wfn.org | Executive Council sends greetings to Primates Meeting

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-33

Executive Council sends greetings to Primates Meeting

by Jan Nunley

     (ENS) Members of the Executive Council, meeting in Parsippany, New Jersey 
February 5-8, have sent carefully worded greetings to the primates of the 
Anglican Communion, scheduled to gather at Kanuga Episcopal Conference Center in 
North Carolina March 2-9, 2001.

     The six-paragraph statement emphasizes the "vital response to the gospel" 
and "renewed commitment …to the church's mission" in the Episcopal Church, while 
acknowledging the "strains and the seeds of division" within the Episcopal Church 
and among provinces in the Anglican Communion. 

     "We know from our experience as members of Executive Council, as we embrace 
divergent perspectives and opinions among us, that seeking the mind of Christ in 
the midst of difficult and divisive questions--while painful--can be an 
opportunity for us all to learn from one another, preserve the unity of the body, 
and have our understanding deepened," the statement says. "Our baptism, along 
with the Eucharist we share day by day at our Council meetings, reminds us that 
we are members one of another and are therefore called to speak in candor but 
without rancor, manifesting double portions of love and patience. Our common life 
as Council reflects our awareness that we act not simply on our own but on behalf 
of our church as it seeks to be faithful to the gospel in its own context."

     The document reflects concern that speculation and unsubstantiated reports, 
disseminated widely on the Internet, may have distorted the impression that some 
primates have of the overall state of the Episcopal Church. Similar concerns were 
expressed in Presiding Bishop Griswold's Christmas letter to the bishops of the 
Episcopal Church.

In other actions, the Executive Council voted to:

     *Send a questionnaire to each diocese concerning its personnel policies and 
manual, if any. The information will be used to report back to General Convention 
on resolution D015, Justice in the Church Workplace;

          *Make AIDS in developing countries a priority issue and engage partner 
churches in the Anglican Communion on the issue;

          *Adopt the statement of an ecumenical delegation to the Holy Land in 
December as expressing the mind of the Episcopal Church; and

          *Direct church investors to consider withdrawing from investments in 
the Sudanese oil industry in protest of Sudan's ongoing human rights violations.

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of the Episcopal Church's Office of News 
and Information.

     Text of greeting from Executive Council to the Primates Meeting

     We greet you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

     As members of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church we give thanks 
for the vital response to the gospel all around us in our Province of the 
Anglican Communion, and for the renewed commitment we see everywhere to the 
church's mission. As our catechism reminds us "the mission of the church is to 
restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." We commend our 
congregations and dioceses for their faithfulness, and for their ever-deepening 
understanding that we are limbs and members of Christ's risen body called to live 
the costly mystery of communion.

     At the same time we are aware of strains and the seeds of division that 
exist both within our own church and in other parts of our Communion. As our 
Primate has reminded us, "For any member of the body to cut themselves off and 
say, 'I have no need of you,' is a cause of grief and sadness. When one member of 
the body suffers, we all suffer and therefore must pray and work always for the 
Spirit to reconcile and consecrate us in the truth…[W]e must keep before us the 
fact that unity is not our creation. It is God's gift…It is possible that in our 
struggles…God is at work seeking to draw us all more deeply into communion in 
Christ and one another in ways yet to be revealed." It is therefore with 
confidence and hope that we engage the demanding tasks before us.

     We know from our experience as members of Executive Council, as we embrace 
divergent perspectives and opinions among us, that seeking the mind of Christ in 
the midst of difficult and divisive questions--while painful--can be an 
opportunity for us all to learn from one another, preserve the unity of the body, 
and have our understanding deepened.

     Our baptism, along with the Eucharist we share day by day at our Council 
meetings, reminds us that we are members one of another and are therefore called 
to speak in candor but without rancor, manifesting double portions of love and 
patience. Our common life as Council reflects our awareness that we act not 
simply on our own but on behalf of our church as it seeks to be faithful to the 
gospel in its own context.

     We, gathered as Executive Council meeting in Parsippany, NJ, on behalf of 
our church, send our warmest greeting and our loving welcome to the Primates of 
the Anglican Communion. As you gather in our province at Kanuga, know of our 
prayers for you and the work you will do together. May your time among us be an 
occasion of rest and renewal. And may you feel surrounded and supported by the 
Episcopal Church.

     We seek the prayers of all persons of good will as we strive to be faithful 
to Christ in the work we have been entrusted to do. As well, we pray for our 
congregations and dioceses and other Provinces who are part of that fellowship of 
prayer, witness and service we know and love as the Anglican Communion.