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SYDNEY: US church leader could not preach here: Jensen
By Linda Morris
Sydney Morning Herald
June 30, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/06/29/1151174333920.html
THE liberal teachings of the new female leader of US branch of the Anglican Church would make it difficult for her to preach in Sydney, says the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen.
Dr Jensen said he was disappointed at the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, not because of her gender but because of her reference to the "Mother Jesus" in a recent sermon.
The medieval devotional term is considered akin to heresy among church traditionalists.
During a media briefing at which Dr Jensen pronounced the Anglican Church "separated" but "not divorced", he said Bishop Schori's sermon indicated a liberal and radical cast of mind.
"Up to that point, if she'd have come to Australia I would have welcomed her ..." he said. "But now I feel I couldn't endorse her teachings. I would find it difficult to invite her to occupy the pulpit."
Dr Jensen, an opponent of women priests and gay clergy, also warned that the moral authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury had diminished after the consecration of the openly gay US bishop, Gene Robinson.
His comments came as the Episcopal Church was shaken by the news that three conservative dioceses had asked to be released from Bishop Schori's authority. Earlier, Dr Williams had suggested creating a two-tier structure to narrow the rift over gay clergy.
Last night a theologian at Trinity College at Melbourne University, Andrew McGowan, told a gathering that the church had always supported "unity in diversity" and he described Dr Jensen's attitude towards Dr Williams as self-contradictory.
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