Tales from the crypt

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
As you perhaps know already, the primates of the Anglican Communion just concluded a week of closed-door meetings in the crypt at Canterbury Cathedral. The Episcopal Church, USA, was censured for moving forward with gay marriages, counter to the doctrine of Anglicanism in general.

It is a clear affirmation of historical orthodoxy by the Anglican mainstream, but the rebuke was a lighter one than some traditionalists wanted. Here is the sentence passed upon the Episcopal Church by the gathered primates:

“It is our unanimous desire to walk together. However given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity." (Communique here.)
What I am hearing today from liberal Episcopalians, clergy and lay, does not sound like repentance. I have heard a flurry of accusations against Anglicanism in general and against the decision, accusations of shortsightedness at best, of bigotry at worst.

Other responses have been more measured. Michael Curry, the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, said this:

"This is not the outcome we expected, and while we are disappointed, it’s important to remember that the Anglican Communion is really not a matter of structure and organization. The Anglican Communion is a network of relationships that have been built on mission partnerships; relationships that are grounded in a common faith; relationships in companion diocese relationships; relationships with parish to parish across the world; relationships that are profoundly committed to serving and following the way of Jesus of Nazareth by helping the poorest of the poor, and helping this world to be a place where no child goes to bed hungry ever. That’s what the Anglican Communion is, and that Communion continues and moves forward."
That sounds as if the social gospel is the whole of the gospel, to Curry, or at least the heart of it. However, though helping others in this life is important, it is not all that we do; there are spiritual and ethical dimensions involved in our ultimate purpose of raising up a chosen people to participate in the life of the world to come. It is those other dimensions that are the point of the Canterbury gathering's censure of TEC.  Curry is either engaging in a bit of artful redirection of the argument or else he is not clearly understanding what just happened to him.

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