Response to Bishop Carranza's Article
by Anglican Communion Institute (Feb 10, 2005)
The Rt. Rev. Sergio Carranza
Bishop Assistant in the Diocese of Los Angeles
PO Box 2164
Los Angles, CA 90051
Dear Bishop Carranza,
Your anger and disappointment at any obstacle to pursuing your personal vision for sexual behavior has been made clear in your recent posting on the electronic clergy newsletter of the Diocese of Los Angeles. We want you to know that we have heard you.
In your posting you suggest that the Windsor Report does not mandate the expulsion of the Episcopal Church, something you say was hoped for by those with schismatic inclinations.
Please be clear that the Windsor Report does state that those who do not intend to live under the constraints of Communion will have chosen to walk apart, that is, will have self-selected out of Communion. The schismatic inclinations and behaviors are, by this understanding, held by those, like yourself, who defy the express directions of the Lambeth Conference, the Primates and Archbishop of Canterbury.
Your argument from polity that the House of Bishops is powerless to act until it meets in convention in 2006 with the House of Deputies misses the point that in our Communion the concern is with the false teaching and witness of our Bishops, and that the House of Bishops is perfectly capable of reversing their own decisions for which they are responsible and accountable and which are in clear defiance of the practice and teaching of the Church.
Your worry about a vociferous minority is indeed our worry as well. We believe that the political process in the Episcopal Church has long left truth up for vote in a dysfunctional and unrepresentative system, the decisions of which have precipitated a rapid decline in Episcopal Church membership, what some might view as a clear judgment on the truth of these decisions. The hallmark of the majority of this limited body is the willingness to accept this judgment without concern.
Your statement that "we are trying to placate some arrogant Primates of the Anglican Communion" is a stunning rejection of historic authority and order that has the effect of undermining your own authority and renders impotent our church and its ministers.
Your further statement that "we cannot accept the imposition of taboos alien to our culture" seems to forget that these 'taboos' are clearly mandated in Holy Scripture, and are 'taboos' apparently held by the vast majority of people in our own country, not just Africa. Perhaps it is you who misunderstand the social, economic and political context of our church.
Clearly you do not believe that voices outside of the American Episcopal Church ought to be able to speak into our context in the way they have, through a Report commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Primates of the Anglican Communion.
We believe that such a position amounts to a rejection of Lambeth resolutions, similarly grounded conciliar statements, and indeed to the declaration of the Episcopal Church, to be ‘a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, in communion with the See of Canterbury.’
Might we ask you to articulate an understanding of the church to which you believe you do belong, and then seek to gather those Bishops who feel as you do on this matter? As we choose to walk together or apart in these next few weeks such clarity would be loving, honest and helpful.
Finally, there is no point in living under constraints, in Christ, which you believe to be against your prophetic insights. Living in Communion is, in fact, living under just these kinds of constraints. But we accept that Communion may be a way of living as Anglican Christians from which you wish to distance yourself.
All Lenten good wishes, in Christ,
On Behalf of the Anglican Communion Institute
The Rev. Prof. Christopher Seitz
The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
The Very Rev. Philip Turner
The Rev. Donald Armstrong
