A Pox on all their Houses

Just over 2 weeks ago, the House of Bishops in England issued a statement which, to put it mildly, was disgraceful.  A torrent of abuse has rightly descended upon them. Now the academics of the Church of England are pointing out that it contains downright lies.
There is only one courageous bishop speaking out and, as he is a Suffragan bishop, he is not a member of the house. Bishop Alan Wilson of Buckingham is worth all the rest put together.
As he says
"But, being English, the powers that be prefer to freeze me out on a naughty step and occasionally patronise me, than actually to talk about the subject in a grown-up way, which would be unbearable."

It seems that only Assistant bishops are willing to speak out. As far as I know the Assistant Bishop of Auckland is the only Bishop in Aotearoa/New Zealand to speak up about the horrific laws in Uganda and Nigeria which to their shame have been applauded by the Anglican (and Catholic) bishops of those countries.

To get back to the House of Bishops in England. One of their number, in fact number 2, will soon be in Dunedin and plans to wander about the Diocese with out own bishop.  Almost makes me want to pray for snow, sleet and hail.

The main reason, we presume, for the statement was to continue to pander to the GAFCON churches. And all to no avail.   Their spokesman, the archbishop of Kenya has criticised them as not being tough enough. He probably is disappointed his own country is fairly mild in comparison to neighbouring Uganda (only 14 years imprisonment instead of Life and they wanted death).

And I am expected to welcome "missionaries" from Kenya at the end of this month. I will be going nowhere near my church while they are here.  They are supported by the Church Missionary Society.
A search shows me that the most homophobic dioceses of the Anglican church were all established by CMS.  I note that it had only a small influence in South Africa which has a totally different view.
This was seen in Archbishop Desmond Tutu and has been continued by his successor Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.



CMS is this year celebrating 200 years since Rev Samuel Marsden first preached in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Of course, having grown up in Sydney,  I have always known that Samuel Marsden was the "flogging parson" a figure of scorn, no advertisement for the church.

Meanwhile back in the Church of England, you can bless cats and dogs, you can bless ships but not loving monogamous gay marriage.
And they wonder why surveys show that people under 50 are rejecting the church.
And do not upset the hate filled, murdering, bishops of Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

SHAME ENGLAND SHAME

That is it. I do not care who is Archbishop of Canterbury. I am a parishioner in a parish in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and do not give a damn who is in the Church of England. We should break all ties with them.
I will not darken one of their doors next time I go to England.
However I will pray for the women and many of the good men in that church.

If a church decided that black people could not be bishops, no one would expect me to share in Christian worship with them.  I believe sexism to be as great a wrong as racism.  I left the Sydney diocese with its misogynist leaders for whom I had absolutely no respect. I would never enter an evangelical woman hating church. Hopefully none of my friends will be buried from one. But then most of my friends, except for those I meet at church, rarely enter a church and consider my regular attendance as a particular interest of mine similar to our membership of walking or movie or garden groups. The headlines that will follow this decision in England will confirm their beliefs.  In the English papers already the atheists are crowing with glee.  The cartoon by Bishop Alan Wilson says it all.

Some comments from Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow in the Scottish Episcopal Church (Note NOT the Church of England) which reflect my thoughts precisely.

The Church of England looks foolish and we all end up being tarred with the same brush.

The abject failure of Rowan Williams’s archepiscopate is now complete.

Looking on at the passion of the Church of England from outside, one finds oneself trying hard to substitute compassion for pity.  

The Church of England gets its chance to prove that it worships at something other than the altar of compromise.