Regret, not repent.Dear editor, I am writing to correct a part of your coverage of the Episcopal Church's General Convention (ECUSA ECUSA Episcopal Church in the United States of America decisions cause more turmoil, September Journal). You say that the Windsor Report "asked the U.S. and Canadian churches to repent for past actions around the issue of homosexuality and to declare moratoria on electing gays to the episcopate." As a member of the Lambeth Commission I need to say that the wording in this section of recommendations in the Windsor Report was very precise and nuanced, and that it was agreed to by all members of the Commission. The Report in fact, in paragraph 134, asked the Episcopal Church Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. Doctrine and Organization "to express its regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached in the events surrounding the election and consecration of a bishop for the See of New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). , and for the consequences which followed." While many critics have said that the church should have been asked to "repent," this is not the word used in the Windsor Report. Moreover, there was not a request for a moratorium on electing gays to the episcopate. The Report asked the Episcopal Church "to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same-gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion Anglican Communion, the body of churches in all parts of the world that are in communion with the Church of England (see England, Church of). The communion is composed of regional churches, provinces, and separate dioceses bound together by mutual loyalty as emerges." In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , it is not the orientation of the episcopal candidate that is in question, but rather their choice to be in an active relationship. As there are many misunderstandings swirling around about what the Windsor Report says, I believe that it is important that the Anglican Journal get it right. Rev. Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan Director, Faith, Worship and Ministry General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Church of England In the Church of England, General Synod was instituted in 1970 and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church of England that had Editor's note: The Journal regrets the error. |
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