"Division and Destruction"
On the eve of General Convention, Bishop William Love has sent a pastoral letter to the diocese in which, among other matters, he touches upon the gathering in Anaheim:
This coming Monday, July 6th, the eight members of the Diocese of Albany Deputation and I will be traveling to Anaheim, California, for the 176th [sic] General Convention of The Episcopal Church. Our diocesan deputation includes: The Rev. Scott Garno, The Rev. Ellen Neufeld, The Rev. Canon Robert Haskell, The Very Rev. John Scott III, David Beaulac, Deborah Fish, Beth Strickland, and Sue Ellen Ruetsch. I ask you and every member of the Diocese to please keep each of us and all those attending General Convention in your prayers. As we all know, The Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion are deeply divided. There are several proposed resolutions coming before General Convention that have the potential, if passed, of bringing even greater division and destruction, both within The Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion.
Somewhat apocolyptic language, don't you think? Bishop Love might be reminded that the division within the Anglican Communion has been occasioned largely by those churches of the Global South that declared a state of impaired communion, and proceded to encroach upon the territorial jurisdictions of other Communion members. Once again, the Bishop might be asked, to which Anglican Communion does he refer? Canterbury or the alternative communion being torn from it by the Global South provinces and secessionist ACNA dioceses? And on this 4th of July, we might all remember that what appeared to some as destruction of long-held orthodoxies resulted in the birth of a more just order for all. So, let us pray that the 76th General Convention may reach agreements that promote justice, expand the ministries of all God's people, and uphold the unique witness of The Episcopal Church to the Anglican world.
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