From here:
Bishop John Charles Bothwell, whose long career had major impact in the Anglican Church of Canada, has died at the age of 87.
Bothwell – who was the eighth bishop of Niagara – ordained the first female priests in the Anglican diocese of Niagara in 1976 and also co-consecrated at the ordination of Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
“It is hard to encapsulate [Bothwell’s] impact upon the life of the parishes he served, the diocese of Niagara, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Anglican Communion,” Michael Bird, the diocesan bishop of Niagara, said in a statement. “He was one of the great leaders of our time,”
As Michael Bird perceptively notes, John Bothwell was “one of the great leaders of our time”: after all, he set the course for the Diocese of Niagara to become one of the most theologically liberal dioceses in Canada. The apotheosis of his influence probably occurred in February 2012 when the diocese’s lady priests (Bothwell ordained the first in 1976) performed the Vagina Monologues in Christ Church Cathedral.
John Bothwell made a number of appearances at St. Hilda’s but, I admit, not much of what he said sticks in my mind. The only thing I remember, probably because of my occupation, was his railing against the frivolity of fibre optic cables; their only use, he declared, was as decoration in ornamental lamps. Vanity of vanities. He did subsequently soften his view of the fibre optic industry a little when someone pointed out he would not have a telephone without it.
In God’s house there are many mansions, perhaps even a Luddite liberal one for John Bothwell.
Pete Seeger died recently, too. I didn’t care for his music, even in the 60’s and his politics have always seemed repugnant.
I rather like this tribute I came across a few days ago:
So farewell, then, Pete
Seeger
Too eager
To believe the best
Of the worst.
Where have all the
Flowers gone? You should know
You’re pushing them
Up.
© E. J. Throbb, aged 17¾
“Harf to encapsulate his impact” seems to be semantically equivalent to “Hard to say what effect he had”!
All these “great leaders” … all dead and already forgotten?
I do remember a visit he had at St Hilda’s. It was back when Fr. Jack was our Rector. Though they had once been very close friends there had been a falling out between them resulting in Bp. Bothwell demanding Jack’s resignation. Jack’s crime was to start preaching about the Holy Spirit and encouraging the gifts. When Jack refused to resign, Bp. Bothwell came on a Sunday when Jack wasn’t there and his sermon from the pulpit was to rail on and on about why we, as a congregation, should hate Jack and get rid of him. At the end of the service he was told by many of the congregation what they thought of all of this and asked him never to come back and “preach” there again.
While I have never met or heard about this man I believe I would not be able to consider him as a bishop. From what has been stated he would be the equivalent of the now retired Michael Ingham who stated clearly to me that if I did not agree with my bishop I was not an Anglican. My response was that if you do not accept the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ you could not be an Anglican or a Christian.
I am dumfounded by the lack of charity here. While I am an orthodox person still worshiping in the D.O.N., and I agree with your theological stance, I can’t see where you can rail on about such things and keep any sense of charity. Jesus did tell us to pray for our enemies – you would have heard that had you been in church last Sunday.
As Bishop, Bothwell took great delight in affronting orthodoxy while simultaneously exploiting the powers it gave to him as bishop. The most charitable I can be is to accept that he was sincere in his belief that he was moving the church forward.
Jonathan,
The contemporary meaning of “charity” is: the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.
The meaning you probably have in mind is more “agape love”, selfless Christian love. That kind of charity does not shrink from the truth. The truth is that Bothwell was at the forefront of the theological liberalising of the Diocese of Niagara. It was during his watch that postulants to the priesthood were subjected to the compulsory viewing of homosexual pornographic films to acquaint them with the real world.
If you are an orthodox Christian then why are you still in the Diocese of Niagara?
Have you received a preternatural revelation that we don’t?
I was in an ANiC church last Sunday: a Christian church.
One moment we can behave like God, and the next like animals. Only Jesus can save us. Jesus bore our sin and died our death, in order that we might be forgiven. Then He rose, ascended and sent the Holy Spirit, who is able to enter our personality and change us from within. By the grace of God, we can even love our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45). But, loving one’s enemies is not easy.