GAFCON PILES ON;
APPEASEMENT SET TO FAIL
Gafcon reacted yesterday to the public relations disaster Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made for himself. It posted an anonymous article on its website, "Lambeth 2020 Descends into Confusion." Find it here . If the archbishop thought that dis-inviting the same-sex spouses would bring the rebellious Gafcon crowd around to attending next year's Lambeth Conference, he got a clear response yesterday. Gafcon is reveling in the archbishop's self-made disaster. For more than a decade now, it has been Gafcon's mission to weaken the archbishop of Canterbury's authority and split the old Anglican Communion into two adversarial parts, the Gafcon-led anti-gay rights and fundamentalist majority versus the old First World, pro-gay-rights dominated minority Anglican Communion. Gafcon asserted that recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary for Anglicans. It is in Gafcon's interest to diminish the archbishop in the Anglican world. They are taking this opportunity that he has handed them.
In the first place, Gafcon points out that the archbishop has reneged on his original invitation to all spouses. Welby made a promotional video for the conference last year. It is dated on Youtube at November 22, 2018, but scenes were shot in a summer garden, presumably that of Lambeth Palace in London. Those scenes would have to have been made a couple of months before the date. The archbishop declares clearly in the video, "bishops' spouses will be invited as well as bishops" as he goes on to describe activities for the spouses. Find the video here . Go to 3:50 to find his remark.
At some unknown time in late 2018 or early 2019, Welby communicated by telephone or letter with the three bishops who have same-sex spouses and told them their spouses were not invited to the conference. Then, he left it to the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Idowu-Fearon, to announce the news to the world via the Internet on 15 February 2019.
In the second place, Gafcon points out the illogic of inviting the openly homosexual bishops while dis-inviting their legal spouses and justifying this by the Lambeth Resolution 1.10 of 1998 that condemns homosexuality:
The depth of theological confusion is revealed by the fact that Dr. Idowu-Fearon defends the decision to disinvite spouses in same-sex marriages on the grounds that such relationships are contrary to Lambeth Resolution 1.10, while at the same time making it clear that the bishops who have contracted such unions will be invited.
On what possible moral or Scriptural grounds can such discrimination be practiced? The bishops who are being invited share the same lifestyle and the same beliefs about marriage as their spouses.
One has to admit, Gafcon has a point here. In the end, Gafcon stuck to its guns and reiterated their demand that "those who fail to uphold the biblical standard," e.g. the Episcopal Church, should be excluded and "those who uphold it," e.g. ACNA, should be included in the Lambeth Conference of 2020. They continued, "Instead, we have a token acknowledgement of Lambeth 1.10 which is shamelessly used to exclude a few same-sex spouses while bishops from five provinces which have formally recognized such same-sex marriages are welcomed." Appeasement rebuffed.
It should be recalled that on June 22, 2018, Gafcon sent a letter to the churches urging the archbishop of Canterbury to 1)invite to the Lambeth Conference the bishops of ACNA and the breakaway Anglican church in Brazil, and 2)not to invite the bishops of the provinces who have supported gay-rights. Find the letter here . It went on "In the event this does not occur, we urge Gafcon members to decline the invitation to attend Lambeth 2020 and all other meetings of the instruments of Communion." The bishops of two provinces, Nigeria and Uganda, subsequently announced that they would not attend the Lambeth Conference.
It is entirely possible that Welby simply was not thinking about same-sex spouses when he said, rather offhandedly, that the spouses would be invited. However, he said it in a video that his office placed prominently, and still keeps, inexplicably, on its "Lambeth Conference" website. Find it here . He should have known what would happen. If Welby's remark were only an unthinking slip, he handled it badly. If it were not a slip, but a deliberate reversal, it is more serious. It shows that it was a calculated move to please the Gafcon opposition who were possibly putting pressure on him. Now, the timing of Idowu-Fearon's letter of 15 February is curious in light of the fact that the Gafcon leaders will be gathering in Dubai on 25 February. Is reversal of policy ten days ahead just a coincidence? I suspect not.
If Welby's ploy is to soften up the resistance of Gafcon by throwing the same-sex spouses under the bus, well, we will just have to wait and see how effective it will be later this month. I think we can all take a wild guess about that. If yesterday's statement from Gafcon is any indication of the response to come in a few days, we may suspect, with good reason, that this clumsy attempt will fail. Appeasement does not work. It never works. The archbishop of Canterbury should have known that. All indication is that he has made things worse for himself. He has the pro-gay-rights bishops upset with him. At the same time, he has played into the hands of Gafcon and made their opposition to him even stronger. This is the opposite of what he should want.
At some unknown time in late 2018 or early 2019, Welby communicated by telephone or letter with the three bishops who have same-sex spouses and told them their spouses were not invited to the conference. Then, he left it to the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Idowu-Fearon, to announce the news to the world via the Internet on 15 February 2019.
In the second place, Gafcon points out the illogic of inviting the openly homosexual bishops while dis-inviting their legal spouses and justifying this by the Lambeth Resolution 1.10 of 1998 that condemns homosexuality:
The depth of theological confusion is revealed by the fact that Dr. Idowu-Fearon defends the decision to disinvite spouses in same-sex marriages on the grounds that such relationships are contrary to Lambeth Resolution 1.10, while at the same time making it clear that the bishops who have contracted such unions will be invited.
On what possible moral or Scriptural grounds can such discrimination be practiced? The bishops who are being invited share the same lifestyle and the same beliefs about marriage as their spouses.
One has to admit, Gafcon has a point here. In the end, Gafcon stuck to its guns and reiterated their demand that "those who fail to uphold the biblical standard," e.g. the Episcopal Church, should be excluded and "those who uphold it," e.g. ACNA, should be included in the Lambeth Conference of 2020. They continued, "Instead, we have a token acknowledgement of Lambeth 1.10 which is shamelessly used to exclude a few same-sex spouses while bishops from five provinces which have formally recognized such same-sex marriages are welcomed." Appeasement rebuffed.
It should be recalled that on June 22, 2018, Gafcon sent a letter to the churches urging the archbishop of Canterbury to 1)invite to the Lambeth Conference the bishops of ACNA and the breakaway Anglican church in Brazil, and 2)not to invite the bishops of the provinces who have supported gay-rights. Find the letter here . It went on "In the event this does not occur, we urge Gafcon members to decline the invitation to attend Lambeth 2020 and all other meetings of the instruments of Communion." The bishops of two provinces, Nigeria and Uganda, subsequently announced that they would not attend the Lambeth Conference.
It is entirely possible that Welby simply was not thinking about same-sex spouses when he said, rather offhandedly, that the spouses would be invited. However, he said it in a video that his office placed prominently, and still keeps, inexplicably, on its "Lambeth Conference" website. Find it here . He should have known what would happen. If Welby's remark were only an unthinking slip, he handled it badly. If it were not a slip, but a deliberate reversal, it is more serious. It shows that it was a calculated move to please the Gafcon opposition who were possibly putting pressure on him. Now, the timing of Idowu-Fearon's letter of 15 February is curious in light of the fact that the Gafcon leaders will be gathering in Dubai on 25 February. Is reversal of policy ten days ahead just a coincidence? I suspect not.
If Welby's ploy is to soften up the resistance of Gafcon by throwing the same-sex spouses under the bus, well, we will just have to wait and see how effective it will be later this month. I think we can all take a wild guess about that. If yesterday's statement from Gafcon is any indication of the response to come in a few days, we may suspect, with good reason, that this clumsy attempt will fail. Appeasement does not work. It never works. The archbishop of Canterbury should have known that. All indication is that he has made things worse for himself. He has the pro-gay-rights bishops upset with him. At the same time, he has played into the hands of Gafcon and made their opposition to him even stronger. This is the opposite of what he should want.
