Related articles and links |  1 of 5

London Times reports plans to give Archbishop of Canterbury much more authority
One of the major issues involved in the Anglican Communion's debate over a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) is the church's long-standing polity that leaders of one church body don't interfere with another. Last week's statement from the Anglican primates (leaders of national Anglican churches) put it this way: "bishops must respect the autonomy and territorial integrity of dioceses and provinces other than their own."

That includes the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, while spiritual head of the church, has no authority to punish ECUSA or to forbid its consecration of a gay bishop.

That's about to change, according to a report in today's London Times (not available for free to those outside the U.K., but being quoted at length on Anglican sites). "The Archbishop of Canterbury will be granted sweeping new powers under secret proposals to force rebel Anglican churches into line," the paper reports. "The planned changes in church law would give Dr Rowan Williams the power to intervene in the affairs of churches outside England for the first time since the Church was established by Henry VIII. The proposals, which would have to be agreed by the Church's separate provinces, have already aroused suspicions that they will turn the Archbishop into an Anglican version of the Pope."

The Times says this was a written proposal discussed during the primates' meeting, not something created since then in response to their call for a commission to study the Archbishop of Canterbury's role in maintaining communion.

So far, it's just one report, but it will certainly cause a stir in Anglican circles.

Also causing a stir: News from Canada that "an Anglican priest has had his pay cut off and his church has been recommended for 'termination' after his parishioners voted to defy their bishop by refusing to support blessings for same-sex unions."

More on Anglican woes:

• Split imminent in the Anglican Church | Biblically, when you are a Christian, you are no longer expected to live as you please. The Bible becomes the final authority on any matter. That is why liberalism should only be an attitude advanced in the sense of tolerance, but when it comes to issues of the gospel, it cannot be tolerated (Francis Ayieko, The Nation, Kenya)
  
  
• Just talk? Or is it time to walk? |Traditionalist Episcopalians, fresh from an angry exchange with liberal leaders, are watching what happens next week, when an openly gay bishop is slated to take power in the United States (World)
  
  
• Religion Today: Not just an Anglican squabble | The fight over homosexuality could permanently alter the Anglicans' relationship with Catholic and Orthodox Christianity and affect U.S. Protestant denominations that also are struggling with their policies on gay relationships (Associated Press)
  
  
• American Anglican Council begins preparations for realignment of Anglicanism in America | Creates guidelines and forms for "adequate episcopal oversight" (Press release)
  
  
• Gay bishop's consecration service to include objections | And some say they'll use it (KTVO, Kirksville, Mo.)
  
  

Gene Robinson speaks:

• Gay canon defends role in church | The world's soon-to-be-consecrated first openly homosexual bishop refused to assume responsibility yesterday over whether the worldwide Anglican Communion splits after his enthronement as the new Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Conservatives funding opposition, priest says | Groups insist donors don't set agenda (The Washington Post)
  
  

next page... |  1 of 5

October (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47