[Magdalen] Episcopal News Service highlights Episcopal Church in South Carolina

[Roger Stokes]

On 01/12/2014 12:20, Ginga Wilder wrote:
> Thanks for clearing up my language.  Explaining this mess correctly keeps
> the boundaries between each church clear.
>
> Do you think that +++Justin is calling the question?  He wants a sort of
> re-commitment to the Anglican Communion from all Primates.  Then redefining
> the AC and reconciling each Province to all others is possible.  He is a
> very brave man.
>
> Ginga

"calling the question" is not a phrase with which I am familiar and I 
have never come across it in Standing Orders for British committees.  I 
think your assessment may well be right. He has said he will call a 
Conference if, and only if, the Primates Meeting things it appropriate.  
Such a meeting would be intended to draw a line under the disagreements 
that have emerged and the cross-boundary developments of the current 
millennium.

As with his predecessor (and like Jesus) I cannot see him saying to 
anybody "You are out" but all three of them (Jesus, Justin and Rowan) 
would accept somebody's decision to no longer walk with them.  My take 
on it would be whether or not there is a willingness to continue with 
the Indaba process and respect the leadership of other Provinces to 
order their respective Churches as seems appropriate in their local 
circumstances.

 From what he has said the concept of two Provinces of the Communion 
operating in the same geographical area (with the historic exception of 
Europe) is not acceptable to him.  If a priest lives and ministers in 
the USA then that priest needs to be part of TEC if they are to be part 
of the Communion.  Nobody outside TEC has the right to dictate what TEC 
should or should not do.  What they can do is draw attention to the 
situation in their own Province and alert TEC to the likely effects of 
any proposed development.

Basically I think he will want Provinces and their bishops to sign up to 
the principles of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and its implicit 
respect for the decisions of other Provinces.  Basically it will be 
non-interference treaty.  That seems to me to be the only possible way 
forward.

As for his bravery, when he was a Canon of Coventry his work in 
reconciliation included dealing with armed groups in the Niger Delta and 
he has said that on a couple of occasions he worried for his physical 
safety and even his life. I understand that when he was interviewed for 
his current post he was the only candidate to say that the Ghurch of 
England needs to change so he does not seek the easy life.  Perhaps one 
may also see hope in his middle name, which is his mother's maiden name, 
- Portal.

Roger

Roger