GAFCON

The Global Anglican Future Pilgrimage and Conference ("GAFCON") is an Alternative Lambeth Conference being led by six Primates who have declined the Archbishop's invitation to Lambeth. Their refusal was announced on the Church of Nigeria's website, and beside the letter and the acronym "GAFCON" was the Compass Rose, the distinctive symbol of The Anglican Communion. The juxtaposition of the logo and the letter made one wonder whether they plan an alternative to more than the Lambeth Conference.

Nigeria's Archbishop told a press conference, "Those of us who will abide with the Word of God, come rain, come fire, are those who are in GAFCON. Those who say it does not matter are the ones who are attending Lambeth... What is the use of the Lambeth Conference which will sweep these issues under the carpet? GAFCON will confer about the future of the Church, [and ] will set a road map for the future. We are a movement that will move away from the maybe-maybe not." [from The Church Times]

MAD

The "righteousness codes" are in contention, on the right and on the left, and if you haven't signed on for one program or the other, you may not get to heaven! The Cold War isn't dead after all. Some seem to find a perverse satisfaction in that. After all, we know how to fight total war. And we await, with a horrified anticipation, the prospect of a swarm of neo-medieval prelates driving us to our very own Anglican Armageddon. It's Mutually Assured Destruction, church style.

But Wait! Although there are those whose long determined commitment to resolution by conflict must still be played out, there are signs of a spirit of disengagement from the conflict mode of church life. We may be moving into a new place; the way may yet be long, but there is something fresh in the air. Don't you feel it?

+Katharine Expunged from the Diptychs.

Last November, Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh led the Diocesan Convention to take the next to last step before leaving the Episcopal Church. And he's been accused of abandoning the communion of the Episcopal Church, a charge to be adjudicated at the next meeting of the House of Bishops.

Last Summer Bishop Duncan told the readers in the parishes of the Diocese of Pittsburgh that they should stop leading prayers for "Katharine our Presiding Bishop." The Bishop's message led one vestry member, Jerry Bowyer, to conclude that Bishop Duncan really did mean to take the Diocese out of the Episcopal Church. He protested, ― Are my fellow conservatives fully aware of the biblical and patristic teachings on schism? How do they justify a break with the Episcopal Church ?. . . How do they justify taking Episcopal property with them? If the Episcopal Church really has become apostate and its current leaders really are enemies of God, then how can we justify leaving the church, its resources and its sheep in their care? If not, how can we justify this separation?' (Episcopal News Service, 11/20.2007).

[Oh. Diptychs? "The lists of names for whom special prayer is made... in ancient times the exclusion of a name was held to be a sign of excommunication" (Oxford Dictionary of the Church).]

Constitutional Roulette in Texas

Festooned with prominent names, a motion to amend the Constitution of the Diocese of Texas was floated at the Annual Council in Galveston. It proposed to add language from the Preamble of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church to that of the Diocese of Texas. But since the Texas Constitution formally accedes to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church's preamble is already a part of the Diocesan Constitution. With its seemingly harmless language, the proposal raised the specter of Texas following other dioceses down a road out of the Episcopal Church. Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, and Fort Worth began their journeys by tinkering with their Constitutions. As of now, what is clearly not given -- in Texas' diocesan Constitution or the ECUSA Constitution -- is the freedom to embrace the illusion that Texas might somehow become a free standing extra-provincial diocese, a kind of total church in itself, able to join up with any foreign province at the whim of the moment. As Anglican polity has been received among us, such a notion is ecclesiological nonsense. Last year the proposal was defeated by a small margin. This time it was voted down by four to one. Let's hope we don't see it again.

Derby Quin Hirst

Derby died in February at 97. The eldest child of Hortense and Clinton Quin, she was born in Kentucky -- on Derby Day, she always joked, explaining her name (In fact, Derby was a family name). In 1917 the family moved to Houston, where she grew up. Her father, after serving as rector of Trinity Church less than two years, was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Texas.

In his history of the Diocese, Lawrence Brown described Bishop Quin's energy as "tornadic." And Derby inherited a full measure of it. She was inexhaustibly interested in everything and everybody. Her husband, Penrose Hirst, was a priest who, in a wide-ranging ministry, was twice Episcopal chaplain to the University of Houston. Derby's own ministries often involved the young: the Houston YWCA and the Harris County Center for the Retarded; also the national board of the Forward Movement, as well as both Church Women United and the Episcopal Church Women. In later life she was an active member of the Companions of the Holy Cross.

It was an experience to get a phone call from Derby asking who was where and what was happening. I always braced myself, knowing that she might eventually suggest I do this or that. As the torrent of her dedicated energy poured over the phone, I only hoped that what she wanted me to do I wanted to do, because, however reluctantly, I always knew that I would do it!

Alleluia.

Future Features and Call for Articles

John Worrell's reflections will continue to grace us (more "Baskets of Carp," we hope). In fact, he already has written a fascinating article "The Strange Case of Dr. Poon and the Primate," now available on our website. Also, how can the church in South Africa be a model for the future of the Episcopal Church? David Sugeno will explore a new book on this topic, and Jim Abernathey will review one of John's favorite books translated by Dorothy L. Sayers. We also hope to get new book reviews from NTL favorite G. Richard Wheatcroft. But most importantly, we need thoughtful, reasoned articles on the life of the church from our readerss. Contact us (see back cover).