wfn.org | Episcopalians: Anglican primates issue pastoral letter after Brazil meeting

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

May 30, 2003

2003-121

Episcopalians: Anglican primates issue pastoral letter after 
Brazil meeting

by Jan Nunley and James Rosenthal

(ENS/ACNS) Same-sex blessings, AIDS initiatives in Africa, and 
the needs of theological education across the Anglican Communion 
topped the list of concerns brought to the 2003 meeting of the 
primates of the Anglican Communion, held May 19-26 in Gramado, 
Southern Brazil, and hosted by the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do 
Brasil. 

It was Rowan Williams' first meeting as Archbishop of 
Canterbury, although he has attended the last three meetings as 
Archbishop of Wales, and marked the first time the primates have 
met as a group in a Latin American country. The primates are the 
presiding bishops or archbishops of the churches of the 
worldwide Anglican Communion.

"This is my third primates' meeting and it is quite amazing how 
far we have come since Porto in terms of sharing and 
understanding one another's realities," Presiding Bishop Frank 
Griswold commented. "We have deepened and expanded our sense of 
what it means to be in communion, in spite of the profoundly 
different contexts in which we seek to minister."

Distinctive Anglican approach

The primates heard theological reflections by Dr. Esther Mombo, 
academic dean at St. Paul's United Theological College in 
Limuru, Kenya, and David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at 
the University of Cambridge in England. Mombo urged them to 
"talk to each other rather than about each other." They also 
gave some time to the discussion of the recent papal encyclical, 
Ecclesia de Eucharistia, which many felt did not adequately 
reflect the progress in ecumenical life that has been 
experienced by Anglicans and Roman Catholics and the reality of 
what was happening on the ground. 

The primates issued a pastoral letter, entitled "United in 
Common Prayer and Witness," intended to be read in churches of 
the Anglican Communion on the Feast of Pentecost, 2003. The 
letter addresses several areas of discussion prominent during 
the meeting.

Concerned that Anglicans should be "theologically alert and 
sensitive to the call of God," the primates said they discussed 
what basic standards of theological education should be provided 
for and expected from all members of the church--a task being 
undertaken by the Anglican Communion Task Group on Theological 
Education.

"We recognize that there is a distinctive Anglican approach to 
theological study," the letter said. "This is reflected not only 
in the way our worship and liturgical life express our belief, 
and in our attention to Scripture read in the light of 
tradition, but also in our respect for exploration and 
experiment.

"Theological education in the Anglican Communion honors each 
local context and, at the same time, calls us together into 
communion and mutual accountability. Therefore, though we wish 
to develop common standards of theological education worldwide, 
we value the uniqueness of the work of the Holy Spirit in each 
place." 

No consensus on same-sex blessing

The letter stated that the 38 provinces of the Communion are 
"irrevocably called into a special relationship of fellowship" 
but nevertheless face challenges in applying the Gospel to their 
specific situations and societies--challenges that "raise 
questions for our traditional teaching and understanding." 

They committed as primates to "the recognition that in each 
province there is a sincere desire to be faithful disciples of 
Christ and of God's Word, in seeking to understand how the 
Gospel is to be applied in our generation; to respect the 
integrity of each other's provinces and dioceses, acknowledging 
the responsibility of Christian leaders to attend to the 
pastoral needs of minorities in their care; to work and pray 
that the communion between our churches is sustained and 
deepened; and to seek from God a right judgment in all things' 
(Collect of Pentecost)."

The pastoral letter then turned to the thorny issue of human 
sexuality. Expressing gratitude both to Archbishop Drexel Gomez 
of the West Indies for the study "True Union in the Body?" and 
to Griswold for "The Gift of Sexuality: A Theological 
Perspective," the report of the theology committee of the ECUSA 
House of Bishops, the primates commended the study of both 
documents. 

"The question of public rites for the blessing of same sex 
unions is still a cause of potentially divisive controversy. The 
Archbishop of Canterbury spoke for us all when he said that it 
is through liturgy that we express what we believe, and that 
there is no theological consensus about same sex unions. 
Therefore, we as a body cannot support the authorization of such 
rites," the letter said. 

But the statement stopped short of full prohibition of such 
rites. "This is distinct from the duty of pastoral care that is 
laid upon all Christians to respond with love and understanding 
to people of all sexual orientations," the letter went on. "As 
recognized in the booklet True Union,' it is necessary to 
maintain a breadth of private response to situations of 
individual pastoral care."

Reactions swift

The letter was immediately hailed as "a loud and clear 'no'" to 
same-sex blessings by the Rev. David Anderson, president of the 
conservative American Anglican Council (AAC). "The Anglican 
Primates have said 'no.' The ECUSA Bishops' Theological 
Commission has said 'no.' We now urge the General Convention of 
the Episcopal Church to respect the godly direction of the 
leaders of our local and worldwide Church and say 'no' to 
same-sex blessings," said Anderson.

In another reaction to the pastoral letter, the Rev. Michael 
Hopkins, president of Integrity USA, and the Rev. Susan Russell, 
executive director of Claiming the Blessing, complained that 
gays and lesbians have been "systematically excluded" from the 
primates' conversations about sexuality. "Further, we are 
concerned that a new standard of theological consensus is being 
invented which has neither roots in historical Anglicanism nor 
room for prophetic witness," their joint statement said. "The 
distinction between and the separation of public rites and 
private pastoral care is, we believe, a dangerous and slippery 
slope that not only undermines our identity as people of common 
prayer but assaults our catholicity." 

Anglican Gathering proposed

The primates also discussed a proposal for a worldwide Anglican 
Gathering of lay and ordained people from across the communion, 
held in association with the next Lambeth Conference. Archbishop 
Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town has offered to host both the 
Lambeth Conference and the Gathering in 2008. 

They heard from the Rev. Ted Karpf of the Anglican Communion's 
new Office of HIV/AIDS, based in South Africa, about the 
challenges faced by churches around the communion in facing the 
global pandemic. "We admitted that the Body of Christ has 
AIDS,'" the letter also said, adding that "AIDS is not a 
punishment from Godit is rather an effect of fallen creation 
and our broken humanity." The primates promised to "engage more 
deeply in challenging cultures and traditions which stifle the 
humanity of women and deprive them of equal rights," and agreed 
that their "greatest challenge is to nurture and equip our 
children to protect themselves from HIV, so that we can fulfill 
the vision of building a generation without AIDS." 

The primates gave special mention of "the contribution which the 
Episcopal Church (USA) continues to give to many provinces 
across our Communion." They also sent greetings to former 
Archbishop George Carey and his wife Eileen. 

During the meeting, Griswold was elected by the Americas region 
as their representative on the primates' standing committee. 
Barry Morgan, the new Archbishop of Wales, was elected by the 
European region for the same committee. The standing committee 
meets with the Anglican Consultative Council's standing 
committee each year as the joint standing committee for the 
ongoing work of the Anglican Communion. 

Things as they are are changed'

Over 1000 Brazilian Episcopalians gathered in a Bavarian-style 
local cinema in Gramado to join with the primates for a 
Celebration of the Unity of God's People at the close of the 
meeting. The occasion was marked by what Williams called "a sign 
of hope for the future" as he commented on the high numbers of 
young priests and people in the congregation. 

In his sermon, Williams cited a portion of a poem by the 
American writer Wallace Stevens, 'The Man with the Blue Guitar':

"They said, You have a blue guitar, 

You do not play things as they are. 

"The man replied, Things as they are 

Are changed upon the blue guitar. 

"Things as they are, with human beings left to themselves, so 
often seem shadowed by death and cruelty. But we have been given 
another song to sing, we, the ransomed of the Lord returning to 
Zion with singing," Williams proclaimed. "As we sing what we 
have learned from Jesus, things as they are are changed. Glory 
dwells in our land, the glory that the Son shares with the 
Father in the Holy Spirit." 

The Rev. Gregory Cameron, director of ecumenical affairs for the 
Anglican Communion, called the meeting "remarkable" for the 
sense of unity and prayer that pervaded the occasion. "From the 
outset, Archbishop Rowan had said that he wanted the meeting to 
be an occasion when the primates drew together in prayer before 
God," he said. "And this focus for the meeting's deliberations 
seems to have had a profound impact of the process of debate 
which went on." He added that "the tone was set by a study of 
Jesus' "farewell discourses" in John 14-16, which opened each 
day's session.

While the meetings were in session, the spouses of the primates 
experienced a "feast of love" or agape in the hall of Holy 
Trinity National Cathedral in Porto Alegre, hosted by the board 
of directors and parish representatives of the diocesan Anglican 
Women Union. As part of the program they had an introduction; a 
special liturgy of agape developed by the cathedral dean, the 
Rev. Marinez Rosa dos Santos, and her assistant, the Rev. 
Dessordi P. Leite. There was also an opportunity for the spouses 
to tell and listen to experiences of women's work in different 
parts of the communion. Jane Williams, wife of the new 
Archbishop, was greeted warmly by the other primates' spouses. 

The meeting also honored Glauco Soares de Lima, the retiring 
primate of the Brazilian church. The Igreja Episcopal Anglicana 
do Brasil began in 1890 as a result of the missionary work of 
two north American missionaries, James Watson Morris and Lucien 
Lee Kinsolving. Made autonomous from the Episcopal Church in 
1965, it now has more than 100,000 baptized members and more 
than two hundred clergy, including 30 women priests.

Five of the primates were unable to attend the gathering, 
including Archbishop Peter Kwong of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung 
Hui, whose travel was restricted due to a World Health 
Organization travel advisory regarding Severe Acute Respiratory 
Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong.

------

For the entire text of the Primates' pastoral letter, see  
www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/index.html

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News 
Service. Canon James Rosenthal is director of communications for 
the Anglican Communion and editor of Anglican World.