DAILY BULLETIN:  Smoke and Mirrors

Written end of Saturday, June 17, 2006

Perhaps what sets this Convention apart from any others is the degree of self-reflexivity it is experiencing. Not only is there an official General Convention website with press releases from the Episcopal news Service, and a nightly television ‘news’ magazine available in all the official Convention hotels; not only are there the websites of all the organizations with a major agenda here, such as Integrity, the AAC and ANC, but there are individual blogs, and blogs which collect from other blogs. Rather like being in a hall of mirrors. Wherever you look you can see a reflection of what’s happening or what might be happening.

Today there was actually very little happening, and the pundits are getting restive. So it’s not surprising that the rumor mill kicked in, with several rumors hitting the press room only to die a sudden death as the truth was revealed. As reasonable and courteous resolutions trickle slowly from the Special Committee into the Houses, each one is a little disappointing. The conservatives are still busy declaring ‘the end’. Ruth Gledhill, religion writer for the London Times, has saved the transatlantic fare, and is reporting on General Convention from the comfort of her own home. ‘A well-informed source’ (which blog was that we wonder)? has told her that the conservatives will not be satisfied with the resolutions we are seeing so far.

Who gets to judge? According to Canon Kearon of the Anglican Communion Office, the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council has set up a group who will assess the response of this Convention to the recommendations of the Windsor Report. This ‘group’ will then report to the Primates meeting to be held next year. It’s a bit like taking an exam and having to wait six months for the results. According to Kendall Harmon, Canon Theologian of South Carolina, the Anglican Communion Network will wait for the official exam results before they decide whether to stay or leave.

The AAC rolled in another British Bishop on Friday, Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, England, whose sermon on the Holy Spirit at the AAC Eucharist was described as a corrective for the theology of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold who attempted in a few seconds on Larry King Live to talk about continuing revelation. You can read the text here. He was preaching at the same time that Bishop Gene Robinson was preaching to a capacity crowd at the Integrity Eucharist. You can read Gene Robinson’s sermon here.

At lunchtime today, the Integrity booth was inundated with people buying the new book about Robinson’s life, Going to Heaven by Elizabeth Adams. Close to 300 people packed a small space to hear him speak and to get their personal copies signed by the man himself. He commented that he is very emotional because he’s tired, and we hope that he’ll be able to get some rest very soon. Please keep Bishop Robinson in your prayers as he carries a great weight of leadership and responsibility in this Convention.

Yesterday the House of Bishops passed a resolution which reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to upholding civil rights for LBGT folk, and opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment or any similar state legislation.  This doesn’t radically alter the Church’s official stance on civil rights for queer folks, but according to the blogs ‘many see it as indicating its own doctrine (or lack of it) of marriage, and thus setting a wider context for evaluating whether The Episcopal Church is fundamentally embracing Windsor or nor, particularly given that it resolves to oppose any prohibition of same-sex civil marriage.’

One of the first pieces of legislation that actually made it through both houses was A133 which authorized ‘the Communication Office to collaborate with the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC) in calling together and coordinating a working group of interested parties for the purpose of designing, funding and implementing a campaign which raises awareness throughout the Episcopal Church about the continuing HIV pandemic.’ It’s great that the national Church is committed to being involved in this campaign.

Meanwhile, the Special Committee charged with the official Windsor response resolutions held a brief hearing this morning on the additional resolutions they have received from deputies, and then worked on two of the original bunch. The diocese of Vermont was well represented at the hearing, discussing how they as a diocese have come to a comfortable place in blessing same-sex civil unions. After a long debate the Committee passed a resolution expressing regret for the offence caused by the events of GenCon 2003 (A161), and also passed the resolution on Delegated Episcopal Oversight (A163) with relatively few changes. Conservative Michael Howell was the lone dissenting voice on both resolutions. This means that there are now five resolutions that have come out of this committee though none of them have yet made it through both Houses.

Tomorrow they will tackle the ones concerning moratoria for public rites for same-sex blessings, and on consecrating non-celibate clergy who are living outside monogamous heterosexual marriage. These will be the most difficult for the committee to find common cause and common language. Also tomorrow, the House of Bishops will elect our next Presiding Bishop. Today’s nomination period closed with no surprises. The bishops will be sequestered in Trinity Church Columbus until the decision is made, but unlike the Vatican we won’t be looking for smoke signals.