Christchurch New Zealand has a new bishop!
Family members living there report they can hear the celebrations among Sydney dissidents from across the Tasman.
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Caliban's Dream: Home of the notorious Duck Noodle Gang -
broken hearted disillusioned desperates against meanness and nastiness,
greed and stupidity.
Who is this?
- Alcibiades
- Dancing in the Dragon's Jaw, Sydney, Australia
- Refusing to grow old gracefully and - despite what you may have heard to the contrary - still laughing at the disgraceful Love of God.
14 comments:
Yes, great news.
Such good news.
May she be your bishop soon! ;-)
And I hope she'll get over her heel-dragging. I confess I get quite cross with women who know just how hard it is to be accepted in the Old Boyz Club---but then decide to make it hard for the GLBTs to join up...
Wonderful!
Ummm ... if you're waiting for any sort of change in NZ because of this -- don't hold your breath.
NZ is going pretty well, so it's not really a case of hoping for any change over there. Rather that having a woman - any woman - so close to Sydney is going to stir things up considerably.
I don't know how familiar you are with our very strange diocese of Sydney, Kate, but most of Sydney's leadership (including the archbishop and his brother the Dean) are not only radically opposed to women's ordination, but are also quite open about their belief that women should not be permitted speak in church. Nor are they allowed to read the bible aloud when in the presence of any male over puberty (no, I haven’t pinched this stuff from The Handmaiden’s Tale). It’s an accepted “truth” for the Sydney powerbrokers that women are incapable of pasturing churches (see here), and opposition to women’s ministry has been practically elevated to being of creedal importance – you’re not a Christian if you believe God calls women to ordained ministry and/or general (ie. not children’s and “women’s”) ministry.
Consequently no matter how far +Matthews has to go, the mere fact that she’s there just across the Tasman (in a diocese where Sydney has already established a white-ant spearhead no less!) is going to be an extremely powerful symbol. She may not have spoken out for same-sex relationships in the way that we would have hoped for, but unlike the men (no women, remember, not one) running our parishes she’s not having GLBTs ejected from the church when they come forward to receive the Sacrament, as one Sydney bishop was very proud of doing a few years back.
".... a white-ant spearhead."
Love it! Thanks.
Good news. Thanks be to God.
One of the first women to serve her internship in my home parish was told by a parishioner that women priests were of the lineage of Jezebel, and "whores of Babylon". Even he's got past that. Yes, I do see how Bishop Victoria will be important to you all.
And, thank you, for your prayers for us today. I'll post results as soon as I can.
If you're looking for new members for the Duck Noodle Gang, I was reading that post just last night. Sounds like home to me.
It's well past my bedtime. G'night.
Kate - if you or anyone else wants to be a part of the Gang, come right in, put your feet up on the couch, and consider yourself welcome. You're in & we're proud to have you join us!
G'night & God Bless.
I'm in Buenos Aires this week for Spring Break, and I attended Holy Thursday Mass at the catholic Cathedral here. It was really just the standard-issue RC service for the day. Yet during the feet washing I was struck that only men were washing feet, only men were getting their feet washed, only men were standing there with towels and candles, only men were reading lessons, and so on. And it just seemed so weird. What an bizarre thing it is for the Church to ignore half of the human race and over half of the people in the pews.
alcibiades
Interested in your comments that
"women should not be permitted [to] speak in church. Nor are they allowed to read the bible aloud when in the presence of any male over puberty (no, I haven’t pinched this stuff from The Handmaiden’s Tale). It’s an accepted “truth” for the Sydney powerbrokers...'
I presume you're taking the mick. Aren't you?!
I presume you're taking the mick. Aren't you?!
If only I was, Dave, if only I was.
Not all parishes are this strict, although in some cases that's only because their congregations won't let the minister impose the party line. And sure, pockets of grace and sanity remain, but they're certainly being closely watched for a chance to seize control.
Try this for starters - follow the link at the end of the post to see first hand how some Sydney's new world order view the concept of women in ministry.
Or how about a personal example: while a student at Moore College several dozen men walked out of (and subsequently boycotted) a compulsory course in early church history because it was being taught by a woman. Despite this they all subsequently graduated: a few now run satellite church plants in other dioceses.
Sorry Dave: the link in my first comment (the one you quoted) isn't working. Try this http://ducknoodlegang.blogspot.com/2007/12/possibly-silliest-statement-ever.html instead.
Post a Comment