Windsor Report

One of the things which has taken a bit of time over the last couple of days has been reading the Windsor Report. This is the report o­n how the Anglican Communion is supposed to live together through its present difficulties.  My guess is that a lot of people will not bother reading hte whole thing – it is not an easy read at all. However, I've agreed to take part in a public debate in St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow next week about it and so that meant reading it from beginning to end.

Despite being completed by an international commission, the report does seem to me to be an English-centric o­ne. The particular experience of the Scottish Episcopal Church both in history and in the present sits rather uncomfortably with the tone of the report in many places. Just how did the Anglican Communion begin? The genesis of the Episcopal Church of the USA affects its character after all.

From a Scottish perspective, it is possible to see the controversy as being yet another Patronage dispute. The underlying question is – who has the authority to call ministers of religion? Is it the whole people of God, through some kind of democratic or pseudo-democratic process, or is it some kind of wider church oligarchy? I tend to favour a democracy of people, but that will surpise no-one.

Comments

  1. Been browsing through your pre-St Mary’s blog entries this evening.

    It is amazing what has happened to web links which were logical at the time of posting, but have now moved on.

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