The conference will see a line-up of The Episcopal Church’s liberal glitterati. The media has been invited and while media credentials are required, no personal interview requests will be granted, presumably to avoid the asking of hard questions to the ABC or Jefferts Schori. This begs the question: Why bother spending money on plane fares and hotels if you can’t ask any one-on-one questions to the main players? Bullet dodging used to be an art form for the PB, but clearly neither she nor Welby wants any awkward questions from a bull-nosed reporter like yours truly.

This is especially odd as the conference is all about violence, peace, love, and lots of hugs and kisses as we move towards the Eschaton. Of course, there will be the standard whack at Israel’s “Apartheid wall”, the wail of dispossessed Arabs (the injustice of it all), along with a slap at Vladimir Putin for reimagining a revived Russian Empire complete with the Blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church and readings from Berdyaev.

There will also be the now standard bash at “homophobic” nations like Uganda and Nigeria for their terrifying, outrageous attitude against a handful of unnamed homosexuals crying to be free from the tyranny of not being allowed to screw each other to death. Though no one will actually say it, it will be broadly hinted that the Anglican Churches in those two provinces have conspired with their governments in flagrant “homophobia” as well.

This is a delicate issue for Welby. He dare not go too far in Africa bashing for fear that if he offends these two large provinces (that are bigger than the Church of England and most of the combined Western Anglican Communion) too much, they will never speak to him again. They will certainly not turn up when he calls for the next Primates’ meeting. He will have to mute anything Jefferts Schori has to say, but he doesn’t want to offend her too much either as she gives a boatload of money (now up to $1 million) to keep the Anglican Communion Office in London in tea and crumpets.

This trip is riddled with knife-edges -- any one of which could do serious damage to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s theological throat.

On the subject of violence (and before we get to peace, love, and joy), what about the incredible violence the Presiding Bishop has inflicted and continues to inflict on orthodox dioceses like South Carolina and Ft. Worth; how she can justify spending some $40 million large on retrieving properties she and the National Church never built nor paid for but insist she owns based on the draconian Dennis Canon? Perhaps Welby could ask her if the money would have been better spent on justice issues like anti-racism training and more free abortions for women and contraceptives for men, or even, God forbid, on evangelism, church planting, and discipleship. Oh, to be a fly on the wall on that discussion!

Will there be a discussion on the violence women undergo in Muslim cultures where they are treated as less than dirt? It was Jesus who truly liberated women and made possible Western Culture (based on Christianity, of course) with all its glorious liberation of women that allows them equal rights not granted women in most Muslim cultures.

A discussion on “Respecting the Dignity of Those Impacted by Intimate Partner Violence” has been scheduled. Will the presenter, the Rev. Sarah Shofstall, St. Barnabas Church, Bay Village, OH, Diocese of Ohio tell us that some of the worst violence is men on men in gay relationships: Among male rape victims, perpetrators were reported to be acquaintances (52.4%) and strangers (15.1%). Among male victims who were made to penetrate someone else, perpetrators were reported to be intimate partners (44.8%), acquaintances (44.7%) and strangers (8.2%).
For more go here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf

Or this: Coerced Sex Common For Teen Boys And Young Men, Study Finds: http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/03/boys-sexually-coerced-study

Jefferts Schori, of course, will have something to say about the recent Church of England’s ban on gay marriages. One can imagine the conversation going something like this:

JEFFERTS SCHORI: Why did the Church of England, in the face of obvious cultural changes, ban gay marriages?

WELBY: The Bible and tradition opposed it.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: But you yourself said that England was in the midst of cultural change on the subject and you would approve civil unions…

WELBY: But not gay marriage.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: That’s a distinction without much of a difference. I think your church is behaving very homophobically…
…
WELBY: …and the way you are slicing and dicing evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics in the Episcopal Church over property issues is an abomination…

JEFFERTS SCHORI: As Episcopalians, we are called to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” and to “respect the dignity of every human being.”

WELBY: That doesn’t mean we have to approve of buggery and Christ is not to be found in all persons unless you think Adolph and Mao looked like Christ on Sunday.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: What time is your plane in the morning?

END