Schori triumphs in Dar as new Anglican queen

So far from being excluded from the Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam, I can break the news that TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has been elected onto the all-important policy-making Standing Committee. 'Next thing you know, Benedict will be reversing Apostolicae Curae,' said one observer. There will be much speculation about how this came about. (Schori's election that is.) It is obviously interesting to note that the administration of the Anglican Communion Office depends on funds from TEC. Balancing the books without TEC would not be possible. It is equally likely that Rowan Williams respects her, and that many of the Primates wanted to make a particular gesture of support after the opposition that has been expressed to her. A source close to what's happening in Dar es tells me that things will be "very rough" this afternoon. I am just wondering whether the TEC report, the election of Bishop Jefferts Schori onto the standing committee and the apparent acquiesence of so many of the Global South Primates in what has been going on so far might perhaps indicate quite a tough, orthodox doctrinal line in the Anglican Covenant. I'll post the rest of the SC names in just a sec, when I've had a cup of tea, which I'll raise in a quiet toast at my desk in Wapping to Bishop Jefferts Schori. While I find myself in fundamental disagreement with her on some, although not all, aspects of the doctrine she preaches, as a woman, I have no choice but to salute her. Watch out Rowan! Remember that Kipling poem, which Frieda Hughes wrote about in The Times last week: The female of the species is more deadly than the male... You have been warned!

In fact the SC contains a good balance from both wings of the Church. It looks like schism might have been postponed for now. As Jim Naughton points out, not too much should perhaps be read into this because Bishop Jefferts Schori was elected by the Americas. But still, given all the calls for her not to be admitted in the first place, to outsiders it looks like a pretty dramatic turn-around. StandFirm, Kendall Harmon and Thinking Anglicans are picking up on the story. I particularly enjoyed DaveW's comment on Kendall's blog: 'Hell, why don’t we just make her Co-Archbishop of Canterbury while we’re at it?  After all, we don’t want to put Jesus in too small a box, do we?' Entangled States has also picked this story up.

Here are the other SC members:

Mouneer Anis of Egypt, the newly-elected Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East and treasurer of the Global South, will represent the Middle East, West Asia and Egypt.

Uganda's Luke Orombi, firmly on the orthodox wing, will represent Africa.

Australia's Phillip Aspinall, an MBA Anglican with a good head for business and who's been handling the press briefings in Dar es, will represent West Asia.

And our own Barry Morgan, or should I say Wales' Barry Morgan, a liberal catholic, will represent Europe. Pretty impressive, being elected in absentia. He is one of three of the 39 Primates who were not there, being away on sabbatical.

The importance of the Standing Committee of the Primates is not to be underestimated. It meets in between the Primates' Meetings and is utterly key in determining future policy questions.

So while the Primates fight tooth and nail in Dar es Salaam, here is that Kipling poem for all of us to meditate on as we await the all-important Anglican Covenant and communique. I particularly recommend study of the last two verses.

The Female of the Species

by Rudyard Kipling

(Catching Life by the Throat, edited by Josephine Hart, Virago Press)

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,

    He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.

    But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.

    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,

    He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it as he can.

    But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.

    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,

    They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.

    ’Twas the woman, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.

    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man’s timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,

   For the Woman that God gave him isn’t his to give away;

   But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other’s tale —

   The female of the species is more deadly than the male . . .

She is wedded to convictions — in default of grosser ties;

    Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies! —

    He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,

    Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges — even so the she-bear fights,

    Speech that drips, corrodes and poisons — even so the cobra bites,

    Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw

    And the victim writhes in anguish — like the Jesuit with the squaw!

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer

    With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her

    Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands

    To some God of Abstract Justice — which no woman understands.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him

    Must command but may not govern — shall enthral but not enslave him.

    And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,

    That the Female of Her species is more deadly than the Male.

Comments

[Robert McLean]

I would like to ask KJS that if we can attain heaven by performing yoga or blowing ourselves up with backpacks laden with explosives and nails in a Jewish coffeeshop, why did God go through the trouble of sending his Son to die on the cross?

[Martin]

"Yesterday's heterodoxy is todays orthodoxy."

No, that is a non sequitur. Yesterday's heresy remains heresy. Just because it has become widely accepted - although from what I hear it still has the potential to cause major ructions - does not mean that it has become right. It has merely triumphed over orthodoxy. Might is not necessarily right.

[Steve Walton]

It's Henry Orombi, Ruth - Luke is his middle name and he's always known as Henry.

[Shaun]

"It is obviously interesting to note that the administration of the Anglican Communion Office depends on funds from TEC. Balancing the books without TEC would not be possible."

(Honest question not just a debating point) What exactly is it that the ACO does with this funding? If the money dried up would the Global South or any one else miss anything?

[Robbinsdale radical]

Peter Kirk, right on with this. The financial underpinnings of the conservative movements in all of the main-line churches in the US, not just Episcopal, seems to me strangely under-reported. Its' a big part of the picture--remove the financial influence of the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) or the silence about it in the MSM and the picture would be different.

From what I see of the Primate's talking, they are keeping their prayerful eyes open to the realities of what's going on: it's not about sexual mores as much as it is about money and power. Much praise is due to them for doing their best to focus on the mission of the Communion in Tanzania this week.

[Dr Stanley Austin]

I am reminded of Reinhold Niebuhr's warnings against the gaining momentum of "-isms": fascism,communism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Protestantism antisemitism,antigentilism and much more, which become harder and harder to arrest with the passage of time. This triumph of feminism retards rather than advances the mission of Christ's church.
Moreover, after a life's experience of American public committees and their equivalents I have concluded that in the main secular and religious politics are liottle more than "structured self-interest" and many tribunals were "pluralities of the uninformed"

[AnglicanXn]

The Tanzania Primates Meeting has been a disappointment to the orthodox of the Episcopal Church, and this appointment of Bp Schori is the crown of them all. From the time she first opened her mouth after her election as PB, I considered that she either did not know or did not care (or both) what Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics believed, and nothing she has said or done since has given me any reason to retract that thought. The Episcopal Church is continuing its slide into a liturgical version of the Unitarian-Universalists, and picking up speed as it goes -- and the leaders of the Anglican Communion are willing to let her assume a very high position in the Communion. It boggles my mind and breaks my heart.

[Dr Stanley Austin]

I am reminded of Reinhold Niebuhr's warnings against the gaining momentum of "-isms": fascism,communism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Protestantism antisemitism,antigentilism and much more, which become harder and harder to arrest with the passage of time. This triumph of feminism retards rather than advances the mission of Christ's church.
Moreover, after a life's experience of American public committees and their equivalents I have concluded that in the main secular and religious politics are little more than "structured self-interest" and many tribunals were "pluralities of the uninformed"

[Andrew Canessa]

"While I find myself in fundamental disagreement with her on some, although not all, aspects of the doctrine she preaches, as a woman, I have no choice but to salute her."

I'm sorry: this is the most appalling sexism. So she is worthy of salute simply because she is a woman?

[Robert Ian Williams]

The triumph of Bishop katherine , is that primates only objected to her liberal theology and not one on her being a woman bishop. The "unorthodoxy" of the Episcopal church, pionering women bishops is now the accepted norm of Anglicanism. In 1948, the lambeth Conference condemned female ordination and as late as the 1990s was wrought with division over women bishops. Yesterday's heterodoxy is todays orthodoxy.
America leads the world and certainly the Anglican Communion.

[Peter Kirk]

"It is obviously interesting to note that the administration of the Anglican Communion Office depends on funds from TEC. Balancing the books without TEC would not be possible."

It is also interesting to note that the administration of the Church of England, or at least of many of its dioceses, depends on funds from conservative congregations, both evangelical and Catholic. But I hope that such considerations will not be decisive in this matter, and not only because the results would not necessarily be as predicted.

[Libbie Weber]

Being a woman, and an Episcopal priest, I don't feel that I have no choice but to salute KJS. I'm a human being, as is she -- and I don't agree with her! I can't salute her.

[Tom Jackson]

Keep you friends close, and your enemies closer (Sun_tzu, Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC) )

Is Rowan more astute than he looks?

[Tamil]

I don't understand why this lady would like to be a part of the christian church if she doesnt believe what the bible says...if she's into 'religion' wouldnt she be better of with the buddhists or starting her own religion?

[Candy Jacques]

Wonder how VGR feels about being deposed!

[s s]

Aspinall may have a good head for business but he's as woolly headed a liberal as they come (mate of Spong's; hosted him on Spong's visit to Oz in 2003 - which says enough about him, because if I added more about his time down in the local Anglican diocese where I live, I might not contain myself. I put him in my own self-named Anglican "Gang of Four" here in Oz.)

Aspinally is also the Archbishop of Brisbane, not Archbishop of Australia as some media reports have branded him - although he also holds the office of Primate of Australia - temporarily.

[Ted Mollegen]

The Presiding Bishop's last name is "Jefferts Schori" (two words, not hyphenated). Referring to her as "Bishop Schori" is inconsiderate -- or, if intentionally incorrect, even rude.
Ted Mollegen
member of the Episcopal Church Executive Council

(rg writes: we've had this discussion before. I was given then to understand that the Bishop is sometimes referred to as Schori and sometimes Jefferts Schori, that she herself is flexible about her last name. I am happy to be corrected if this is not in fact the case. As regards the title, I sometimes refer to ABC as 'Williams' and ABY as 'Sentamu'. This was certainly not intended to be rude, it was a short-form used for a post written quickly and a headline at the top of a post.)

[Peter O]

Ruth - If this is the Primates SC and not the JSC and given that the members of the PSC are elected regionally, then frankly you would expect her to get Canada's and Brazil's vote if Venables stood against her. This may not be as much of a disaster as we all think.

[Dave Paisley]

"While I find myself in fundamental disagreement with her on some, although not all, aspects of the doctrine she preaches, as a woman, I have no choice but to salute her."

Couldn't have said it better myself :)

[Stephen Marsden]

Ruth: given the presenting issue that has so exercised the Primates' minds over recent days, your choice of words for your headline - "new Anglican queen" - might be thought by some to be insensitive!

[NewbieAnglican]

I'm at a loss to find polite words to express what us orthodox North American Anglicans think about this.

[Milton]

"While I find myself in fundamental disagreement with her on some, although not all, aspects of the doctrine she preaches, as a woman, I have no choice but to salute her."

Beware to whom you raise your glass in toast to. St. Paul said that if anyone, or himself, or even an angel of light came along and preached a different Gospel than the one received, let that one be accursed, and repeated the condemnation for unmistakable solemn emphasis. As for those who contend that Jude lies when he exhorts us to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints", see Luke 24: 25-27, 32, 44-47 and know that Jesus Christ Himself delivered it to the apostles, without interference or re-interpretation by man.

KJS has steadfastly refused to affirm the divinity of Jesus (which He unambigously claimed for Himself throughout John's Gospel), calling Him "a path to the Divine", not the Divine Himself, and hemming and hawing for 2 painful minutes to a US reporter with Nat. Public Radio, stated that, contrary to Jesus' words "No one comes to the Father except through Me" and "I am the Good Shepherd...all others who came were thieves and robbers.", that she instead believes that all other faiths are equally valid ways to God. We might as well close the church doors and pack it in with Islam if we believe as she does.

[Ellie in T.O.]

"Schori triumphs in Dar as new Anglican queen"

Her Majesty and Defender of the Faith Queen Elizabeth II will be most interested to learn that she has been replaced...

[Ellie in T.O.]

"Schori triumphs in Dar as new Anglican queen"

Her Majesty and Defender of the Faith Queen Elizabeth II will be most interested to learn that she has been replaced...

[albion]

Ruth,

I am curious as to why you would think these things augur "a tough, orthodox doctrinal line in the Anglican Covenant."

I would anticipate just the opposite.

(it is only speculation, but I am having trouble understanding where all the conservative fighting talk has gone if they've not been given something in return for all this.)