Worldwide Anglican Non-Communion Update!!

There you are, scanning the perimeter at first light, ears wide open for the slightest noise, which is an utter waste of time because of the sheer din of hundreds of birds roosting in the trees. ISIS could launch an assault on the Compound and you wouldn't hear it coming. Thanks a lot, birds. Then there's there's the dogs, the roosters and the peacocks. Get some peace and quiet in the countryside, that's what they said. Right.

Mountebank

Speaking of peace and quiet, some of you may remember the Worldwide Anglican Non-Communion (WANC) and its recent Primates Meeting, sorry "gathering," in Canterbury. That disciplined the egregiously heterodox Episcopal Church (TEC) for a period of three years, declaring that the rich but shrinking denomination wouldn't be allowed to represent WANC or vote in its councils.

Gay "We're Going to Lusaka" Jennings

I say disciplined, but the sanction was really more of an unspecified threat. Don't represent or vote and if you do we'll do... something. Unsurprisingly, TEC, which is richer than a trainload of Nazi gold but smaller, has decided to ignore the warning shot and carry on as usual by announcing its intention to take its seat on the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and vote accordingly.

Tengatenga...

We know this because the improbably named Bishop Tengatenga, who mysteriously changed his mind about gay marriage and chairs the ACC, has told us. “Are they going to vote? Yes, they are going to vote as it is their right and responsibility,” announced Tengatenga to the Seminary of the South at Sewanee. And the consequences? According to Tengatenga, nothing at all,  “(The) bottom line is that the Episcopal Church cannot be kicked out of the Anglican Communion and will never be kicked out of the Anglican Communion.”

Eliud Wabukala

That's what Tengatenga thinks along with, presumably, the Episcopal Church's leadership. Expect them to turn up at the ACC's meeting in Lusaka next month, business as usual. We should also expect the conservative majority of Anglican primates to add teeth to their agreed sanctions. That's indicated in Archbishop Eliud Wabukala's pastoral letter, which you can read here.

Justsin Welby

Who knows, perhaps TEC will put the train in reverse and simply act as an observer at the same ACC it's bought and paid for, but don't bet on it. A safer bet by far is that WANC will become even more of a non-communion than it already is.

Good luck, Justsin.

LSP