The Baucum appointment: Call me ambivalent

 

The appointment of Tory Baucum, an ACNA priest, as a Canterbury Preacher by Archbishop Justin Welby has elicited a number of divergent reactions on this side of the Atlantic. David Ould at Stand Firm reminds us why.

Like Wannabe Anglican, I am uncharacteristically ambivalent about this appointment because I don't know what to make of it. Either Archbishop Welby is indicating sympathy with the ACNA or he is warning the nascent province that it must tow the "reconciliation" line if it wants his official recognition. In light of his previous pattern of behavior, the skeptic in me is inclined to suspect the latter.