What I Wish Rowan Williams Had Said About GAFCON
“I welcome the Jerusalem declaration of GAFCON. The vast majority of Anglicans will recognize the center and boundaries of their faith expressed in the GAFCON document including the robust affirmation of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the one and only son of God and the way, the truth and the life. The statement of orthodox Anglican faith produced by GAFCON is commendable and I recommend it to the design team for an Anglican Covenant as a most serious and weighty contribution to their process. I welcome the statement that GAFCON sees itself as a movement for reform and renewal within the Anglican Communion, and I look forward to the participation of GAFCON members at Lambeth and in other councils of the communion. I have questions about how the proposed GAFCON structures will relate to the councils of the communion and the existing instruments of unity. I invite the leaders of GAFCON to work with me and other leaders of the communion to make our Anglican Communion structures as responsive and responsible as possible. I hope that no new structural initiatives will be taken until Lambeth has had a chance to respond in more detail to the GAFCON proposals. It is my great hope that issues of this sort can be addressed personally and directly among the bishops of the communion at the upcoming Lambeth meeting.”
Â
The Very Rev. Dr. Leander S. Harding 
Spot on, Leander. And by implication, then, what can we reasonably conclude about where the ABC is in his willingness to discipline the North Americans?
I am not sure we can conclude much from the ABC’s response to GAFCON. It seems to me highly emotional and not an example of his best thinking. In any event I think he still wants to create a situation in which TEC will declare itself out of its own accord by not signing onto the covenant.
Agreed. But based on TEC’s past (and present) behavior, I am afraid this is delusional thinking on his part. I hope and pray I am wrong; but ultimately the kind of behavior I see being flouted in TEC indicates its leadership will not W/D voluntarily from the councils of the church because that is the very thing that makes them “acceptable.” When form becomes more important than substance, there is no incentive to do so.
(As a sidebar, keep up the good work, my friend and mentor. You continue to be a great blessing to those of us working to be faithful stewards of the faith once delivered to the saints. Blessings.)
WOW…This so clearly points out what was not [and should have been] said by RW….It makes me truly sad.