We as Archbishops, alongside the bishops of the Church of England, apologise and take responsibility for releasing a statement last week which we acknowledge has jeopardised trust. We are very sorry and recognise the division and hurt this has caused.
At our meeting of the College of Bishops of the Church of England this week we continued our commitment to the Living in Love and Faith project which is about questions of human identity, sexuality and marriage. This process is intended to help us all to build bridges that will enable the difficult conversations that are necessary as, together, we discern the way forward for the Church of England.
The Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
The Most Rev John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
No surprise there–did anyone really think an orthodox statement on sexuality would stand in the Church of England? At least Welby has had to play his hand in opposing orthodoxy, even while distorting the language of walking together in ‘love’ and ‘faith’ (‘Their roads they have made crooked’). This should help determine the guest list at Lambeth.
It was inconceivable to most of us that the first document was an authentic representation of the CofE’s position, though Anglican TV tried to see in it evidence of a pendulum swing back to the center. Do you think the original document was a cynical gambit to try to win Kenya’s AB at the last moment? Perhaps it was in fact a sincere attempt to move to the center, but the courage was lacking to see it through. Puzzling.
I thought the same. It might be easier to see the timing of this apology being planned to come after the Kenya visit. I would like to know how an orthodox statement ever got as far as it did in the first place in the Church of England, too. There is an untold news story there, and probably repercussions to follow for those who would be so bold as to jeopardise the trust of those seeking to be affirmed in sin. The recent Church of Uganda statement on sexuality offers a clear exposition of Biblical and orthodox teaching. The day has surely arrived when Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Lagos, Atlanta, and Sidney are the rallying points for Anglicanism, not Canterbury.
So they caved….. says it all doesn’t it.
Translation:
“We assumed the release of the statement, which we have no actual belief in, would convince several hundred African and Asian bishops that the Church of England was an orthodox Christian denomination and this in turn would convince them to attend Lambeth. Turns out they were smarter than we thought. So, back to radical inclusion and full throttle on adopting TEC’s new religion.”
“a statement last week which we acknowledge has jeopardised trust.”
And this new statement contradicting the first one doesn’t?
An apology for the apology will follow in due course, perhaps!
What a betrayal of the faithful orthodox. It really is despicable.
So are the College of Bishops saying that the guidelines are formally set aside? And that until the LLF project is completed there is effectively a vacuum?
I am no longer an Anglican but it saddens me to witness the confusion and equivocation being perpetrated here, which causes far more damage to the Church’s witness than the guidelines could ever have done.
In just 2 sentences, Justin Welby and John Sentamu have given recognition to a new court, a new authority which supersedes that of the Lord God Almighty. Because they unreservedly plead guilty before the Supreme Court of cultural Marxism that they and their fellow bishops have caused offence by upholding the precepts of the Creator when they knew that his precepts were in contradiction to the new and greater precepts which it is the court’s intention to uphold.
In one short statement Welby has made clear to which authority he and his bishops give their allegiance, and he has placed the whole of his church (and all that his church will now stand for) within the jurisdiction of the cultural Marxist empire.
And so the final battle begins: will his church follow him, accept what he has done and that it is now bound to a new authority, or will it resist?
There’s no ‘walking together’ over this. It’s a binary choice – one thing or the other.
[…] a week later, after the inevitable howls of protest, archbishops Welby and Sentamu have issued an apology, dripping with all the right words like “build bridges”, “difficult conversations” and […]
I am so ashamed of the response made by these two men. If they were to yield to those to whom they are apologising, how do they think right thinking Christians will feel? I guess, they will then apologise for offending the right thinking Christians as well. Then we will have this constant flip-flopping…very circus-like.
This is so sad that grown men of the cloth cannot stand on the unadulterated word of God.