General Convention 2012

Apologies to my readers.  I am having some problems with Blogger re.  

The problem with blogging after General Convention is that there is too much to write about.  There are rants of all kinds that could be let loose and there are all kinds of considered approaches to theology that could be written about.  But there are a few General Convention things that I would like to address:

Anglican Covenant

I had hoped that the General Convention would have done something definitive about the Anglican Covenant.  The Executive Council had made a fairly definitive statement prior to GC that would have made it clear that the AC was not in keeping with the spirit of Anglicanism or the polity of our Church.  But instead a resolution to not vote on it kicked the can to GC2015.  I am disappointed in the way that the resolutions were handled by the committee and I am disappointed in the way they were handled.  As one colleague said:  “Ah, the tyranny of the nice.”  It is clear too that neither of the houses were willing to enter into another year of acrimonious fighting.  And there is nothing wrong with recognizing that the Church is tired of fighting.  It is time to kick the can down the road and let another generation deal with the inanities of the Anglican Covenant. 

Same-Sex Blessings

I am pleased that there was passage of this resolution with such support from a heavy majority of both Deputies and Bishops.  It means that the liturgies provided will be used and then be re-evaluated by the next convention.  It meets the pastoral needs of the Church and also speaks the kind of inclusivity that the radical hospitality that our Church wishes to offer.

Inclusion of the Transgendered

This is going to be a difficult issue to deal with because even the LGB community is not really conversant with the issues that are present in the lives of gender identity and transgendered people.  Hopefully we will be able to be more aware and open to these people and offer the dignity that they deserve through inclusion and ordination.

Comportment of the House of Bishops

The HOB evidently did not do much about policing its own house.  From what was seen, no censure by the HOB was made on the bishops that signed the Amicus Briefs and have meddled in the Diocese of Quincy and Fort Worth.  I don’t get it.  I don’t understand why bishops will sit and do nothing in the face of blatant boundary violations.  I do not understand why bishops allow fellow bishops to get away with it.  It is time for the House of Deputies to call the HOB to account.  If we are going to be an ‘Episcopal’ Church  the episcopoi are going to have to start acting like Christians.  Perhaps the most damning comment on the HOB was the point of personal privilege by +Gene Robinson caught on tape.  This is not just disagreement—it is character assassination.  It is the kind of misconduct that if a priest participated in such behavior, s/he would be defrocked.  It is time for the HOB to clean up its act.  It is not just a club where those who don’t like the way that the game is going can pick up their marbles and leave.  This is the Church and we need to employ the dictates of Jesus.

General Convention

I am for the most part beginning to wonder about the effectiveness of General Convention as it stands now.  The cost and the burden of it are great.  Am I for a smaller convention?  I am not sure.  Am I for a shorter convention, not really.  I might be for smaller conventions more often if there were a way to lessen the cost like having it on a college campus or the like.  But it should not cost us our souls to govern ourselves.