all in the same boat

Colin Coward, as always, makes some sensible - grown up - comments about the threatened boycott of the Primates' Meeting here.  he asks, "Should we expect senior Anglican leaders to behave in a mature, adult, non-abusive way?"

Who's looking where we're going?

I remember being told by an assistant  bishop that the Senior Staff of that diocese had once had a consultant in.  They did the lifeboat exercise (you know: what / who would you throw out if your survival was at stake, that sort of thing).   He told that individually they had scored around 80%; as a group they scored just 50%.

I think this is symptomatic.  Clergy are trained into individualism and don't know how to work together.  It becomes a way of life which does not change just because clergy become senior and have to manage people.  Indeed, Dioceses are structured around one person to whom all deference is given - neither factor encouraging effective corporate work.

I've met a couple of people who might attend the Primates' Meetings (one current and one previous) and I've read the words of others.  For the most part I have been impressed by their ability and piety, their perceptiveness and wisdom, as individuals.  It's such a shame that when they get together they can't seem to step from being the big cheese to being merely a large cog in the one machine.

So, yes, we should expect senior Anglican leaders to behave in a mature, adult, non-abusive way.  Or, at least, we should hope so.