Episcopal good news

This post falls under my Exception Rule.

Bishop Gene Robinson has issued a fine pastoral letter which you can find at Elizabeth Kaeton's blog. (Scroll down a bit -- I can't figure out how to link just that post without linking the others from today, so you'll probably get Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams remonstrating first.)

And the bishops of the Episcopal Church have come out of their meeting with a fine statement, too, or rather three resolutions, the third of which is worth a very careful read. As always, Jim Naughton's analysis is helpful. You may want to read Jim first, but there is also an ENS* story.
*******************Episcopal News Service

The bishops also wrote a "Message to God's People".

Both Bishop Gene's and the House of Bishops' statements highlight what I have been grousing about (off-blog) for weeks now, which is that the Episcopal Church has a distinctive polity (form of church governance) which is BOTH lay- and bishop-driven and that we need to remember this and to remind others (in the Anglican Communion, in the media --hello?!-- and in the world around) that this is the case. AND the Anglican Communion is made up of AUTONOMOUS churches. I won’t discourse here on the meaning of “being in communion with each other” since many of my colleagues are doing it. (See “Blogging Anglicans” to the right.)

So, that's my polite rant and cheer for the day. More later on other matters. Peace out.