Episcopal News Service Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Participants, observers reflect on bishops' meeting in New York
By Mary Frances Schjonberg and Matthew Davies
[ENS] Reactions to the September 11-13 meeting of bishops in New York ranged from hopefulness to calls for broadening the conversation, following the lack of a consensus on how to move forward in meeting the needs of the seven dioceses that issued appeals for Alternate Primatial Oversight (APO).
In an interview after the meeting, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke about the open, frank and sometimes challenging conversations that had taken place, and noted the "great value" in face-to-face encounters. [An earlier ENS story is available at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77725_ENG_HTM.htm]
Jefferts Schori said that another session may be called later this year, possibly with additional participants.
The co-conveners of the meeting were Bishops Peter James Lee of Virginia and John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida. Other participants, in addition to Griswold and Jefferts Schori, were Bishops Jack Iker of Fort Worth, Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, James Stanton of Dallas, Edward Salmon of South Carolina, Mark Sisk of New York, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, and Robert O'Neill of Colorado.
The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council, facilitated the meeting at the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams. The constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion's main policy-making body, makes no provisions for alternative primatial oversight. Neither do the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.
"I think that this meeting holds great hope," said Lipscomb after the meeting. "I think, for the first time, both sides laid down the masks and the pretenses and were as honest with each other as they could possibly be. And it was received on each side in a spirit of real charity and real concern."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77731_ENG_HTM.htm
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