From the London Times-
Mark Harris, a US episcopal priest in Delaware, has obtained details of an apparent plot by conservatives to subvert the authority of the US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the only woman Primate among the 39 at the top table.
The idea seems to be that diocesan bishops can take unilateral action to sign up to the new covenant currently going through the long process of approval by the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks on the shift that is needed in the Anglican understanding of communion and autonomy appear to have given grounds for these hopes.
The covenant, by virtue of a quasi disciplinary process, is likely create a multi-layered communion, with the 'conservative' provinces in the inner circle, with full voting rights at all the communion bodies, and the pro-gay liberals on the outer circle and presumably some rights removed, if they insist on consecrating more gay bishops or sanctioning gay marriage and refuse to sign up to the convenant in all its biblical orthodoxy.
It's long been a matter of speculation as to what would happen in the North American provinces of Canada and TEC. Will they be able to bring themselves to sign up? Read some of the comments on Kendall Harmon's TitusOneNine blog to see some of the difficulties.
From this email exchange that Mark has obtained, it looks as though the conservatives are working out a way of keeping themselves in the inner circle while consigning the liberals to the outer one. And if this sounds Dante-esque, that's because it is.
Read it all-
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/04/episcopal-email-conspiracy-unwrapped.html
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