Preliminary indications are that the House of Deputies at the General Convention will vote overwhelmingly to repeal B033, the resolution from the 2006 Convention asking bishops and standing committees to basically to withhold consent to the election of any bishop whose “manner of life” would prove divisive in the wider Anglican Communion.
This has been widely interpreted as applying mainly to gay and lesbian persons (although they are not specifically referenced) and therefore singling them out for unfair treatment. (The likely withholding of consent for Kevin Thew Forrester in the Diocese of Northern Michigan for other reasons challenges this notion, but nonetheless, it is widespread).
It will be interesting, eventually, to see if the House of Bishops will refuse to concur with the Deputies likely vote because, however many of us are sympathetic to the plight of gay and lesbian persons and the unfair burden they are being asked to carry, our role is all about unity — within the Communion and ecumenically — and this brings a different perspective.
There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit in the Church…and in this Convention. We need all perspectives and the balance of the two Houses sometimes provides this.
We shall see.
That We All May Be One 
Leave a Reply