Friday, January 12, 2007

Jennings: how would we have known the proper constraints?

The Rev. Gay Jennings is among the nominees for Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of Virginia.

At a recent forum for meeting the nominees she said it would be easy to google her so she might as well say she was a consultant to New Hampshire in the process that produced Bishop Gene Robinson. She's right about google and her.

Among the links google produces is this one from titusonenine (Truro is mentioned). It is worth reading. In it there is a quote from this ENS story on debate at GC 2006 over the Windsor Report. Here's a portion of the ENS story:
The original form of resolution A160 expressed regret for "breaching the proper constraints of the bonds of affection" for, among other things, affirming the 2003 election of Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.
...
That language was too much for some who questioned what the definition of "proper" might be, as well as those who contend the Anglican Communion is strained, not broken.

“What are these ‘proper constraints’? Who decided what are they were? And how could we have known?" asked the Rev. Gay Jennings, from the Diocese of Ohio. She then offered an amendment substituting the word "straining" for "breaching" the bonds of affection. The amendment [AKA The Jennings Amendment, see also] passed and the resolution was adopted a short time later.
Here's the final version of A160:
* FINAL VERSION - Concurred
Resolution A160
Title: Expression of Regret
Topic: Anglican Communion
Committee: Special Legislative Committee
House of Initial Action: Deputies
Proposer: Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, mindful of “the repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ” (Windsor Report, paragraph 134), express its regret for straining the bonds of affection in the events surrounding the General Convention of 2003 and the consequences which followed; offer its sincerest apology to those within our Anglican Communion who are offended by our failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and other parts of the Communion; and ask forgiveness as we seek to live into deeper levels of communion one with another.

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