements to the church.
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The Anglican Church of Canada [ACoC] has been in active schism since the early part of the last decade; so no wonder the ACoC house [of bishops] has seen hot conflict over theological issues, especially same-sex blessings and scriptural interpretation.
Since the early nineties, at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, BC, Dean Peter Elliott has been diligently set upon a path that ultimately would bring the ACoC to schism. Archbishop Ingham has been walking by Elliott’s side. The apparent goal, which is seen by many folk as laudable, has been to move the church toward spiritual equality and inclusion within the ACoC for gay and lesbian people; there is also, of course, a hidden agenda. The hidden agenda is power and control in the new national church hierarchy: note that Elliot, a homosexual, did not dare venture outside the closet until 2005, by which time the die was cast and his future looked rosy. Ingham and Elliott are not stupid people; both know the politics of the church intimately; both are ‘canon lawyers’; both are aware of the make-up of the priesthood by sexual orientation; both have much more than a rudimentary grasp of scripture and both knew, back then and without any doubt, that their personal actions would make schism within the ACoC inevitable.
Ironically, but not surprisingly, Elliott now looks like the forerunner to replace Ingham for more of the same.
The foregoing having been stated, it becomes a quantum leap for me, or any fair-minded person to take Hiltz too seriously when he wonders how: “Heading into a new triennium, the ACoC bishops should balance personal reflection with the need to discuss hard topics and make clear, public statements to the church.”
The process of change has been flawed; Ingham, Bird, Elliott and others have acted in a unilateral manner, it would appear outside the authority of the General Synod, and the Primate himself has offered vacillating, weak leadership as well as active support to the same-sex blessings cause.
Frankly, it is no wonder that these poor ACoC bishops, “Leave these meetings more tired than when they came.”
The ACoC, which has been cannibalizing itself to stay alive for decades in the face of lost adherents and dwindling financial support. Hiltz’s misplaced financial focus has been well publicized [at least by me] as has the totally unreasonable amounts of charitable money that has been wasted on the schismatic process so far. It makes more sense for the ACoC to start cutting the fat which would be the tired old House of Bishops and the many hangers on who simply put a financial burden on the grass roots priests rather than supporting them.
Instead, they close the Anglican Book Store and sack the tea lady… Why do I keep getting this vision of Jesus shaking his head?