The Australian Church Record, number 1888, November 2005, has been released.
Another page in English Church history was turned on the 2nd November 2005. A series of controversies between a group of growing churches in South-West London and the Bishop of Southwark has resulted in three of their staff being ordained by Martin Morrison, Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa.
Alternative Episcopal Oversight has been ‘in the air’ for a while, but has become more urgent in the wake of the current crisis foisted upon the Anglican Communion by ‘revisionists’ who do not want to continue to classify homosexual behaviour as sin. When the English Parliament passed its Civil Partnership Act (25th July), designed to provide for active homosexual couples, the House of Bishops issued a statement which did not say that such partnerships were incompatible with Holy Orders (as the Roman Catholics had done), and which advised clergy to refrain from inquiring into the nature of such relationships when people fronted for pastoral ministry. When the Evangelical network, Reform, gathered for its conference on the 31st October, it denounced the House of Bishops’ statement, and voted in favour of ‘principled irregular action’ where diocesan bishops promote or allow unbiblical innovations, particularly in the area of sexuality. When the Bishop of Southwark,Tom Butler, refused to distance himself from the House of Bishops statement, Rev Richard Coekin, minister of the ‘Co-Mission Initiative’, declared him to be in ‘impaired communion’ with these congregations. The Bishop had also previously refused to ordain two of their staff, despite being trained and eligible and already exercising a thriving ministry. This is not exactly action in line with the expressed desire of the Church of England to encourage growth.
Encouraged by the Reform conference decisions, a special ordination service, attended by more than 500 people, witnessed the ordination of Andy Fenton, Richard Perkins, and Loots Lambrechts, at the hands of a visitor, Bishop Martin Morrison. In response, the Bishop of Southwark has revoked Rev Coekin’s licence.
In England, clergy and laity have been invited to express their ‘full support for those involved in seeking to provide Ordained ministry in accordance with the Anglican tradition in the Co-Mission Initiative churches’, and to recognise the validity of the three ordinations. Large numbers have already done so. Immediately the news reached Australia, the President of the Anglican Church League, Dr Mark Thompson, issued a similar statement of support. Occurring too late for a vote of support from Sydney Synod, we await news of the response of the Standing Committee. (See editorial, p.3). Þ