At the General Convention of the Episcopal Church there was discussion about changing the name of the Church and that it no longer be referred to as the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). The convention organizers dragged out sixteen flags and stated that the Episcopal Church (TEC) is represented in all those countries. Very multi-national don’t you think?
TEC has elected a woman as its Presiding Bishop and it looks like they will not comply with the Windsor Report, putting them at odds with most of the rest of Anglicanism.
Ecumenically, TEC has decided, at its convention, to undertake Eucharistic sharing with the United Methodist Church. They already have such an arrangement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and based on the Bonn Agreement with all the Churches of the Utrecht Union. At the convention TEC will be signing an updated “Concordat of Full Communion.” with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Aglipayan).
In my estimation the stage is set for TEC to break from the Anglican Communion. They have created a sort of union of the left and liberal. They have also set the stage to become the money and the power behind a ‘new’ union (see we’re doing a new thing).
I find it very interesting that Bishop Joris Vercammen, the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, presided at the convention’s June 19 Eucharist, ostensibly in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Bonn Agreement. Utrecht has already substantially adopted the ‘ordination’ of women and is well on the way to blessings of same sex unions.
In October 2005 when Utrecht met with the Abp. of Canterbury (caution PDF Document) there was much discussion on the issue of overlapping jurisdictions. There are Anglican Bishops in locales under the jurisdiction of a Utrecht Bishop. Since Utrecht and the Anglican Church are in full communion there should only be one Bishop per jurisdiction.
Utrecht used a made up, far less serious excuse to eject the PNCC from the Union (not that the PNCC wanted to remain in union with Utrecht based on Utrecht’s liberal positions).
Could TEC become the new ‘Rome for the liberals’? Could Utrecht align with the TEC? Could Utrecht disavow their relationship with Anglicanism in general and join with TEC, the IFI (who have been in on and off discussions with Utrecht for years), the ELCA and the UMC in a sort of liberal, anything goes movement?
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Each of the parties to that kind of Union would be a dying entity. Each is defective in its beliefs and practices. It would be no more than a set of bodies where the ‘I’ll believe what I want’ crowd can hang out (all the while providing a good income and nice living conditions for its clergy).