Andrew Carey: Waiting on the Archbishop ...

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, one of the few leaders of real stature left in The Episcopal Church of the USA, plays his cards close to his chest in a recent interview with Anglican TV . After General Convention’s decisions to rescind the so-called moratoria and press ahead with same-sex blessings he indicates that his diocese will be looking in the coming months at how they are going to strategically place themselves both in The Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion.

What this really means is that conservative Episcopalians who remain in the American Church will need to find some way of distancing themselves from their own Church without placing themselves in the sort of anomalous position in which the recently formed breakaway Anglican Church in North America finds itself. The point for Bishop Mark Lawrence is that dioceses like his need to be part of the solution as far as Anglican renewal and reformation is concerned rather than outsiders to the discussion. He acknowledges though that this is going to take a long time to clear up with the Anglican Instruments of Unity meeting so infrequently. He says, “I suppose what many people are waiting for is the Archbishop of Canterbury to weigh in. Waiting ... waiting ...

--This article appears in the Church of England Newspaper, July 24, 2009, edition, on page 15 (emphasis mine)