John
and all,
> One point the Alliance spokes-person made
that is agreeable: the time has past for pastoral initiatives.
This
is a telling point.
The
gloves are well and truly off here. If by "pastoral initiatives" the RA means
approaches by the president and other leaders of the UCA's councils to seriously
address the RA's concerns, then it has clearly demonstrated its
unwillingness to listen and to be heard.
It has
demonstrated this by the intentionally closed nature of its gathering in
Sydney.
It has
demonstrated this by its stated aim of "inviting individuals, congregations
and organisations to join the Alliance." (http://www.emu.asn.au/assembly2003/national_summit_response.html)
It has demonstrated this by believing that it needs to be "an alliance of individual Christians, congregations and councils
who believe they are called to participate in God’s transformation of the
Uniting Church". All members of the UCA make
this promise at membership. What is so "special" about what the RA is calling
for?
The RA demonstrably
wants to "tell" the UCA what it should be rather than listen and engage with the
people and processes that form the UCA. This certainly shows an unwillingness to
respond to the pastoral process.
Geoff
