Justin Welby “taken aback” by Curry criticism

From here:

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said that he is “taken aback” by criticism of the decision to ask the Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church to pray for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. Curry prayed for the victims at the start of Evensong in Canterbury Cathedral, England, on Oct. 3, the first day of the Primates Meeting.

The Rev. Canon Andrew Gross, canon for communications and media relations for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), speaking on behalf of GAFCON, said that the decision to invite Curry to lead the congregation in prayer at the Evensong service “put the GAFCON primates in a difficult spot.” He said that they were “forced to look like they are walking together when they are not walking together.”

Welby’s claim to be “taken aback” is either a sign of startling naivety or disingenuousness.

It would be naïve for a leader in his position to fail to understand the depth and breadth of the rift that has divided the Anglican Communion and he should not be surprised that at least one faction is unwilling to pretend, under any circumstances, that it isn’t there. More plausibly, he does understand it and has seized the opportunity to score a political point against his opponents by claiming they are attempting to score a badly timed political point themselves.

On the other hand, if, as Rev. Canon Andrew Gross says, being present at Curry’s prayers presents difficulties for the GAFCON Primates, why on earth, I wonder, did they attend the, let’s pretend we are all getting along, Primates’ Meeting in the first place?

5 thoughts on “Justin Welby “taken aback” by Curry criticism

  1. David’s question at the end with respect to the Gafcon Primates attending the meetings in the first place, seems like the right question to me.

    • No, the right question is when is the ABC going to make a stand for the Gospel and break any ties with the TEC and the other apostates. Clearly he recognizes his appointment was subject to the civil government and does not want to do anything that will upset their worship of the “god of political expedience”. The Anglican Communion cannot survive or claim to be Christian if it does not take a firm stand for orthodoxy.

  2. Well, they attended because they are Anglican primates, after all, and they know perfectly well that the TEC/ACC/SEC clique would much prefer them to be seen as marginalized on the international level rather than actively participating and thereby reminding everyone that there really is a traditional resistance to limitless innovation.

  3. Ha ha. Normalizing sodomy starts with having “dialogue” with those who condone and enable grave sin. So this fellow Curry – his hands dripping with sin – is invited to act the part of a clergyman.

    Good job Welby. Colin Blow Johnson did the same with all his indaba-daba-do – just keep the participants in the room as under the table you molest them. “Let’s walk together fellow Christians!”

    Seriously demented – all of this.

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