Saturday, May 05, 2007

Padre Xico Speaks

The latest from our friend Padre Xico of IEAB from KANTINHO DO REV:

Brother or Crusader?

The installation of a schismatic bishop within a Province by a Primate that affirms to be in communion with Canterbury is definitively a signal that the Anglican Communion is radically broken.
The Archbishop Akinola is showing that neither jurisdiction or respect is sufficient to stop his will to spread his power.
The Akinola's attitude is only a symptom of how the fundamentalism does not respect borders. The initiative of the PB to write to him a letter appealing for an unequivocal respect to the Episcopal Church autonomy was so pastoral but at the same way a clear remind that the violation of such autonomy is absolutely contrary to the Church's tradition.
The response of the Nigerian Primate, in an opposite way was deeply disrespectful and in an almost monarchic tone intending to teach the Episcopal Church the faith rudiments.
Such selfish language is a mark of the messianic personalities: They think that they are almighty.
I know very well this kind of speech. I heard it from a former-bishop in Brazil . The defense of faith for these people is an obsessive fixation.
How Lambeth Palace will react ahead of this episode, if really the installation is performed? The ABC wrote to Akinola appealing do not do. If the ABC's appeal is disrespected we are in front of a serious pastoral breakage between two Primates, and unprecedentedly menace to the role of the ABC as a signal of unity.
In other words, we have now objectively and clearly a key situation. Nobody can accuse the Episcopal Church of not seeking a dialog. But Akinola has now in front of himself an emblematic question to solve: act as a brother or as an intervener. My fear is if he has sensibility for this evaluation or will act as an orthodoxy ecstatic crusader. I will pray for him to do what we expect from a Pastor.


Earlier today I took a trip to Kendall's place to raise my blood pressure, and read a comment by someone who claimed that all Liberals care about is power! The poster claimed that TEC is in the mess it's in because the Conservatives (I was surprised that the poster didn't use the term reasserter) have no interest in power so the lefties took over. Another poster (in another post) claimed that the CANA activity is a "reality check for Mrs. Shori." I always find it interesting that the folks at Titus 1:9 are so convinced that everyone else is deluded. From my viewpoint here in the Global Center, I see some delusion on both sides. It will be interesting to read the reports from Virginia later today.

I gotta go work with the Youth Choir.

1 comment:

Jane R said...

MRS. Schori?! Pulleeze. That's Bishop Schori, or if you don't like church titles, she's also Doctor Schori, or Doctor Jefferts Schori.

I think you are right about the existence of delusion on various sides.

We just had a series of heavy conversations about The Current Unpleasantness at the college (actually we have had two sets of Current Unpleasantnesses this year) and because of the school's Quaker background, the chaplain quoted to us during the last round of meetings from Query 19 of the British Society of Friends (aka Quakers) from I can't remember when, but the gist of the sentence is "always consider that you might be mistaken." The Query is a document used, in this case, as an aid in conversations that are difficult and where the various parties are in contention.

Gotta go write/finish a sermon.

Commencement is over. The little darlings have graduated and some of their parents are younger than I !!! Akh! (I have a birthday Monday and am contemplating my limits and my mortality.) Then again, half our students are adult students, so some of them are about my age... (I refer to them as "the little darlings" too.) So we had graduates with their children in tow and their significant others - very moving.

Anyway, pooey. I'm not preaching about church politics tomorrow, that's for sure. Though the night is young (I had to start late since it was the final week of the semester and my day/night job was taking up all my time) and you never know if the Holy Spirit is going to tell me something in addition to what what She whispered earlier today. We'll see.

I See You!

Sign by Danasoft - Get Your Free Sign