wfn.org | Photograph captures largest-ever Lambeth Conference

["Christopher Took" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC039 - 23 July 1998

Photograph captures largest-ever Lambeth Conference

By Allan Reeder
Lambeth Conference Communications

Of all the souvenirs, memories and reports of the Lambeth
Conference that Anglican bishops will take home, there is one
that is most likely to be displayed on a wall in the diocesan
office for all to see.

Lambeth reports will be read and resolutions discussed. But
bishops will point to official photograph of all the Lambeth
bishops and say: "That was Lambeth."

Just as the 1998 Lambeth conference breaks new ground, the
official photograph taken Wednesday also set a number of 'firsts'
in its own right.

Holding the largest-ever Lambeth conference means that the
photograph includes more people than ever before. Together with
lay and clergy members of the Anglican Consultative Council
attending the conference, around 900 church leaders from more
than 160 countries took their place in the photograph. Female
bishops and ecumenical observers from other major churches also
were in the photograph for the first time.

A way to remember friends

Attending his first Lambeth conference, Capetown's Bishop Ed
MacKenzie said later that the photo would be a reminder for him
of new friends: "It's been wonderful to discover I have this many
brothers and sisters around the world."

While there were rumors that traditionalist bishops opposed to
the presence of female bishops at the conference might boycott
the photograph, only one bishop, Noel Jones of the Diocese of
Soder and Man (England), had specifically indicated beforehand he
would not participate, according to Canon James Rosenthal,
director of communications for the conference.

"The collegial spirit and the sense of absolute fun was quite
evident" as the bishops took their places, Canon Rosenthal said.
"It went off without a hitch."

For Secretary-General Canon John Peterson, the sheer differences
among the faces in the photo was important:  "Racial, ethnic,
gender . . . It shows the inclusiveness, the vitality of the
Anglican Communion."

The bishops filed quickly onto temporary metal bleachers erected
specially for the 1-hour shoot. Stragglers arrived to
good-humoured hoots from their colleagues already in place, and
soon it was hard to see an empty space. Most of the Anglican
bishops wore purple cassocks, but their head coverings ranged
from bare heads to ecclesiastical zuchettos and Canterbury caps.
Bishop Clyde Wood from North Queensland (Australia) sported an
Australian bush hat.

Taking the shot

An organiser on a megaphone appealed: "Where is the Archbishop of
New Guinea?" A wit among the bishops whispered: "He's the one in
purple." 

The last bishop to arrive,  climbed the stand. Stewards chased
the last TV crew back out of the way, and Chris Wyatt from the
photography team barked out his last commands. The sharp shadows
eased as a cloud moved across the sun. Photographer Derek Heath
took his position behind the camera. In the climax of 18 months
of preparation and planning, he gently squeezed the controls on
the large-format camera, taking a number of extra shots just in
case. 

The main event over, the sea of bishops flowed off the seating
and spread out across the grass.

"It all went very well," said Lady Christine Eames, world
president of the Mothers Union, watching the event from the
balcony of the Spouses' Conference platform. "They all did what
they were told."

Oxford-based photography company Gillmann & Soame will have the
first copy of the 40' x 8' print back at the university by
Saturday. 

Photo taken of women bishops

The Episcopal Women's Caucus, a feminist advocacy group from the
United States, chose a nearby location to capture the image of
the first 11 women bishops at Lambeth with the distant Canterbury
Cathedral as a backdrop. The bishops came prepared with chairs
and a change of robes, opting to replace purple cassocks with red
and white rochets and chimeres for what clearly was an historic
photograph. 

For a second photograph, the women also walked slowly up the
hillside with vestments billowing.

Other bishops with a region in common - South India, Australia,
Cuba - and Americans with particular seminaries in common -
Sewanee and Nashotah House - also stood together to be snapped. 

Nan Cobbey, Katie Sherrod, David Skidmore and James Thrall
contributed to this story. 

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org