November 2007 - Evangelicals Now - Christian Newspaper

The tale is simply told, yet sad to relate.

In response to the challenge from The Episcopal Church (TEC) in consecrating as bishop a man in an active homosexual relationship, the Archbishop of Canterbury called three meetings of the Anglican Primates. He affirmed that he was not a pope and could not take these decisions on his own.

Deadline

The Primates commissioned the Windsor Report to ask TEC to comply with the teaching and practice of the Anglican Communion. TEC General Convention responded in June 2006. The Archbishop of Canterbury judged that their response was adequate in the opening presentation to the Dar-es-Salaam Primates’ meeting in February 2007. Most Primates disagreed. After five very uncomfortable days for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates unanimously drafted three questions for TEC to answer by September 30. One Primate has told me personally that the Primates understood that September 30 was a deadline and that The Episcopal Church’s response would be evaluated by their meeting. The Primates’ meeting has been taking responsibility for addressing the crisis. ‘The questions posed to TEC were posed by the Primates together. We expect to evaluate the answers together’, he said.

Making it up

The Archbishop of Canterbury has now reversed that direction because the Anglican Communion establishment still thinks that it can manage this matter. The Archbishop indicated in his New Orleans Press Conference that the September 30 date was not a deadline; he has said that that he will not call a Primates’ meeting (because he has no funds for it and a number of Celtic archbishops have said they will boycott it); and that he will not postpone the Lambeth Conference, as strongly recommended by the Primates of the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA). Jonathan Petre in the Church of England Newspaper for October 5 said that ‘the Archbishop of Canterbury and his advisers are making up the rules of the game as they go along’.

Western hegemony over

The communique from the CAPA Primates, who represent 37 million of the 52 million Anglicans in the Anglican Communion, and the statements from Archbishop Orombi of Uganda, Archbishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt and Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney are very substantial and positive contributions to the future of the Anglican Communion.

The African Primates argue for a meeting of the Primates. Financial sources outside the Western world can support this. Archbishop Orombi has clearly stated that Western hegemony is over in the Anglican Communion. African and Asian Primates are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

The African Primates argue: ‘What is at stake in this crisis is the very nature of Anglicanism — to understand it simply in terms of the need for greater inclusivity in the face of changing sexual ethics is a grave mistake. It is not just about sexuality but also about the nature of Christ, the truth of the gospel and the authority of the Bible. We see a trend that seems to ignore the careful balance of Reformed catholicity and missionary endeavour that is our true heritage and replace it with a religion of cultural conformity that offers no transforming power and no eternal hope.’ Archbishop Henry Orombi and Bishop Harold Miller of Down and Dromore in Ireland have said the same.

Lack of understanding

But the Anglican Communion establishment is out of touch. In old colonial style, they sent the Archbishop of York, a Ugandan, rather than the secretary of the Lambeth Conference, Kenneth Kearon, to urge the African Primates to come to Lambeth. The CAPA meeting documents indicate that he made little impact.

The tone of the statements from New Orleans and from the Joint Standing Committee (whose report was originally intended to be private to Archbishop Williams, but which was made public before all its members had responded for Archbishop Sentamu to take to the CAPA meeting) lack understanding of the genuine concerns of the orthodox Primates to provide pastoral care for those Anglicans who cannot in conscience remain part of TEC. They are rigid on issues of jurisdiction, and over-flexible on doctrine. This is the wrong way around.

No going back

Bishop elect David Anderson writes of the plans being put forward by the Presiding Bishop of TEC, and also by Bishops Michael Scott-Joynt and Tom Wright, for the orthodox to continue within the current TEC: ‘I do not believe that any parish, vestry member, clergy or diocese that has been personally sued by TEC, had their health insurance jerked out from under them, had their property confiscated, their pensions lost or frozen, and publicly deposed when they had already announced they had left, would ever forget why they left and why they cannot go back. The current Episcopal Church cannot and will not repent. Such a plan will fail because the parishes that have left TEC will not go back to TEC, not even to a collaborationist accommodation. If forced hard enough, they will leave Canterbury Anglicanism, but they will not go back. Does Rowan Williams not care?’

The Rev. Giles Goddard, the chair of Inclusive Church, indicates that this approach means ultimately following the direction of TEC and accepting their inclusion in the Anglican Communion.

Williams’s vision

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s vision appears to be:

a) To take personal charge now of developments. He has requested that the provinces report their responses to the New Orleans statement to him by the end of October. The CAPA Primates have already replied. They are unwilling to engage in the seemingly imperialist divide-and-rule approach of contacting Primates and provinces one by one.

b) That TEC be allowed to continue in the Communion, even if the rest disagree with them. This is unity at any price.

c) He is prepared to go ahead with the Lambeth Conference, though he knows that hundreds of bishops, including some in the Church of England, will not attend.

d) He is also reported to be planning to preside at a service of Holy Communion at St. Peter’s, Eaton Square, London, on November 29, for gay clergy and their partners, even though such clergy are living in defiance of the teaching of his own House of Bishops report, Further Issues in Human Sexuality. This public endorsement of same-sex partnerships also sits at odds with the Focus on Families report just published from the Office of National Statistics. It shows that married mixed-gender couples live longer, enjoy better health and can rely on more home care in old age than their divorced, widowed, single and cohabiting peers. Children who live with their married parents are also healthier, and can expect to stay in full-time education for longer (The Times, October 5).

Unable to participate

The CAPA Primates say that ‘a divided conference with several provinces unable to participate and hundreds of bishops absent would bring to an end to the Communion as we know it’. They ask that the conference be postponed to ensure that those invited to Lambeth have already endorsed the Anglican Communion Covenant and so that they can come together as witness to our common faith. The Bishop of Rochester has said that he would find it difficult to attend a church council alongside those who consecrated or approved the appointment of Anglicanism’s first openly gay bishop.

Three responses

There are currently three groups of people in the current debate.

There are those who think that the approach of The Episcopal Church is the way ahead for the Anglican Communion. These would include the Archbishops of Wales and Scotland.

There are those who do not agree with The Episcopal Church in its teachings on doctrine and ethics. Bishop Jonathan Gledhill of Lichfield said he believed that 95% of the Anglican Communion would hold this view.

Of the second group, there are some who no longer trust the Archbishop of Canterbury to deal adequately or fairly with the problem. Others still trust that the Archbishop of Canterbury is willing and able to address the problem as one charged with contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.

But it is become increasingly clear that there are only two options: either go with TEC, or go with the African Primates, the Bishop of Rochester and the Common Cause College of Bishops representing orthodox Anglicans in the USA.

Canon Dr. Chris Sugden,
Executive Secretary of Anglican Mainstream & a member of the Church of England General Synod

The statements of those cited can be found on http://www.anglican-mainstream.net

Anglicanism in twilight