The Pope chimes on on "The Issue"

Pope John Paul II recently made a statement on the Windsor Report and "The Issue" of ECUSA regarding gays. To recap, he said that The Issue is an obstacle to unity, not just within the Anglican Communion but with dialog with other churchs. To read the report, click here.

And the Pope is right, I think. I mean, if we can't even come to some sort of understanding ourselves within the Communion, how can expect to come to any sort of understanding with churches outside the Communion? I have said it before and I will say it again. Unity at the expense of coherence is no bargain.

The main thing that I find so troubling about what the Pope said was that if and when the African Anglicans decide to split from Canterbury, that leaves other denominations not knowing who to deal with in inter-denominational dialog. On the one hand, you can deal with Canterbury, who in essense will label the Africans as Schismatic. On the other hand, the majority of Anglicans in the world will be in Africa and the 3rd world, which makes then a force not to be ignored in inter-faith dialog. Lordy, what a mess...

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