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Letters
received during the week
of 13 July
Our
mistake
A
SMALL BUT IMPORTANT ERROR in
your report of the election of a new Archbishop of Wales. Archbishop
Morgan was not 'formerly'
the Bishop of Llandaff. He is, and will remain, Bishop of Llandaff,
just as Archbishop Williams was, and remained, Bishop of Monmouth.
The archiepiscopal office is not tied to a particular diocese
in the Church in Wales, and so the Archbishop remains bishop
of his diocese at the time of election.
Alan
Harrison
S. Mary's, Hayes, Diocese of London
Uxbridge, Middlesex, UNITED KINGDOM
alantharrison@btinternet.com
15 July 2003
Indeed.
Thanks for the correction.
AO as
closet Unitarian Universalists, 'Jeff John'—and, well, how
about 1 Cor 9:16-23?
BEEN
READING ANGLICANS ONLINE FOR SOME TIME now
and despite your obvious attempts to appear neutral regarding
human sexuality you
seem
to appear more like a Unitarian Universalist than an Anglican.
Where may I ask are we called to be all things to all people
all the time? I am certain that Gene Robinson and Jeff John
are talented, loving, basically good guys and possess all the
qualification for the episcopate, however, they are unrepentant
pretenders.
While they obviously are equipped for ministry wouldn't it
be
more fruitful to encourage them to pursue 'unordained' ministry
at least until they repent from their illegimate and harmful
lifestyle? I could live with that and it would make us a lot
happier!
Cordially
in Christ,
J.
Lynn Pflug
Winter Park, Florida, USA
pflughsd@earthlink.net
14 July 2003
In
addition to Corinthians, there's
also Matthew 7:1.
Marriage
preparation—or not
I
READ THE CURIOUS TALE of
the couple desiring to marry in an Anglican Church at Palmwoods.
[Ed note: Story here.]
I heard the couple, the priest, and callers on ABC radio talkback—and
what a different story to the erroneous
newspaper reporting. It does little justice to the priest and
parish attempting to provide confidential marriage preparation
for all couples seeking to marry.
My
parish, like St Augustine's and the vast majority of Brisbane
parishes, expect couples to
prepare, through an acceptable and recognised program, for
their Christian wedding ceremony. The same newspaper and many
social
commentators bemoan the failure of marriages in the western
world. Is
it a case of we are damned if we don't offer marriage preparation
and damned if we do?
Kind
regards.
Trevor
Sketcher
Gold Coast North Anglican Church
Gold Coast, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
dtsketch@tpg.com.au
15 July 2003
We try,
we fail, we try again
THANK
YOU FOR YOUR GOSPEL APPROACH to
the recent controversy (Letter,
13 July),
asserting always the primacy of love. You make me ashamed of
the partisanship I know is in
my
heart.
The
Reverend
Gerry Reilly, Retired
Crewkerne, Somerset, UNITED KINGDOM
ger_mon@totalise.co.uk
15 July 2003
Taking
issue
MAY
I TAKE ISSUE with
a comment in your editorial for this week. I simply think it
is ridiculous to describe the role of lesbian
and gay people in our church as 'the critical issue of our times.'
The
world is full of injustice and suffering; I used to work in the
DR Congo, and that land has been traumatised by a terrible civil
war—in which the church, including the Anglican Province
of the Congo has struggled in extreme poverty to witness in word
and deed to the grace of God and the hope and forgiveness and
new possibilities that the gospel offers. That, and the poverty
of the two-thirds world is THE critical issue of our times. The
instability of the Middle East and the inability of the world
to oblige the
participants to a solution that is seen as just enough—that
is the a critical issue for our times. Both those threathen the
stability of the world as we know it. Both are given only sporadic
attention. If the world was to concentrate as they have concentrated
on Al Qaeda and Saddam on those issues then solutions—not
cheap ones—but solutions might be found or at the least
progressed. But we are too self-absorbed and selfish.
I
don't say that the present controversy is not important, but
please let's keep a sense of proportion. It is important to keep
challenging those—including our brothers (I use the gender
advisedly) in some of the most numerous and powerful parts of
the Communion—to Christ's call to become a more inclusive church
in the Spirit of Jesus.
Yours
in the hope of a better world for all,
Jeremy
Pemberton
Team Rector, Papworth Team Ministry, Rural Dean of Bourn in the Diocese
of Ely
Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, UNITED KINGDOM
jeremy.pemberton@ely.anglican.org
18 July 2003
By
'critical issue' we meant an important issue hitherto not dealt
with
formally by the church, which we must get to grips with in
our time. That we should make feeding the hungry, clothing
the poor, and caring for the sick the most important issue
of every age, we would never deny. But some of the terribly
important concerns you raise in your letter have been with
us since Our Lord first walked this earth.
Earlier
letters
We
launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May
2003. All of our letters are in our
archives.
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