wfn.org | [ENS] Senior primate in Anglican Communion raises issues of

["mika larson" <mini.mika@verizon.net>]

identity

9/26/2003

Senior primate in Anglican Communion raises issues of identity

by James Solheim  
  
[ENS] In an article in the Church of Ireland Gazette, Archbishop Robin
Eames, the senior primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion, recently
addressed some of the burning questions that he and other primates will
face at special meeting October 15-16 at Lambeth Palace in London,
called by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. 

Acknowledging that the decision by the Episcopal Church's General
Convention in Minneapolis to endorse the election of the church's first
openly gay bishop "has provoked a crisis," it may be an identity crisis,
opening questions of what holds the Anglican Communion together, Eames
wrote. 

No matter where one stands on the consecration of Gene Robinson as
bishop of New Hampshire, Eames said it brings into question "the nature
of unity and relationships of the diverse provinces which make up the
Communion... by bringing to light very deep divisions on this question
which have existed within Anglicanism and beyond." Those sharp divisions
of opinion "compel a careful examination of the nature of the Anglican
Communion and its structures," especially in light of suggestions that
the Episcopal Church USA be expelled from the Communion.

Eames pointed to another crisis that raised issues of structure and the
meaning of relationships-the ordination of women to the priesthood and
episcopate in 1988. He was appointed by Archbishop of then-Canterbury
Robert Runcie to head an international commission that was asked to
prepare pastoral guidelines to encourage the "highest degree of
communion" among the different provinces. "My experience then and since
has convinced me that the fundamental issue for our Communion is: How do
we live together with differing opinions, differences cultures, but
maintain some semblance of active communion? I believe Anglicanism will
survive this current controversy. The question is in what form?" He
suggested that the Communion might need a similar set of guidelines now.

Pointing out that Anglicanism has "consistently rejected" attempts to
establish regulations and rules, he said that instead it has opted for
jealously guarding the autonomy of individual provinces. "Provincial
government, usually through synodical structures and the exercise of
episcopacy, has enshrined this degree of individuality," Eames said,
with the common tie of communion with the See of Canterbury. "But I am
unaware of any agreed rules governing such relationships beyond the
desire to be in communion," he said. "Therefore when we talk of
expulsion the question arises-expulsion from what?"

The election in New Hampshire is "clearly in breach of the majority
opinion of the bishops in 1998" at the Lambeth Conference and "clearly
contrary to the view of a large number of Anglicans," Eames noted, but
"is there a tangible manner within the structures of our Communion as
presently constituted to do more than express concern and criticism..."
If there are no rules for membership in the Anglican Communion "there
are no rules for expulsion of a member church," he argued.

The archbishop of Canterbury, as a "first among equals," could withhold
an invitation to the Lambeth Conference or the Primates' Meeting "but
the fact remains that no constitutional basis exists for the expulsion
of any province from the Anglican Communion," Eames said.

While provincial autonomy "permits different attitudes to discipline and
to ways of presenting the Gospel," he said that "Anglicans seek to
preserve the identity or communion of a world family. This does not
prevent disagreements between members of the family on what Scripture
says, but it is far from saying we do not care about the primacy of
Scripture," Eames added.

"Laws apart, opinions apart, and sensitivities apart, diversity of
culture, practice and lifestyles have been and will most likely continue
to be the experience of a world family such as the Anglican Communion,"
Eames concluded. "Perhaps the main question arising for us at this time
is simply: How do we live with and how do we understand difference? What
price unity?"

-- James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.