More on Anglican communion

AKMA has a very thoughtful post on the current challenges the Anglican communion is facing. I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says — part of which includes the argument that the current conflict is not so much about sexuality as it is about polity — UNTIL I remember that almost all of the bishops making these decisions are male. The issue of homosexuality may be the presenting concern at the moment, and the underlying challenge may be polity, but women are still being excluded pretty systematically, if not quite so overtly as in the Roman Catholic communion.

This is not to say that hierachy, per se, is the problem. I actually think that a hierarchy can make a lot of sense in some ideal conception, it's just actual practice that has so often been more problematic than Spirit-filled. I don't know... I suppose human sinfulness is always and everywhere an issue. But I also can't help remembering how few of the global voices in leadership currently being raised against the US Episcopal church's actions are female. At least there are a few women bishops in the Anglican fold -- versus none in my own church -- but women need to be fully present and empowered at these tables, and part of making these decisions. They might still make the same decisions currently being made, but I, for one, would trust the decisions more.