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99-061
International church leaders again
address issues from Lambeth
Conference
by James Solheim
(ENS) At an April meeting in Singapore, a group of international
Anglican
church leaders has once again issued a letter challenging the Episcopal
Church's response to decisions from last summer's Lambeth Conference
of Anglican bishops, especially on the issues of sexual morality.

The church leaders issued what they called a "preliminary report," based
on the "testimony" of representatives of a number of conservative
organizations related to the Episcopal Church which "believe that major
sections of their church have deviated significantly from orthodox faith
and practice. They represent those who wish to remain with their church
and to see its illnesses healed." The primates and bishops said, "What
we have heard concerns us deeply."

Three primates and an archbishop who attended the Singapore meeting
signed an open letter to Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and the
American church in February, suggesting that "the continuance of action
at variance with the Lambeth resolutions, within your own or any other
province, would be a grievous wrong and a matter over which we could
not be indifferent."

Griswold responded in March, reporting that the Episcopal Church was
in a process of discernment, "testing the spirits" over issues such as
homosexuality. He invited the church leaders "to visit those parts of
our
church which cause you concern so that you may inquire and learn
directly
 what has animated certain responses" to the Lambeth resolutions. His
letter was signed by his Council of Advice, bishops representing the
nine
provinces of the church.

The church leaders said that they "greatly appreciate" the "courteous
tone" of the response from Griswold. "We seek to respond in the same
spirit for, where we speak of problems in ECUSA, we do so with an
awareness of our own particular difficulties and shortcomings."
Litany of concerns
After meeting with the representatives of the conservative alliance, the
primates and bishops listed a number of major concerns:
*	Liturgical reform that includes use of liturgies to bless
same-sex
	unions and an approach that "appears to abandon the Book of
Common
	Prayer as the standard of doctrine for the church";
*	"Legislation favoring or determined by the gay-lesbian agenda,"
	including repudiation of the Lambeth resolution stating that
homosexual
	practice is contrary to Scripture, and condemning ordination of 
	homosexuals without requiring celibacy;
*	Discrimination against postulants who "did not approve same-sex
	unions," also directly contrary to Lambeth resolutions;
*	"Mandatory sanctions against bishops who cannot in conscience
	ordain women," and "measures taken against parishes that cannot
in
	conscience accept the ministry of a bishop who either ordains
women
	or supports same-sex unions";
*	Public refutations in at least 18 dioceses of the Lambeth
resolution
condemning homosexual practice and an "increase in number of dioceses
where active homosexuality is accepted."
Outside the tradition?
"Our first observation is that, over the past 30 years, ECUSA has
undergone a process of change which, in important aspects, has carried
it outside the historic Anglican tradition," the church leaders alleged.
Its
"innovations in teaching, practice and discipline" were introduced
without
consideration for implications in the rest of the Anglican Communion. By
"unilaterally committing the church to a course of action with no sure
basis
in Scripture, Anglican tradition or even medical science," the Episcopal
Church has made "a profound mistake" by not heeding "the Christian
wisdom of earlier generations and more traditional contemporary
cultures."

The letter was signed by Maurice Sinclair, primate of the Southern Cone;
Moses Tay, primate of South East Asia; Emmanuel Kolini, primate of
Rwanda; Harry Goodhew, archbishop of Sydney; Jonathan Onyemelukwe,
archbishop of Nigeria representing the primate; and Evans Kisekka, a
bishop
representing the primate of Uganda.

In an April 15 letter to members of the First Promise Round Table, a 
coalition of the organizations that testified at the Singapore meeting,
the
church leaders said that they were "committed to action which in God's
time will help in the reformation of the Episcopal Church in the USA and
restore its biblical witness throughout your nation."

In response to a request for "intervention" in the Episcopal Church,
they
said that it should be considered by a meeting of primates scheduled for
September. They also said that "vulnerable parishes in ECUSA should
receive the episcopal visitation they need."

A parish formed in Little Rock, Arkansas, without support from the
bishop, has sought oversight from a Rwandan bishop, and a new parish
is now forming in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte mission,
supported by the North American Missionary Society (NAMS), would
probably not be related to the Episcopal Church, according to members
of the planning committee. "I believe we are on a trajectory to plant a
church under the episcopal oversight of the archbishop of Singapore,
the Rt. Rev. Moses Tay," said Warren Smith.
--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office of News and
Information.