Sunday, August 24, 2008

Challenge to NZ Anglican bishops

Who said this?

"As I understand it the Anglican Church, in this province [ie. ACANZP], recognises two ways of life. One is marriage, which is between a man and a woman. And the other is celibacy."

Bishop Victoria Matthews said it in a newspaper interview published today in NZ. She is right. This is the standard for sexual relationships for people in licensed ministry in our church, as agreed by our bishops.

The challenge for our bishops is this: to live by their own agreement. Further, to embrace the necessary dimension of being bishops of a catholic church which means (a) no unilateral actions (b) abiding by the teaching of the church (c) making the onus of proof for innovation fall on the innovators ... to say nothing of embracing the necessary dimensions of a reformed church which means accepting the authority of Scripture as greater than tradition or reason, though both tradition and reason contribute to our understanding of Scripture.

Anyway, welcome to Down Under, Bishop Victoria!
Clearly Bishop Victoria is well informed about what is what and what is not in our church, and our hopes are high that she will underline the catholic and reformed character of our church in meetings of the bishops.

PS for those readers who look up the whole interview, I am passing over, in dignified and diplomatic silence, her disagreement with my bishop!!!

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