Anglican roundup: the insanity rumbles on

Week after next, the Common Cause-affiliated conservatives will gather at my alma mater. Not for worship led by an archbishop who remained silent when asked at GAFCON only to go so far as to condemn violent hate crimes against gays and lesbians--not THIS time. No, they say they'll be forming a new province of the Anglican Communion, a rival North American church.

Adrian Worsfold's response: he's starting his own Anglican Church, too. So there.

And Jim highlights one (of many!) reasons why the difference between an established church and American-style separation matters, even post explicit-financial-support: because the covenant that the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his capacity as leader of the Anglican Communion, wants the different primates to sign--in particular, the U.S. and Canadian presiding bishops--is ILLEGAL for the AofC HIMSELF to sign in his capacity as head of the Church of England...because he isn't really the head.

That would be the queen.

Jim:

A pattern is beginning to emerge here. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada must cease blessing same-sex relationships, but the Church of England does not have to because it does so quietly. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada must relinquish their autonomy and sign on to a covenant that will almost certainly be used to marginalize them, but the Church of England doesn't have to because it is an established church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury continues to demand from the North American churches what he does not ask from his own people. And the peculiar thing is that nobody seems to find this objectionable.

Finally, on a lighter note--or at least a gallows-humor note--it seems the Anglican Communion's hiring. (Orphans preferred.)