After meeting for the week, the Episcopal Church bishops have apologized to the Anglican Communion for being so hasty about gay clergy etc.
In this spirit of intentional practice, we affirm that all need to repent, as the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us in his Advent Letter 2004. We repent of the ways we as bishops have sometimes treated each other, failing to honor Christ?s presence in one another. Furthermore, too often we have also failed to recognize Christ?s presence fully manifest in our sister and brother Anglicans around the global communion. We honor their full voice and wisdom. We desire mutuality. We recognize our interdependence in the Body of Christ.
Moreover, we as the House of Bishops express our sincere regret for the pain, the hurt, and the damage caused to our Anglican bonds of affection by certain actions of our church. Knowing that our actions have contributed to the current strains in our Communion, we express this regret as a sign of our deep desire for and commitment to continuation of our partnership in the Anglican Communion.
We note here that our decision-making structures differ from those in many parts of the Anglican Communion and that our actions require conciliar involvement by all the baptized of our church, lay and ordained. Therefore we as bishops, in offering our regrets, do not intend to preempt the canonical authority of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At the same time, we are keenly aware of our particular responsibility for episcopal leadership.
We long for the fullest expression of the gift of communion that God has given us through Christ. “The communion we enjoy with God in Christ and by the Spirit, and the communion we enjoy with all God’s people living and departed, is the specific practical embodiment and fruit of the gospel itself” (Windsor Report, paragraph 3). We rejoice in our partnership in the worldwide Anglican Communion and affirm anew our commitment to the interdependence of this church as a member of the Anglican Communion.
A few bishops thought the meeting ducked the issue, and basically called for immediate action to stop offending the more conservative members of the Communion.
In Colorado, Bp. Rob O’Neill offered similar words of apology, calling for more study of the matter — something not likely to satisfy folks on either end of the debate, but in keeping with his previous direction.
Though, to be fair, he actually got some kind response from one long-term opponent:
The letter got high marks from his conservative nemesis and most vocal critic, the Rev. Don Armstrong, of Colorado Springs. “I am thankful that Rob has chosen to lead in this way and to keep our diocese, in both faith and practice, a member of the Communion,” Armstrong wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.
I’d blog more about, but, frankly, it’s been a looooong weekend, and my personal tolerance for reopening that particular debate is pretty low.