Not Caving In

Episcopal Life Online - NEWS:

"The bishops gave five reasons for urging Executive Council to reject the pastoral scheme. First, they said, it would violate church law because it would call for a delegation of primatial authority not permissible under Canons and a compromise of autonomy not permissible under the Constitution.

Second, they said, it would fundamentally change the character of the process in which all Anglican churches were participating together.

Third, it would violate the church's founding principles following its liberation from colonialism and a life independent of the Church of England and fourth, it would sacrifice the emancipation of the laity for the exclusive leadership of high-ranking bishops.

Most important of all, they said, the proposal is spiritually unsound. 'The pastoral scheme encourages one of the worst tendencies of our Western culture, which is to break relationships when we find them difficult instead of doing the hard work necessary to repair them and be instruments of reconciliation,' the bishops said."