Lambeth Diary: Invited bishop told: 'Go home!'

Ed Salmon, the former bishop of South Carolina who is either retired or on sabbatical, depending on which bit of the Church is doing the talking, was invited to the Lambeth Conference. He is 75 and he says he is retired. Nevertheless, he was delighted to be asked to come to Lambeth. The invites were sent out before he retired and he assumed this was because of the grey area surrounding his precise status at present. He booked his flights, hotels and so on. Just one week before he was due to come, he was told he wasn't invited after all. So he came anyway and I met him in the little flat in Canterbury where Anglican Mainstream has its hq. He and Gene Robinson, both uninvited bishops at the conference, are both here still, preaching God's word on the fringes.

On this video he tells the story. The other interlocutor is David Virtue, whose earlier story on him is here. To be fair to Bishop Salmon, he is conservative but not a trouble maker. He is fully supportive of his successor Mark Lawrence, who is also here and who was re-elected unopposed after his first election was declared invalid.

For instance, Salmon thinks Bishop Schofield entirely wrong to have taken his diocese out of TEC and into Southern Cone. Salmon thinks such protest not worth the inevitable litigious struggle, and that the conservative stance should be maintained from within. He is also wholly supportive of his successor at South Carolina.

In many respects he has the best of both worlds, being in Canterbury with all these bishops but not having to go to any of the workshops, retreats or plenaries. He can just go shopping and go to church.

Not that some invited bishops aren't doing that anyway. Officially, the bishops are all on retreat at the moment. They are in the Big Top today, having spent two days closeted in Canterbury Cathedral which was closed to the public on Thursday and Friday. How strange then, to see so many bishops popping in and out of Top Shop, M&S and Tesco in the city centre yesterday when they were meant to be praying or listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

And who can the good bishop be who, asked why he wasn't on the retreat with his brothers and sisters, said: 'On f*****g retreat with all those w*****s? No f*****g way!'

Congrats to the bishop, who I won't embarrass by naming here, for upholding the good Anglo-Saxon vernacular with its historic roots in medieval cities such as this, in the face of all these enticements from the Latin quarter. We'll here more about that later today and on Monday, when Cardinal Kasper of the Council for Christian Unity addresses the conference.

Some of the video, shot and produced by Joanna Sugden who is here as part of our Times team, was from the launch of Jane Williams' book, Marriage, Mitres, Myself, on being a bishop's wife. The photos below were taken at that event by Joanna Clegg, here on work experience and running Bible studies for us that we'll be featuring from time to time. The studies mirror what the bishops are doing, and I cannot tell you how helpful they are being in keeping me sane. It was Jesus' first miracle, turning water into wine, that we had this morning. That's a bit like what we journalists have to do in the press office, especially at the moment when we are being given almost nothing officially. Except this morning I was given a banana so I suppose that is something. I hope there's be no more water into whine from me.

This picture shows Cynthia Patterson with her husband, Bishop Dennis Drainville of Quebec

Penny Brackley with her husband, Bishop Ian Brackley, from Guildford

Violet Swamidawsan with her husband, Bishop Jeyapaul David Swamidawsan, Tirunelveli Diocese

Liz Inwood with her husband, Bishop Richard Inwood from St Albans

Joy Freier with her husband, Most Rev Philip Freier, Archbishop of Melbourne

Alida Privett with her husband, Bishop John Privett, Kootenay

Gloria Waggoner with her husband, Bishop Jim Waggoner Jr. of Spokane

Comments

[Sarah]

Maybe I should be glad I still don't know what it means...

[Dennis]

and we can presume that f*****g isn't "fasting" I suppose.

Nice.

[Julia]

ABC123, I believe it rhymes with "hanker."

[Odessa Elliott]

Ruth paraphrases what she heard Mary Jo Clegg say in studying the first verses of John's Gospel"

>> It is abstract. We learn that this story is about a living Word (what’s that?), which existed with God before our world did, and which becomes flesh. Before we know Jesus’ name, we know that he existed prior to his human incarnation; before he is called ‘Jesus’, he is called ‘Light’. <<

With all due respect for Miss Clegg and Professor McGraff, who IMHO is a bit too philisophical to be a reliable theologian, I submit that "logos" is the Greek translation for the Hebrew "debar." Our Almighty Creator and Redeemer spoke the universe into being; and, in the fullness of time, that "debar" took on flesh and dwelt among us. That the Lamb was slain from the foundations of the world assures us that the conception, birth, ministry, death, and resurrection was part of YHWH's plan of salvation from the beginning.

The Hebrews did not think abstractly. When the reader comes across "like as" in Hebrew texts, it means the writer had no human words to describe whatever was being described, not that he's grasping for the right metaphor or simile. The Greeks did think abstractly: if you ever took geometry, you may have hated it, but I hope you were able to appreciate the thought that went into creating all those theorems! : ) The Early Fathers were all Greek-thinking/speaking and they spent a huge amount of time fighting off abstract Greek philosophical thought, while not themselves firmly rooted enough in Hebrew texts to simply say, with St. Paul, "They are all pagans."

Perhaps what we've been lacking for a good many years is the ability to say about TEC "leaders": "They are all pagans."

Odessa Elliott

[Jamie MacNab]

I do wish that I was an Anglican Insider ; then all those names of famous bishops would hold some significance for me. As it is, all those bishops seem to be so wrapped up in themselves (and in their personnel problems) that I doubt if I (and the millions like me?) come on to their radar at all.

It is sad to reflect on the real possibility that Anglicanism is shortly to end in division, recrimination and tears. Well, tears for many, at any rate ; the rest will rejoice at having won a great victory.

[Stephen Marsden]

What I love about all these bishops in the photos is their dress sense.

(Sort of Man at C & A, circa 1970)

[Matthew]

"A"... followed by the 14th letter of the alphabet (a consonant)... followed by the eleventh letter of the aphabet (also a consonant)... then "E"... then the eighteenth letter of the alphabet (yet another consonant)... So, as you can see, "buying vowels" will not do you much good unless you are fairly well acquainted with the vocabulary of foul-mouthed Brits!

[Beth]

Ms Glendell,
I can understand your desire to save your friend (or source) from embarrasment, but if his diocese is funding the Bishops trip to the Lambeth Conference he should be careful not say things that could embarrass him or his diocese.

[Rachel]

ABC123 I'm hoping it's walleys rather than the rather cruder alternative - but I could be wrong.

Rachel at Revise Reform

[saint]

ABC123, try the vowels a and e and think self stimulator.

[D Hamilton]

ABC123 - ask Vanna for an A ... N ... K as starters. Now spin that wheel!!!

[abc123]

"w*****s" ?

Sorry, I'm pretty white anglo-saxon, but I guess too American: can I buy a vowel?

[KM]

These pictures remind me of the one taken of the man and his wife in South America...you know, the one where he was supposed to be dead...

Any chance of us discovering that one of the Bishops has faked his death recently in order to claim a large life insurance policy?

Just a thought.

If you're looking for something to investigate.

It'd really liven the conference up.

[robroy]

Big difference...Bp Salmon was retiring and Mark Lawrence was able to squeak by. But the denial of approval of Mark Lawrence then bare approval was a loud proclamation to the rest of the dioceses that there will never be another Mark Lawrence.

May I remind readers of the hypocrisy of the left: When Gene Robinson was elected, they said that the national church shouldn't override a validly elected bishop candidate, but they did this in the first election of Bp Lawrence and many did again in the second. (But hypocrisy of the left is nothing new.)

Thus, Bp Schofield was working with this new reality.

[Daniel]

"Arthur, what if I told you I wasn't really from Guildford after all..."

[David Loving]

Where did Bp. Sauls find that Polo jacket? I didn't know they made them that big.

[saint]

Oooo there's the baby-killing advocate! He must be amongst gradualist friends in the CoE, bless!

And I reckon your good shopping bishop would be right at home with an Aussie cabbie. Sure he's not one of ours as well?

Some Anglican friends from my home town also want to know if anyone seen their bishop. Has he managed to climb over the paperwork yet to be a bishop? They send their regards.

P.S. Ooops I believe his name is Driver.

[Gretchen in Bham (Alabama)]

Bishop Salmon still provides oversight for All Saint's Chevy Chase. MD. He has not retired from that role as bishop. In my opinion, his invitation should not have been taken away.