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November 15th, 2007

The Southern Cone

The province of the Anglican Communion known as the Southern Cone has been in the news over the last week. “Where and what is the Southern Cone?” I hear you cry. Well, the province has no website as far as I can see, meaning that I had to use my imagination somewhat:

southern cone

In the real world of course the Southern Cone is an area in South America including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The Anglican Communion website has a page with a map. By the way if any Southern Cone folks are reading – click here to see how you could make yourselves a website in about three quarters of an hour – it will save your poor Primate having to make major announcements via the comments sections of other people’s blogs.

So, why is the Southern Cone in the news? Well, in summary, the province has offered to look after dioceses in the Episcopal church in the USA which are not happy being in the Episcopal church in the USA. The Telegraph had this article about it last week, and the Times this one. (It might be noted that Ruth Gledhill’s arch-nemesis Andrew Brown had some things to say about this latter piece.)

Several aspects of this strike me as quite interesting:

One. This isn’t only about homosexuality. It is about women too. As the bishop of one of the dioceses has said:

…Our plan is not only to disassociate, then, from the Episcopal Church, but to officially, constitutionally re-affiliate with an existing orthodox province of the communion that does not ordain women to the priesthood.

Two. The breakaway dioceses are, if I understand things correctly, from the extreme high anglo-catholic ‘Forward in Faith’ side of the church. Think incense and very tall candles. On the other hand the Southern Cone province is deeply Evangelical. Think clergy in suits and ties and 1970s choruses.

One wonders how they will decide upon the order of service, dress code and music when they get together for big services and other such occasions. I think the fairest way would be to write all of the elements of the service on small slips of paper and get each side to pick in turn. I’d explain further, but it’s lunchtime.

Who knows, perhaps my Southern Cone diagram with a big dividing line across the middle wasn’t so wide of the mark after all.

20 Comments »



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20 Responses to “The Southern Cone”


  1. Ruth Gledhill says:

    David, I’ve just posted this on Andrew’s blog. Great cartoon, do you object if I put it on the post that appeared, along with my story, in The Times three days before Jonathan’s? Ruth

    Comment on Andrew Brown:
    Andrew, I am confused by this. Jonathan’s story, or the one that you linked to, appeared on 12 November. Mine appeared online on 9 November, with an accompanying blog, Ruth
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2843228.ece
    (I think another story appeared in the main paper a few days later, but that quite often happens. Maybe that is the one you were thinking of?)

    November 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
  2. Simon says:

    Ooooh

    I do like the picking the various aspects of a service out of a hat one at a time idea. This would end so many arguments. Could it be done real time as well, so whatever happened next would come as a complete surprise?

    Dave, maybe you could provide us with a handy resource to enable this to take place.

    The opportunity for thuribles and a 40 minute expository sermon followed by a sung Eucharistic response and then a fisher folk chorus excites me greatly.

    November 15th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
  3. Philip of Samaria says:

    this is quite stunning, almost sublime. and a guest visit from our ruthie too!

    good things used to come from the southern cone like David Pytches..

    November 15th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
  4. Chris Sugden says:

    Dear Dave

    Love your cartoons in the Church Times.

    Here are three websites for the Southern Cone

    http://www.anglicanaargentina.org.ar/ http://www.anglicanos.net/ http://www.iglesiaanglicana.cl/sitio/

    November 16th, 2007 at 12:26 am
  5. Dave says:

    Thank you Chris for your kind comment.

    About the websites: Those are, unless I’m mistaken, diocesan websites rather than a website for the province. It would be good to have a simple website for the province given that it is in the news and everything.

    November 16th, 2007 at 12:43 am
  6. Huw Richardson says:

    Well… 2 of the diocese (mentioned in rumours) are high – one spiky – and two are low – one quite. Of the individual parishes that have left, most are very evangelical. My own priest has been describing the current excitement as “the Elizabethan Settlement breaking up”.

    November 16th, 2007 at 2:13 am
  7. Sam says:

    On a less serious note, I have to say that I love the “dividing line marking the border between the colder, creamier north and the crisp, wafer-like south”. The cartoons just keep getting better, Dave!

    November 16th, 2007 at 9:26 am
  8. Russ says:

    One thought: is there a Northern Cone, and if so, how should it differ so the two aren’t confused? I suggest either one of those square-ish ones that you used to be able to wedge your slice of Walls best in, or even two wafers with the ice cream in the middle (tricky to eat without the ice cream squooging out of one end).
    Is sqooging a word? Who knows, it is now.
    Time to go, I think.

    November 16th, 2007 at 10:26 am
  9. chris clark says:

    Excellent Dave!

    I have to say I am disappointed that you are so out of touch. The evangelicals are now wearing open neck shirts and singing choruses from the 1980′s …keep up…:-)

    On a more serious note I think you will find that many Anglo Catholics are more faithful in reading the bible in church than most evangelicals and that many evangelicals have dropped outright opposition to candles etc. There does remain a problem that most Evangelibabies have come to terms with women clergy whilst the some Anglos don’t want them (except maybe deacons).

    However the issue of not allowing adulterers, frauds or practising gays to exercise leadership unites them (us!)

    November 16th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
  10. Chris Sugden says:

    Dear Dave,

    Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

    Here are two more
    Bolivia http://www.bolivia.anglican.org/
    Peru http://www.geocities.com/anglicanosperu/

    The site http://www.anglicanos.net/ is based in Paraguay but I am told is Provincial in scope.

    November 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
  11. truthsign says:

    In our household Forward in Faith is known as Backward in Fear. Must think of a soubriquet for Reform…

    November 16th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
  12. Peter Kirk says:

    truthsign, for “Reform”, how about “Retrench”? I am thinking not so much of the “economise” sense as the military architectural one: “To furnish with a retrenchment; as, to retrench bastions.”

    November 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
  13. Matt W says:

    I’d note that Lesslie Newbigin (I think) viewed the “spectrum” as a Catholic-Evangelical orthodox centre with extreme Liberals (e.e., Sea of Faith) on one wing and extreme biblical literalists (“Reformed” tradition – perhaps equivalent to FIEC) on the other.

    I think that is far more accurate than the traditional Catholic-Liberal-Evangelical spectrum.

    November 17th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
  14. Graham Lang says:

    Re that “crisper, wafer-like south”:
    Could that be a waffle cone?
    It certainly seems flakey.

    November 17th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
  15. Geoff McLarney says:

    The Southern Cone is indeed evangelical on the whole, but Catholics can’t be anathema there – the dean is SSC.

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
  16. john flynne says:

    I note that the Sydney Diocese is significant by its absence. One can only wonder why?

    November 18th, 2007 at 10:58 am
  17. tony somervell says:

    This globalized conflict is getting more and more messy and the ripple effects of ECUSA’s + ‘sister’ movements CofE / Canada apostasy (what else can we call the recent decades’ fundamental diversion from traditional ’39 Articles’ Bible – believing anglicanism?)
    “Southern Cone folks” mostly speak Spanish or (numerous) indigenous languages… and very few have time to create English websites and blogs(!)
    Some of us are bilingual ‘Mission Partners’ serving within the national churches.
    There is a general leaning within the Province (amidst mostly very traditional Roman Catholicism) towards evangelical anglicanism, (I don’t like labels personally) tho’ Peru and Uruguay lean more Anglo-Catholic.
    At a provincial level the ‘Essentials’ Document was adopted as the doctrinal and pastoral basis for mission and ministry (Montreal Essentials Declaration – pdf
    May I recommend a reading of this well-balanced document esp. sections 6, 8 and 14 and 15 The Authority of the Bible / The New Life in Christ /Standards of Sexual Conduct / The Family and the Call to Singleness.
    Our Archbishop Greg Venables has endeavoured to stand up for these (we seem him as presiding bishop, guiding the province.
    p.s. I believe most Southern Cone pastors (most prefer that title…) do actually use clergy shirts and collar.
    p.p.s. thanks, Chris S. for link to anglicanos.net – trying to inform the Hispanic world which is often prejudiced vs anglicanism.
    p.p.p.s Do we see here the breakdown of anglican institutionalism (anglo-saxon version) and the sore lack of healthy local churches, autonomous dioceses in all corners of the world, under godly bishops?

    November 20th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
  18. Dave says:

    Dear Tony,

    Hello and welcome.

    Just in response to one of your points: I don’t think I requested an English website for the province – I’m very happy to use internet translation tools.

    November 20th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
  19. Aaron says:

    Someone asked about a “Northern Cone.” Would that be the Snow Cone?

    November 21st, 2007 at 10:32 pm
  20. Pax Vobiscum says:

    Forward in Faith – I had always heard it called ‘Backward in bigotry’.

    And Mr Somervell opened so promisingly with his talk of the ‘ripple effect’. I thought he was going to cleverly develop the ice cream imagery.

    Of course, if Dave was to explain the ‘mostly very traditional Roman Catholicism’ of the Southern Cone he might have drawn a Cornetto.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 8:58 am