wfn.org | Windsor Report Statement by the Most Revd Bernard Malango,

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3893     |     ACO      |	   18 OCTOBER 2004

Statement by the Most Revd Bernard Malango,
Primate of Central Africa, on the release of
the Windsor Report 2004

I welcome the publication of the Windsor Report. I was privileged to be
part of the Lambeth Commission, and despite some very honest exchanges,
we were able to come together as a Commission to offer what I believe
represents a genuine way forward for the future of the Anglican
Communion.

The report we have agreed now offers to our brothers and sisters in
Christ very real ways in which we could begin to strengthen our common
life in the Lord, and to strengthen the workings of the Instruments of
Unity so that they will be able to function more effectively in drawing
our forty-four churches into greater interdependence and mutual life.

 >From the outset, it was not the job of the Lambeth Commission to reopen
the standard of teaching set out in Lambeth Resolution 1.10 (1998), but
I am glad to see a recognition in this report of the fact that the
Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA) and the Diocese
of New Westminster, in acting as they did, did breach the bonds of
affection that hold us together.

For me, the very last paragraph of the report is important. It clearly
sets out the fact that as a commission we have aimed to work for healing
and restoration, but it also recognises that there remains the danger
that our brothers and sisters may still choose to walk apart. If the
recommendations of our report are not taken seriously, then the question
of our future together in the Anglican Communion will remain, and
greater division may result.

For this reason, I hope that we will all pray for God's help in finding
his way forward, and that everyone will read the report with careful
consideration of our proposals.

The Most Revd Bernard Malango
Primate of Central Africa
Member of the Lambeth Commission on Communion

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