In my previous entry, I commented on an episode of Anglican Unscripted (AU 180) in which commentators Kevin Kallsen and George Conger took the AMiA to task for somehow so effectively subverting the delicate state of affairs in the Anglican Church of the Congo as to illegally procure the recent consecrations of two AMiA bishops.
In their most recent video, Mr. Kallen and Fr. Conger preface the episode with two apologies, the first relating to a mistake Mr. Kallsen made on the story of the two gay men who sought to have their son baptized in Fr. Conger's diocese, and the second one from Fr. Conger relating to the aforementioned episode AU 180, which leads me to speculate that Fr. Conger has received some flak somewhere about it. Here's the text from the pertinent section of the apologies, which begins at 2:01:
Kallsen: George also has a correction.
Conger: Yes, last week we talked about the AMiA as being a “Zombie”, and of course, we were mistaken in saying that. A zombie, uh, Chuck Murphy’s not dead. To be a zombie he has to be dead and then come alive, so he’s not a living dead, so we, we were improper use of terms (sic) there, so we apologize there.
Kallsen: (Laughingly) My apology was serious, George, so you’re just getting us into more trouble.
Again, tsk. Every idle word, gentlemen.
A couple of related items:
1) Out of the blue, David Virtue sent me a friend request on Facebook, which I accepted. Shortly thereafter, I sent him this message:
Hello, David. How did you come to my Facebook page, if you don't mind my asking?
Thus far I've received no response. Now, I appreciate Virtue Online, and I agree with Mr. Virtue on many issues pertaining to the Continuing and Realignment movements, though I'm intrigued that (so it appears) he's a Baptist and not an Anglican. But the timing of his request is very interesting, and I'm looking forward to his answer. If I don't receive an answer, which would suggest to me that he may have desired access to my Facebook postings to see if I've commented there on this matter, which I haven't, I'll report back.
2) AMiA's Apostolic Vicar Philip Jones has sent a pastoral letter to all AMiA clergy explaining why Archbishop Isingoma's objections to the consecrations are mystifying in light of available communiques from him to his dioceses regarding the freedom they have, according to the constitutional norms of PEAC, to enter into the kind of concordats with AMiA requisite for the legality of the consecrations. What's more, I have it on good authority that there is more where that came from. Without a doubt, the contents of Bishop Jones' pastoral letter and possibly even the other evidence to which I allude here will make its way into the hands of Kallsen, Conger and Virtue, if it hasn't already. If and when they do, I here solicit their public response.
Honestly, as I implied in my previous blog entry, I'm really not interested in trading barbs with critics of AMiA in ACNA and elsewhere, but in moving past the old hostilities and coming together for the cause of the Gospel and the propagation of the Anglican Way. If our Christian faith is about forgiveness, then all of us should be willing to let go not only of ecclesial offenses, real or imagined, but also perceived rivalries, and press forward from here as brothers in Christ. This warfare has to end.