wfn.org | [ENS] Anglican primates uphold unity in response to Windsor Report

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Friday, February 25, 2005

Anglican primates uphold unity in response to Windsor Report

by Matthew Davies and Jan Nunley

ENS 022505-4

[ENS] Declaring a "powerful will" for their provinces to continue in
relationship, a panel of four Anglican primates, introduced by
Archbishop
Robin Eames of Ireland and including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams, addressed the media at a news conference at the conclusion of
the
Primates Meeting, held February 20-25 at the Dromantine Conference
Centre
near Newry in Northern Ireland.

Williams and Eames were joined by Archbishops Drexel Gomez of the West
Indies, Henry Orombi of Uganda, and Peter Carnley of Australia, who
chaired
the drafting committee for the primates' official response to last
October's
Windsor Report. The primates released a communiqué February 24
offering
recommendations about next steps towards "healing and reconciliation"
and
agreeing to create space for one another and preserve unity in the
Communion.

The 5-page communiqué requested that the U.S. Episcopal Church and the
Anglican Church of Canada "voluntarily withdraw" their representatives
from
the Anglican Consultative Council, the Communion's main legislative
body,
until the next Lambeth Conference in 2008. It reaffirmed the importance
of
provincial autonomy and interdependence, and committed the primates to
the
pastoral support and care of homosexuals. It also committed the primates
to
a promise "neither to encourage nor to initiate cross-boundary
interventions," calling on Williams to appoint a panel that could
supervise
the "adequacy of pastoral provisions" for those in theological dispute
with
their bishop or province.

Carnley described the weeklong meeting as "a very agreeable process ....
because it was clear that we were all of a common mind." He emphasized
that
the North American churches are not being asked to withdraw from the
Anglican Communion. "We see the need for a listening process and we
think
that the withdrawal of members from the ACC will create a space ... to
allow
the listening process to happen," he said. "Just as importantly we have
called on the primates to cease cross-boundary intervention. The
intervention of bishops from outside that church is unhelpful and we
have
committed ourselves unanimously."

Creating space, fostering respect

According to Williams, the primates displayed "a powerful will" to stay
in
contact and in touch with one another. "The willingness to stay together
has
been impressive ... but there is a challenge for everyone," he said. "We
are
trying to create some space."

Williams highlighted the fact that that the Primates' Meeting "is not an
executive body, it's not a synod or star chamber." It has no authority
to
set in motion any of this week's decisions, he added, but made it clear
that
the primates as a body were committed to uphold the 1998 Lambeth
Conference
Resolution 1.10 on sexuality. "The resolution affirms respect for gay
and
lesbian people," he said. "This communiqué makes it clear that we have
not
been very good at this and not very good at fostering respect.

In his closing remarks, Williams said that "what we are trying to do in
the
lead-up to the [2008] Lambeth Conference is equip ourselves to be a
responsible, articulate church."

Describing the Windsor Report as holding up a vision of what Anglican
life
and work should look like, Gomez said that each province has been
challenged
to live up to that vision. "I was impressed with the honesty and
civility of
the meeting," he added. "Some of us came to this meeting thinking it
could
be the last. I was relieved and inspired by the way in which we could be
honest with one another and agree to create the space, and preserve our
unity."

The primates hold a deep affection for the Anglican Communion, Gomez
added.
"We are determined to see to it that our Communion not only lives, but
thrives as well."

Impressed with the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Orombi
explained that he was "touched by the way in which he enabled us to be
honest with each other and gave us the freedom to speak [openly.]"

In a good place

In an interview with ENS following the meeting, Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold said that "the week had been difficult but we have emerged in a
very good place." (Griswold's statement to the church can be found here:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_58742_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=undefined)

"The report seeks to make space in a number of areas for different
perspectives to be held with integrity," he added. "My sense is that the
communiqué ... asks for us to slow down a bit, lets us make room for
one
another, let us reason together, lets us explore more deeply some of the
underlying issues that are represented by some of the actions that have
recently occurred."

One thing that has become very clear through listening to the voices of
other primates, Griswold added, is "how very different the contexts are
in
which we seek to articulate the Gospel and be faithful to the ministry
of
Christ."

"This week has given us the opportunity, with great candor and
frankness, to
explore more deeply and to present to one another more fully the
realities
out of which we come and the effects on us various actions have had or
may
have in the future," he said.

Griswold expressed "encouragement in the Anglican primates' willingness
to
seek to find a way forward even when they disagree deeply ... I think
that
commitment to one another is a demonstration of the bonds of affection
which
are at the heart of Communion."

Unity amid disagreement

 The Windsor Report was requested by the primates at their meeting in
October 2003 and completed one year later after a 17-member commission
examined interrelationships among Anglicans and offered recommendations
on
ways in which the Anglican Communion could maintain unity amid strong
differences of opinion.

The report followed the consecration in New Hampshire of a bishop who is
in
a committed relationship with a person of the same sex, and the Canadian
Diocese of New Westminster's adoption of rites for the blessing of
same-gender unions.

The 35 primates who met at Newry acknowledged that these developments
within
the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have proceeded
"entirely in accordance with their constitutional processes and
requirements," yet agreed that the teaching on matters of human
sexuality,
"as expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, should be upheld,"
raising concerns that this had been "seriously undermined" by the recent
developments in North America.

In light of this, the communiqué requested that the Episcopal Church
and the
Anglican Church of Canada "voluntarily withdraw their members from the
Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next
Lambeth
Conference," but acknowledged that time needs to be given for
consideration
of these recommendations "in accordance with constitutional processes."

"...[W]e continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support
and
care of homosexual people," the communiqué added. "The victimization
or
diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered
towards
people of the same sex is anathema to us. We assure homosexual people
that
they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the
best
we can give of pastoral care and friendship."

The communiqué asked that further consideration be given to some of
the
recommendations set forth in the Windsor Report, such as the
establishment
of an Anglican Covenant and further development of the role of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. "While we welcome the ministry of the
Archbishop
of Canterbury ... we are cautious of any development which would seem to
imply the creation of an international jurisdiction which could override
our
proper provincial autonomy," it stated, asking that the Archbishop of
Canterbury explore ways of consulting further on these matters.

 The Anglican leaders gave careful consideration to 322 Communion-wide
responses received by the Reception Reference Group, appointed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury in conjunction with the Primates' Standing
Committee on October 20, 2004. A group of conservative Anglicans from
North
America also traveled to Northern Ireland to offer the Global South
primates
guidance and counsel in their deliberations.

Hearing in Nottingham

The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) - the Anglican Communion's chief
legislative body, comprising more than 100 bishops, clergy and lay
representatives -- will receive the Windsor Report and the
Primates'communiqué when it meets in Nottingham, England, in June
2005.

The ACC, one of the Anglican Communion's four "instruments of unity,"
which
also include the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates Meeting, and the
Lambeth Conference, is the only body that has the authority to act
legislatively on the recommendations of the report or the primates'
statements.

In their communiqué, the primates encouraged the ACC to organize a
hearing
at its Nottingham meeting "at which representatives of the Episcopal
Church
(USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada, invited for that specific
purpose,
may have an opportunity to set out the thinking behind the recent
actions of
their Provinces."

The U.S. House of Bishops, which includes all active and retired
bishops,
will address the primates' comments and continue its discussion of the
Windsor Report during its annual retreat meeting March 11-16 at Camp
Allen,
Texas.

 A full, representative response from the Episcopal Church cannot be
made
until the General Convention -- its national governing body - meets in
Columbus, Ohio, in 2006. The General Convention consists of the House of
Bishops and a House of Deputies, which includes up to four laypersons
and
four clergy from each diocese, each area mission, and the Convocation of
the
American Churches in Europe.

Reconstruction and relief

During the opening session of the primates' gathering, reports were
heard
from the Provinces most affected by the recent tsunami disaster in South
East Asia and relief work undertaken by Anglican churches worldwide. The
primates offered prayers for the victims, and for the ongoing work of
reconstruction and relief work.

In the second half of the meeting, the primates addressed the ministry
of
African churches among people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly the
dying,
bereaved, and orphaned children, and accepted that their  concerns must
be
broadened to include those suffering from TB and  malaria. "We have also
been called to support the General Secretary of  the United Nations,
Kofi
Annan, and world leaders in developing	effective strategies for
achieving
the Millennium Development Goals  (MDGs) by 2015," the communiqué
added. "In
addition to the commitment to combat HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, these
MDGs
include reducing  absolute poverty by half and reducing hunger by half
by
2015. In the longer term we must eradicate both."

Two sessions were devoted to "the discernment of theological truth and
the
development and improvement of theological education through the sharing
of
resources across the Communion," the communiqué stated, an area that
the
Archbishop of Canterbury has identified as a priority concern during the
period of his leadership.

Three primates unable to attend the meeting in Ireland due to personal
reasons or illness were: the Most Rev. Peter Kwong, Archbishop of Hong
Kong;
the Most Rev. James Terom, Moderator of the Church of North India; the
Most
Rev. Samuel Ndayisenga, Archbishop of Burundi.

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