as Curriculum for.catholic Unity Who's In Charge? Hierarchy and The Episcopal Church An international conference sponsored by The Anglican Communion Institute Dallas, Texas February 5-6, 2010 Featured speakers: The Rev. William J. Abraham, PhD., Perkins School of Theology The Rev. Robert W. Pritchard, PhD., Virginia Theological Seminary The Right Rev. James Stanton, DD, Bishop of Dallas The Rev. Andrew Goddard, DPhil, Trinity College, Bristol, UK Mary Edlund, JCL, Chancellor, Catholic Diocese of Dallas The Very Rev. Philip Turner, PhD., Dean Emeritus, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale Mark McCall, Esq. Communion Partners presents "The Communion Partner Vision" The Rev. Dr. Charles Alley, Rector, St. Matthew's Church, Richmond The Right Rev. Bruce MacPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana Location: Church of the Incarnation 3966 McKinney Ave., Dallas, Texas 75204 Registration: US$125 {Fri-Sat, lunches included), $50 (Sat only) To register/for information about the conference see URL: www.anglicancommunioninstitute.com (Paypal available) OR E-mail to: [email protected] OR US Mail registration to: Anglican Communion Institute P.O. Box 7544, Beaumont , Texas 77726 THE IMNG CHURCH this week November 29, 2009 news 4 -sojourning Anglicans Praise Vatican's Plan . - 4 · ""--Swedish -Consecration Received Coolly -e_ssay A---- Cross as Curriculum for Catholic Unity BY CHRISTOPHER WELLS books 10 Days of Fire and Glory ... Living in God's Creation catholic voices 10 Wounded Church - ~-- - ; letters ::;'i} ;~ieiriterpreting _the Canons other departments 13 Sunday's Readings 14: People & Places THE LMNG.CHORcH magazine-is{>ublisbed 'Dyta.e ·nMng'Chm-eh ltotm:d.a.tlon, fnc. tb,.e.hl!:doxfo,.nnssi'C>ti 'o'f the 'Living Church Foundation tsto promote · andsupport Catholic Anglicanism -within.°"the Epi~copal Churc_h. NOVEMBER.29, 2009 ·THHlV lN.G CHURCH' _.3 8c-lid O~l Cnews CHOIR CHAIR Sojourning Anglicans Praise Vatican's Plan The Vatican has now released the proved by the Holy See." full text of Pope Benedict XVI's con­ One of the warmest responses to stitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, the plan has come from the Rt. Rev. which explains in detail how Angli­ John Fulham, chairman of Forward cans will be welcomed into the Ro­ in Faith-United Kingdom. man Catholic Church. "Today all the accompanying papers The constitution includes these de­ have been published and they are ex­ tails: tremely impressive ," Bishop Fulham • "A Personal Ordi nariate is en­ said in a statement on Nov. 9. "What trusted to the pastoral care of an Or­ Rome has done is offer exactly what dinary appointed by the Roman Pon­ the Church of England has refused." tiff. The Rt. Rev. John Hepworth of the • "Those who m.inistered as Angli­ Traditional Anglican Communion of­ can deacons, priests , or bishops ... fered specific praise for Pope Bene­ may be accepted by the Ordinary as dict XVI. with FIBRE RUSH SEAT candidates for Holy Orders .. Un­ "He has dedicated his pontificate to married m.inisters must submit to the the cause of unity," he said. Since 1877 norm of clerical celibacy. He then praised the pope's proposal: R.Geissle~ Inc. • "The Ordinary, in full observance "It more than matches the dreams we of the discipline of celibate clergy in dared to include in our petition of two 2641 E. Greystone Ct. the Latin Church, as a rule (pro reg­ years ago. It more than matches our Eagle, ID 83616 prayers . In those two years [since pe­ Phone : (800) 862-3159 uf,a) will admit only celibate men to www.rgeissler.com the order of presbyter. He may also titioning the Vatican], we have become petition the Roman Pontiff ... for the very conscious of the prayers of our admission of married men to the order friends in the Catholic Church. Per­ of presbyter on a case-by-case basis, haps their prayers dared to ask even ADVERTISERS ... according to objective criter ia ap- more than ours. " Plan ahead now! Swedish Consecration Received Coolly The double-circulation Swedish press reports that the bishop Alan Harper , said the arch­ Winter Parish Church of England and Church of Ire­ bishop would "not think of this in Administration land would boycott the consecration tenns of a 'boycott.' " The archbishop of a partnered lesbian priest as Bishop received an invitation, he said, but de­ Issue is of Stockholm were not true, spokes­ clined to attend. January 3, 2010 men for the Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Armagh "has con­ (delivers 12/21/09) and Archbishop of Armagh told THE veyed to the Church of Sweden that Lrv!NGCHURCH before the service. the Church of Ireland will not be offi­ Ad Close: 12/1 Nevertheless , no episcop al repre­ cially represented at the episcopal con­ sentatives from the Churches of Eng­ secration in Uppsala," Mr.Harron said, Final Ad Due: 12/ 4 land or Ireland , the Church in Wales or as the "Church of Ireland is observing Take advantage the Scottish Episcopal Church at­ the moratorium" on the consecration tended the Nov. 8 consecration of the of clergy with same-sex partners. of this great opportunity Rev. Eva Brunne by Swedish Arch­ David Brownlie-Marshall, a spokes­ to promote new products, bishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala. man for the Archbishop of Canter­ services, special events The Swedish Christian newspaper bury, said the Church of England or conferences. Dag en reported on Nov. 3 that the would be represented by the Area Church of England and Church of Ire­ Dean of the Baltic and Nordic States Contact: Tom Parker land would boycott the ceremony as a of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, [email protected] sign of their displeasure with the ordi­ the Rev. Nicholas Howe, chaplain of or (414) 276-5420 nation of Pastor Brunne, who lives with St Peter and St. Sigfrid's Church in ext. her partner, a fellow Church of Swe­ Stockholm. 16 den pastor, the Rev. Gunilla Linden. The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Paul HaiTon, a spokesman for Arch- (Continued on page 11) 4 THE LIVING CHURCH · NOVEMBER 29. 2009 essay ) By Christopher Wells the Word of God incarnate and crucified , whose words are "spirit I. Word of the cross CROSS and life" (John6:63; cf. Phil 2:1:II.). "Simon, son of John, Do yoUsJove Anglicans of a Catholic stripe as Curriculum me?" "Lord, youknow everything; were especially implicated , and in­ you know that I love you. " "Feed vested, in the recent news from the my sheep " (John 21:17). And per­ Vatican announcing the creation of for Catholic Unity haps we think of the pericope as . a mechanism that. provides some ending there. Jesus goes on , how­ cover for traditionalists seeking visible reconciliation with ever, to explain the form that Peter's pastoral ministrations the Roman Catholic Church on at least partially Anglican will take -stretching out his hands and being led where he terms [TLC, Nov. 8 and Editorial, page 10]. Of course , all par­ does not want to go (forecasting "the kind of death by which ties of the Anglican Communion disc~ed the story , as did [Peter] would glorify God, " the gospel writer explains) . Af­ other shapes and sizes of Christian , and even avowed secu­ ter tlii.s, finally, in John 's gospel , Jesus says to Peter , "Follow larists . And one couldn't help but be struck by the relative me " (21:18-19). paucity on all sides of careful or learned commentary- in­ Christians who would make their words like the "true cluding criticism - in contrast to the preponderance of bread" from our Father in heaven (John 6:32; cf. Matt. 7:9) openly or transparently self-serving reaction, subsisting in a must feed one another food that will last , the "solid food" of stew of uninformed and half-informed historico-political those who are no longer riven by "jealousy and quarreling ; coajecture, hearsay , prejudice, and rant "On Things Broadly because they have disciplined their tongues with "the word. within Thls Field ." There are so many instances of this that of the cross" (1 Cor. 3:2-3 and 1:18). Thls, after all, is where there is no point in picking one or several out from the lot. Paul begins in his address of the divided Corinthian com­ Do a Google search of Catholic Anglican ordinari,at,e and munity: not with the communion of the blood and body of choose among the hundreds of stories , essays , blog entries, our Lord, which is the centerpiece of later chapters , but with and so forth that turn up. the humiliation of conformity to Christ in his death, which One might expect from the secular world - the clam­ the Corinthians had not yet made their own. "What I mean orous nations and peoples that Scripture dubs gentiles (see is that each of you says, 'I belong to Paul, ' or 'lbelong to Matt 5:47 for a dominical instance) - steady streams of Apollos, ,:-or 'I belong to Cephas' " (1:12). "But we proclaim vested incomprehension, and even malevolence, in response Christ crucified , a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to major inter-Christian developments. But when churches to Gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23), a properly baptized word of love. and church leaders raise their voices to demonstrate a sim­ Liturgical scholar Gordon Jeanes observes that Romans ilar expertise in the art of invidious comparison and self-ag­ o......::.baptism into Christ's death - has functioned in. the grandizement (to say nothing of open mockery , derision, and liturgy as a kind of exhortation to spiritual martyrdom sfrice much else) , it is to our shame. Where.are, among others , the the fourth century. Prior to·that point, when "martyrdom was ecumenists? - the ones who , in Robert Taft's wonderful def­ a real, however unlikely, prospect, " the liturgy "did not need inition , seek "to move Christian love int,o the realm of schol­ to emphasize the death image because it was fostered else­ arship " in part by standing as the "implacable enemy of all wher e," namely, in the life and death of the martyrs-them­ forms of bigotry, intolerance , unfairness, selective reporting , selves and their actn,,object lessons that quickly focus the and oblique comparisons that contrast the unrealized ideal mind In such a context, baptismal candidates might just as of one 's own church with the less-than-ideal reality of some­ well meditate on a text like John 3:5: "no one can enter the one else's.