Fifty Most Influential Anglicans: 20-11
In anticipation of the Lambeth Conference, The Telegraph newspaper from the U.K. has listed what it deems to be the 50 most influential Anglican churchmen and churchwomen today. The Telegraph has divided this list into groups of ten. Each day for the next five days I will publish ten of the names and The Telegraph's biographical entries. See also 50-41, 40-31 and 30-21.
Feel free to post your comments on the selection of individuals, or your assessment of their influence on the Anglican Communion. -The Editor
20. Jenny Te Paa, Maori, New Zealand
Principal of the College of St. John the Evangelist in Auckland, Dr. Jenny Te Paa was a member of the 2003 Lambeth Commission which wrote the Windsor Report. She also assisted in the St. Augustine's seminar which helped to plan the Lambeth Conference. She has condemned homophobia, and recently lamented the obsession of the Church with trying to determine who should be allowed to remain within its fold, claiming this distracts from the enormous suffering in the world.
19. Marc Andrus, Bishop of California
Bishop Andrus was one of those determined not to attend the Lambeth Conference if Bishop Gene Robinson was not invited, but was persuaded by Robinson to be a "voice at the table." He has been in the eye of the storm following the California Supreme Court decision to open up marriage to gay couples. He welcomed the decision and urged churchgoers to oppose conservative moves to overturn the verdict. His pastoral guidelines to his clergy call on them to put gay and straight relationships on a par by encouraging all couples to get married first in a secular service and then be blessed in church services.
18. Bonnie Anderson, Chair, the Episcopal Church House of Deputies
A determined defender of the American agenda in the Anglican Communion, Bonnie Anderson is effectively the second most senior figure in the Episcopal Church, USA. She chairs its Hose of Deputies including clergy and laity, which considers itself "senior" to the House of Bishops in the Church's General Convention. Originally from the Diocese of Michigan, she has served in just about every capacity in the Church structures open to a layperson rather than a member of the clergy. She champions the ultra-democratic stance of The Episcopal Church, criticizing the Archbishop of Canterbury's pressure to get American bishops to pronounce moratoria on same-sex blessings and ordinations.
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