As I’ve written here before, I find it frustrating when people can’t be bothered to follow canons. If we’re not following them, why bother having them? I’d like to see us, especially those of us in Holy Orders, held accountable for following our common, ordered life as a church, expressed in our canons. If I don’t like the rules, we have open processes for changing our canons.

Here are my two examples d’jour: one from the right, and one from the left. First, from the right, we have a press release from Forward in Faith. It seems that retired Bishop of Quincy Edward MacBurney has been charged with “canonical violations.” This is the bit that got me going: “Attorneys for MacBurney state that the charges raise the theoretical question as to whether an Episcopal bishop exercises total control over a certain geographical territory or whether a Bishop merely exercises control over the Episcopal churches within that territory.”

Theoretical question? What could that question possibly be? “If the Episcopal Church were created in a parallel universe, with completely different canons, and a different understanding of time and space, might the definition of ‘diocese’ differ?” I can’t fathom a theoretical question that might redefine diocese as anything other than geographic territory. Take, for example, the canon that requires bishop to live in their dioceses. Is MacBurney’s lawyer suggesting that bishops should live in church buildings? There is no possible canonical justification — or in Christian tradition, for that matter — for suggesting that a bishop exercises control over church buildings only, and not territories. Who does Forward in Faith think we are?

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Christopher, over at Thanksgiving In All Things, seems to have it about right. Writing about the “mess” we’ve gotten ourselves into in the church, he says:

That we’re some kind of club. That somehow it’s a terrible thing to be “out”. That somehow, someone can be “outed”. And for the life of me, I cannot figure this out in myself or anyone else. We’re not a very happening or enjoyable club. We’re often the worst of sinners, the most bigoted, the most prone to confuse faith and ideology, the most likely to be found with our pants down. We’re often not very nice, not to one another, and certainly not to anyone outside the club. We’re really quite a mess, and so when we get all caught up in who’s in and who’s out, we miss the point really.

I don’t get excited about church because of club membership status. I get excited because of who God shows us he is for us. From the beginning, in Creation, God placed himself at the heart of the world. In God there is no inside or outside. Though hidden, God is present and among us. In Christ, we know who that God is. I get excited about this Jesus. He shows us that this is a loving God, a good God, a God who cares, a God who is willing to put up with our shit, even die because of it. And rise again to forgive!

Right. And Christopher has a brilliant idea for Bishop Gene Robinson’s travels during this summer’s Lambeth Conference.

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Puh-lease! The House of Bishops, in a move that should have surprised no one, today deposed Bishop John-David Schofield (and Bishop William Cox, but we’re more interested in Schofield in this post). There are lots of things one could observe here. Fr. Jake says Schofield is no longer a bishop (though he admits that’s a Protestant view). I believe that ordination is indelible, so my take would be the Schofield is still a bishop, but not allowed to function as such within ECUSA. But those are small potatoes compared with what we read over on BabyBlueOnline, who helpfully collects the statements of both Schofield and the Anglican Communion Network.

There we read Schofield’s statement: “The disciplinary procedures used by the House of Bishops, in my case, were intended for those who have abandoned the Faith and are leading others away from orthodox Christianity…” Let me get this right. Schofield wants to steal property, engage in irregular ecclesistical boundary crossing, and disregard the canons of not only ECUSA, but his new friends in the Southern Cone. And he thinks that all this doesn’t add up to abandoning the discipline of the church? Sorry, but when you callously disregard the rules, you have to expect to face some consequences.

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I’ve said for some time that I believe all duly elected and consecrated Anglican bishops should be invited to Lambeth. Presence doesn’t guarantee reconciliation, but absence surely prevents it.

The Lead had the news that there are already buttons available to mark +Gene Robinson’s proximity to (but not presence at) the Lambeth Conference. I couldn’t find Martyn Minns buttons yet (get with it, Stand Firm crowd!), but I thought this image might be something Bishop Minns could wear.

Of course, we might be tempted to ascribe the exclusion of the Bishop of New Hampshire to lots of reasons. Homophobia? Perhaps, but Archbishop Rowan Williams has also excluded Bishop Martyn Minns and any number of other bishops. I’d expect that Bishop John-David Schofield could be getting an “I don’t think so!” letter amending his earlier invitation.

But is there another reason for exclusion? Dave walker thinks so.

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Pope Benedict must be running out of things to do. He’s produced a new list of the seven deadly sins. [OK, so I'm playing a bit loose with the Pope here, to make a point and for a bit of humor. I know these are not "official."] Naturally, “bioethical” sins hold the top spot. Just as you’d expect, the committee of men has placed a “sin” that affects women the most at the top of their list. I might have placed “leading Christians into error” at the top of the list, but they didn’t ask me.

Until they get updated, I hadn’t thought much about the good old seven deadlies. Now that I’ve seen the new list, I kind of miss the old list. They were, somehow, timeless. Now that we’re opening them to revision (what will Benedict revise next?!), I figure I might as well come up with my own list of seven deadly sins. I’ve created a handy chart showing the original list, Benedict’s list, and my list. You pick the deadliest list, and don’t do those things!
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There’s been much discussion on the email list for the House of Bishops/Deputies about the San Joaquin situation. One person asked why it wasn’t OK to have parallel jurisdictions — that is, why the Southern Cone shouldn’t have congregations and dioceses in the USA. An answer came back: because it says so in the canons of the Council of Nicea.

Fair enough. That is what the canons say. But we seem to ignore most of the canons of Nicea. If we’re going to base current policy (and polity) on ancient canons, what else must we do? Well, for one thing, we need to remove Archbishop Rowan Wiliams. The very same canon that seems to forbid parallel jurisdictions is really about the translation of bishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury was translated from another see, so he is not compliant with the ancient canons. What are things must change in our church, if we’re to be “Nicea compliant”?

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ENS has a release that says “The House of Bishops was informed March 10 that full invitation is ‘not possible’ from the Archbishop of Canterbury to include Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as a participant in this summer’s Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.” [See update, below]

As I’ve said many times, I think all duly elected and consecrated Anglican bishops should be issued full invitations to next summer’s Lambeth Conference. This would include not only Robinson, but Bishop Martyn Minns and other CANA bishops, for example. If we need reconciliation, how will this be achieved without face to face opportunities for conversation and conversation?

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According to a post on Covenant, the ECUSA House of Bishops has brought in an outside consultant to advise them on media relations. They need the help. Sadly, the real work of our church (and the experience of most Episcopalians, I think) is too often obscured by sensationalist coverage of perceived threats of schism.

So our bishops would like to get another story out there. Doug LeBlanc has summed up everything the bishops need to know about media relations in two paragraphs (with no consulting fees!).

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AMiA? Dusty.

CANA? Once was all the rage.

GAFCON? Snooze.

Here’s the latest, buried in the comments over at Amy Welborn’s blog:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

An historic gathering of conservative Anglican leaders took place February 26, 2008 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Heads of 29 different Anglican bodies signed the concordat forming the Anglican/Episcopal Initiative for Orthodox Unity. Points of agreement included rejection of women’s ordination and repudiation of polyester chasubles.

The new Initiative represents 442 bishops, 137 priests, and 14 lay members. The organization, abbreviated AEIOU(y), is known colloquially as “the Vowel Movement”.

Sadly, it’s getting harder and harder to satirize this stuff. This one is just shy of being credible.

Tip o’ the Canterbury Cap to Stand Firm. Yes, boys and girls, I visit those realms on occasion.

I love it when history meets technology. Enjoy this mashup from Google Maps Mania.

If you have ever wondered what Samuel Pepys’ seventeenth century diary would have looked like if he had owned a personal computer and an iphone then wonder no more.

Actor and web-designer, Phil Gyford has produced a blog of Pepys’s Diary in which the daily entries correspond to the 17th century original. What’s more Pepys’ entries have been geo-tagged as well so readers can quickly check any locations mentioned in the diaries on a Google Map.

After all my foaming and ranting about canons, I thought we could use a good laugh.

Thanks to the MadPriest (who might actually be one of the most sane priests in the Anglican Communion, it seems).

The troubles in the Diocese of San Joaquin are well known. I’ve written about them as recently as Friday. I won’t keep rehashing the same-old, same-old, but there’s one new thing that’s gotten itself under my skin.

The Living Church has reported this:

A single candidate chosen to be the provisional Bishop of San Joaquin will participate in a two-day walkabout visitation to the diocese immediately after the House of Bishops’ meeting concludes at Camp Allen in Texas on March 12.

OK. I get it. Bishop Schofield is going to be deposed. The farce proceedings in the House of Bishops will serve to ratify that foregone conclusion. What I cannot fathom is why the arrangements for Schofield’s successor can’t wait until the proverbial body is cold.

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