As the primates (the principal archbishops) of the 38 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion meet at Lambeth Palace to address the possibility of schism over the planned consecration of an openly gay man as Bishop of New Hampshire, partisans on both sides of the issue are making all manner of pronouncements. Among them was one issued by David Anderson, the president of the American Anglican Council -- a conservative group in the USA opposed to the ordination of gay people. Anderson said that any bishop who lays hands upon the head of Gene Robinson, the gay bishop elect, will be "derecognized" by his group. This is a reference to the manner in which a person is made a bishop: others bishops in the apostolic succession lay hands upon the person's head to confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit for this particular ministry.

Derecognize? I'd never before heard the word. How exactly would one accomplish it? "Your face is familiar and I've heard the name before, your Grace, but I can no longer tell who you are."

Father Steve, I don't think I have to give details of the image that primate archbishops gave me for you to understand my fit of no-derespect-intended helpless giggles. (Were I at all versed in religious hierarchy, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought anything of it.)
Anyway--I take the meaning as being the same as when Lt. Worf accepted discommodation by the High Council on Klingon (Star Trek: the Next Generation): that is, the status (as bishop, presumably) will no longer be recognized.

Father, I have seen this word used frequently with symbols or monetary units. When they are being changed, especially.

Discommodation sounds awfully much like being prohibited from going to the bathroom.

>Discommodation sounds awfully much like being prohibited from going to the bathroom.


Which put me in mind of a Rowan Atkinson sketch in which he played Beelzebub welcoming necomers to Hell, and was taking questions. One answer was: "No, there are no toilets. If you had read your scriptures, you would have seen that it was 'damnation without relief.'"

A little research has revealed that Jevohah's Witnesses, Mormons and some Baptists practice something called "disfellowship" ... which may be akin to derecognition.

... and priests who err beyond the limits are defrocked. I guess every profession has its jargon, especially the Church.

Last night I watched, with some amusement and bemusement, a programme on the Beeb (I think) where the AB of C, Rowan Williams, was busy trying to explain to a very, very polite, but oh-so-conservative fellow church member just why the Church wouldn't schism over this incident and if it did it how that might be best thing for all concerned. How he managed to internally reconcile those two points of view is beyond me, but perhaps it's ineffable.

I have alwasy thought that "disfellowshipped" was closer to excommunicated... a bit more severe than what I take "derecognized" as.

Disfellowshipped, to me, brings with it the idea that one is expelled from the church, for at least a short time, with the potential of a more lengthy period, while one atones for whatever misdeed it was that got them disfellowshipped in the first place.

Derecognized, for me, offers more of a lack of acknowledgement, or denial, of the role in which the person is being, or has been, placed. Usually a role of authority.



"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."

Derecognized, for me, offers more of a lack of acknowledgement, or denial, of the role in which the person is being, or has been, placed. Usually a role of authority. Thanks for agreeing with me, O Ectoplasmic One!

I have alwasy thought that "disfellowshipped" was closer to excommunicated

In the LDS system, disfellowship is what happens before excommunication. It is one step lower in the hierarchy of punishment.