Well, everyone, ya just can't make this stuff up. The current Provincial head of the Southern Cone, just happens to be the bishop of Uruguay and they want to ordain women. Certainly a just cause. In point of fact, their provincial constitution "supposedly" allows for churches to expressly do this. My initial reaction is to say, What the ????
Then good sense and an eye toward connecting the dots takes over and I calm down and things look different.
First, the Province of the Southern Cone was just this month "punished" for their cross border excursions.
Second, the provincial head IS the Bishop of Uruguay. He wants to "break away" from the province and find a home some place else?
Third, the issue is women's ordination??? The very reason why some of the diocese in TEC fled to the Southern Cone. Certainly John David Schofield and Jack Iker.
The diocese of Uruguay -- does it have a parliamentary style of governance similar to TEC? Probably not, but I do not know.
What happens if Uruguay is picked up by the Diocese of San Joaquin or by TEC? NOW we have the cross border excursion problem and they (Southern Cone) would point out very quickly that they are doing nothing more than what we are doing. Still, the dust settles and TEC has the issue of full inclusion which lots of folks including the Southern Cone don't like.
What happens if we do not pick up Uruguay? A bishop, in good conscience could still ordain women. Bishops in TEC did it years ago, why not the Bishop of Uruguay? What then? Greg Vulnerable has to sit on it and rotate? Right?
No, I propose we let them stew in their own juices for a while. Uruguay can still do what they want to do without aid from us -- at least for the time being.
2 comments:
Uruguay DID have a female Suffragan Bishop--
[Episcopal News Service] Retired Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba Nerva Cot Aguilera died suddenly on July 10 after a brief battle with severe anemia. She was 71.
Cot became the first female Anglican bishop in Latin America when she was consecrated in Havana’s Holy Trinity Cathedral in June 2007.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she is “deeply saddened” by Cot’s death.
“She was a friend and colleague, and I know the church in Cuba will miss the gifts she offered, even in retirement,” said Jefferts Schori. “She provided good leadership in the Episcopal Church of Cuba as they began to explore the possibilities of a second diocese. This Episcopal Church holds her, her family, and her colleagues, in our prayers."
Cot was selected as bishop suffragan in February 2007 by the Metropolitan Council that provides oversight to the Cuban church and on which Jefferts Schori serves. As bishop suffragan, Cot was responsible for the churches in western Cuba.
Cot previously worked as a secondary school teacher and was one of the first three Episcopal women priests ordained in Cuba in 1987.
Her daughter, Marianela de la Paz Cot, was ordained in February 2007, and her husband, the Very Rev. Juan Ramon de la Paz Cerezo, is dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana. Another son is a priest and another daughter is a church administrator.
The funeral was held July 11 at the cathedral in Havana.
WHOOPS--I meant CUBA did have a female suffragan Bishop and the Bishop of Uruguay was part of it all ALREADY!
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