Dr Rowan Williams said there was a “very strong feeling” within the 80 million-strong Communion that guidance is needed on questions of Biblical teaching, which have led it to the brink of schism over sexuality.

He said he was “enthusiastic” about the idea of a Faith and Order Commission that has been proposed by a group set up to resolve the crisis triggered by liberal Americans, who in 2003 elected an openly gay bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson.

But liberals claim the Commission – which would be based on a code of Canon Law and which is being proposed in addition to a new set of rules to bind the provinces of Anglicanism – has echoes of the medieval Inquisition, which was used to enforce Roman Catholic doctrine and punish those condemned as heretics.

It came as the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, warned of the “shadows” spreading over the relationship between Rome and Canterbury caused by the liberal attitude of some Anglican churches towards homosexuality and the introduction of women to the clergy.

Read it all.

How is the conference? Worrisome.

How is your indaba group? “Well, the funny thing is,” began one bishop, “The Americans here have this cheat sheet that they use in our group. It has statements on it that justify their decisions in the last two conventions that led to the consecration of Gene Robinson and same-sex marriage. It is a prioritized list of talking points and the one in our group reads off this thing every day.”

It was as if someone dropped a bomb in the room. Was I surprised that my church would utilize a tactic of this nature to persuade the rest of the Communion? No, I was not. Was I surprised that one of those same bishops would bring the document and read from it in a forum such as the Indaba group? No, I was not. Was I surprised by the strong counter reaction of the other bishops in the room, who considered this to be almost treachery? Yes.

Read it all.

So what does the content of this WGC document mean?

It means that the people in charge of this process have at last realised, perhaps thanks to Gafcon, that the African provinces who are boycotting Lambeth are serious. There is a desperation to keep them on board to prevent the Church from splitting.

If this new Commission enforces the new canon law blueprint in a way that is strictly in line with Lambeth 1.10, it also means there will be huge anger in the US. The Episcopal Church could well find itself riven by a formal split, leaving questions over which will be recognised by Canterbury. (Maybe those behind the name change from the former PECUSA saw this coming and that was a preparatory step.)

But we are fools if we think just the US will be affected. There are many traditionalist, catholic parishes in the Church of England that might well prefer to be aligned with a liberal TEC than a strictly conservative evangelical province.

The key to this in the UK will be where the moderate conservatives go. The extreme end of Gafcon, it is accepted, might already be lost. But will the Bishop of Durham Tom Wright, the respectable and intellectual face of orthodoxy, and others of his ilk, who are disliked by the far right, go with this? Gary Lillibridge, Bishop of West Texas, is a member of the Windsor Contination Group and is a highly-respected conservative bishop, in similar mould to Dr Wright.

My sources tell me the moderate conservatives are on side with this….

Read it all.

An Anglican version of the Roman Catholic church’s “inquisition” is proposed today in a document seen by The Times.

Bishops are urging the setting up of an Anglican Faith and Order Commission to give “guidance” on controversial issues such as same-sex blessings and gay ordinations.

The commission was put forward as a proposal this week to the 650 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference as a way of preserving the future unity of the Anglican Communion. Insiders compared it with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body formerly headed by the present Pope as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and previously known as the Holy Office or Inquisition.

This morning’s “observations” document is the second in a series of three. The third will be published next week. The document says: “Anglicans are currently failing to recognise Church in one another.”

Read it all.

Speaking to journalists at the once-in-a-decade Lambeth Conference, Dr Williams said: “I’m looking for consent, not coercion, but unless we do have something about which we consent, which we trust to resolve some of our differences, we shall be flying further apart.

“It’s not as if we have co-existed without any impact on one another as local churches. There have to be protocols and conventions by which we recognise one another as churches, by which we understand and manage the exchange between ourselves.

“The difficulties we presently face have a lot to do with that recognition. No-one has the authority to impose. We have to do it by ourselves. That also means some may consent and some won’t, and that in itself has implications.”

Read it all.

2. Where we would like to be: Towards a Way Forward

If we are to survive as an international family of Churches, then the Windsor Report’s suggestion of a shift of emphasis to ”˜autonomy-in-communion’ might yet require a further step to ”˜ communion with autonomy and accountability’ cf. recommendations in the Virginia Report of the International Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission and the Windsor Report. The covenant process is intended to bring the Communion to a point where its understanding of Communion is renewed and deepened. There are a number of fundamental questions which need to be answered.

i. Can we recognise the Church in another?
* Anglicans are currently failing to recognise Church in one another;
* We value independence at the expense of interdependence in the Body of Christ
* We denigrate the discipleship of others
* This has led to internal fragmentation as well as to confusion among our ecumenical partners

ii What is a Communion of Churches?
*Recovering a common understanding of what it means to be a global communion.
*A common understanding of the place and role of the Episcopal office within the sensus fidelium of the whole Church.

Read it all.

…there are signs that this westernized Indaba is being taken seriously by the bishops and they are gaining much from it. Far from avoiding difficult conversations, many of them report that they are actually having them. Good on them.

My questions remain about the outcome, and the actual reportage of Indaba, and the writing down of some kind of final statement. I remain convinced that the process is built for manipulation by a bureaucracy which lazily wants the crisis to be downplayed and the fuss just to go away. I can’t see that without resolution, amendments and votes, the final document can be anything but descriptive of the process, and the diversity of viewpoints in the communion.

More importantly, I see no sign that the bishops and the conference have any desire to face the biggest elephant in their midst. I’m not referring to issues of homosexuality, and authority directly, but to the glaringly obvious fact that a quarter of the bishops in the Anglican Communion are actually missing. This raises at least two urgent questions for the bishops who are in Canterbury. How can this Lambeth Conference be an Instrument of Unity when so many have gone AWOL? What steps must the Anglican Communion take to ensure that the next time they meet these absent bishops are present?

Read it all.

I should have known better. I should have understood that a City with such a rich and extensive history as Canterbury cannot be “done” in one day. My original assumption was that I would spend perhaps twenty minutes in the Cathedral, take the thirty-minute train ride to Goodenstone Park Garden and then on to Augustine’s Abbey. I might even tuck in a castle or two along the way, I thought. Can’t be done. In the end, I spent two and a half hours “communing with saints” in the Cathedral. Then, it was almost lunch time and it seemed wiser to abandon my ambitious plan of taking the entire county of Kent in a day and stay right here in Canterbury. A visit to the Norman Castle (dating back to the 11th century) and a couple of museums wrapped up the day.

The Cathedral visit was incredibly satisfying; a truly fulfilling and spiritual experience. There was a strong awareness for every moment of the visit that I was physically present and meditating in the exact physical location that thousands and thousands of people – going back to the sixth century A.D. – have been. There was a sense of being in communion with all those saints and recognizing once again the vastness of this holy family both in space and time. A truly awesome experience that language simply cannot fully express.

Read it all.

The document handed out to the Episcopal church’s Lambeth contingent encourages bishops to promote the idea of diversity by using examples from the Bible and scripture.

“God made a diverse creation who reveals many gifts but the same spirit. Jesus calls a diverse witness into being and sends them into witness. St Paul called a diverse church to unity in Christ.”

The document, entitled Lambeth Talking Points, also provides advice for bishops when dealing with journalists: “A good message will reach the audience without giving the media more than they need or can use.”

One US bishop, Keith Ackerman from the diocese of Quincy, said the document was “embarrassing”.

“We should come to Lambeth spiritually prepared, not tactically prepared. It is a clear attempt to dominate the debates we are having and push them in a certain direction.

“The Episcopal church is attempting to manipulate this conference. It was hoping to convince the rest of the Anglican Communion that its innovations should be incorporated and respected.”

Read it all.

Important update: A copy of TEC’s talking points material is here.

In a break with tradition, the bishops did not process, Olympic-style, behind their provincial standards; nor did they wear copes and mitres. They walked in pairs, in Convocation robes, deliberately “undifferentiated” so as to reflect a desire born out of their three-day retreat to be “less triumphal than some might expect Anglicans to be, or had been in the past”, the Australian Primate, Dr Phillip Aspinall, explained afterwards. The only group separated out were the Primates.

It was intended to be less formal and more accessible ”” and it also hid gaps in the representation of some African provinces. There was a ripple of interest among the press when the Bishop of Durham appeared wearing his cassock: was it some kind of protest? No, his robes had been mislaid somewhere on the campus of the University of Kent.

Read it all.

But ”“ flanked by 1,500 other faith leaders, diplomats, politicians and charity heads ”“ there was no mistaking their unity yesterday as they moved as one body in the name of justice and peace for the higher causes of their mission. Among those joining them were Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi; Sir Iqbal Sacranie; Dr Indarjit Singh; and other senior representatives of Muslim and Sikh organisations.

Inside Lambeth Palace, Dr Williams’s home and the scene of several stormy controversies in recent months, the bishops listened to a clearly moved Gordon Brown as he showed that he had heard their message. “A hundred years is too long to wait for justice and that is why we must act now,” Mr Brown said. “You have sent a symbol, a very clear message with rising force that poverty can be eradicated, poverty must be eradicated and if we all work together for change poverty will be eradicated.”

Read it all–and I like that picture.

Speaking at the Lambeth Conference this week Bishop [Michael] Burrows said “at the end of the day the Church of Ireland is enriched not diminished” by the differing views of its bishops on same sex issues. In his own dioceses same sex matters were “not the big issues”, which would include promotion of the gospel, the Aids crisis and ecumenism. He didn’t think the outcome of the conference would greatly influence people and was “always relieved that Lambeth’s role is advisory not binding”. He rejoiced in belonging to “a church which doesn’t regard its instruments as uttering infallibly”.

He felt this particularly about a resolution on human sexuality from the last Lambeth Conference in 1998 which rejected homosexual practice as incompatible with scripture. The resolution also rejected the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions or the ordination of those involved in same-gender unions.

He believed a covenant would be drafted towards the end of this conference, but that it would be along Lisbon Treaty lines with “different degrees of signing up to it”. He is finding the process of discussion “very cumbersome . . . physically, very tiring.” It was “a well-intentioned attempt by a dysfunctional family to keep talking until we realise we cannot fall out of love with one another”. But there was, he felt, “a danger of going round and round the elephants rather than going over or through them”.

Read it all.

The following comments are reflections from my own notes but full texts of many addresses are on the Lambeth website.

We are called here to conversation where we acknowledge one to another the importance of this Anglican Communion. We believe in the communion as an inclusive community but where inclusivity does not equal anything goes. Even as we celebrate unity in diversity, we are challenged to ask ourselves what the limits are of such diversity, and to hold before us at all times the thought that God has called this Communion into being and has a purpose for it. We have been reminded that a divided church cannot with integrity preach a gospel of reconciliation to a broken world.

We are not here to reinforce one another’s anxieties, but to fix our hope upon Jesus and to remind each other of the hope of what God has done, is doing and will do, in opening a new and living way in Jesus Christ. We are continually called to look at God’s mission in the world and our part in that mission.
Each person at this conference and in the wider communion is called to be a place where God is revealed. For each one of us we ask ‘where have you seen the Son of God revealed?’ “How did you recognize him?”

Read it all.

The day started with an amazingly upbeat Eucharist led by the Episcopal Church of Cuba and which undoubtedly contributed to the texture of the morning. The story of the woman taken in adultery in John’s Gospel was a good vehicle to take the Bible study group into a discussion of a statement by the Sudanese Bishops in which they expressed their opposition to the consecration of a practicing homosexual as a bishop. Whilst the majority of my group shared the concerns of the Sudanese, the engagement was much more about how we can ensure that the Communion remains intact.

I was moved by the very positive statements being made about the value of the Anglican Communion. We considered how provinces having a different attitude to these things may not be an issue which can be resolved, but we went onto consider how we can find a future together. Whilst we didn’t even begin to resolve the issues, we did achieve a quality of engagement which will frustrate those looking for conflict and schism.

Read it all.

For all that, Anglicanism’s public troubles proceed from the takeover of Western Anglicanism by theological activists whose purpose is the remolding of Christianity into something less like the old-time religion than like the platform on which Barack Obama will run for president.

Whereas orthodox Christianity insists on the salvational role of the second person of the trinity – more popularly called Jesus – activist orthodoxy calls for supporting climate change and advancing women’s rights. And for establishing homosexuality as a sexual “preference” equivalent to heterosexuality.

It was the Episcopal Church’s consecration of a gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire that, for many Anglicans, here and abroad, finally ignited the gasoline on the brush pile. American conservatives blasted the consecration; foreign heads of overseas Anglican churches promised to support their brothers’ stand for God-given, as they saw it, moral norms. Great ugliness ensued: ungenerous words spoken on all sides; declarations of independence from the church; lawsuits levied by the church against rebels seeking to take their churches with them; the Gospel made a token of strife and mutual accusation.

A fourth-century father of the church, speaking of his own time, pronounced on ours: “We are making war upon one another,” said Gregory of Nazianzus, “and almost upon those of the same household. Or if you will, we the members of the same body, are consuming and being consumed by one another.”

Read it all.

Holding a future Lambeth Conference in the south would help the Church better understand the diverse contexts that many members of the Communion emerge from and prevent over-simplified conclusions about geography and theology.

What about the host? What about the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first among equals, who this year and in years past addresses the gathered bishops from his throne in the Cathedral in Canterbury? Could he still be the first among equals if the next Lambeth were in, say, Johannesburg or Madras?

There is no reason that the Archbishop of Canterbury couldn’t maintain his position as “first among equals” and an instrument of unity in his person while playing the role of guest rather than host.

By dislocating the Lambeth Conference from its English moorings, this important gathering could rid itself of some of its colonial vestiges and relocate closer to the heart of the current Anglican Communion. A change of this magnitude would take some imagination on the part of bishops gathered this week in Kent, but as modern leaders in a religious tradition that produced poets and artists like John Donne, William Blake, and Julian of Norwich, such vision would not be impossible.

Read it all.

It is true that Africa’s Christianity, even among august denominations like the Anglicans, is more passionate than it is farther north. Apart from the contest with Islam, this also reflects the need to offer as intense an experience as do the Pentecostalists. On the other hand, many African Anglicans love the idea of an episcopate that goes back to the dawn of the Christian era, something the Pentecostalists can’t provide. In Kenya, Anglicanism offers social cachet; and in Rwanda, Anglicanism attracts those who prefer the Anglophone Commonwealth to the Francophone past.

Some African Anglicans, such as Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, reject the idea that they are clones of the Victorian missionaries, or of any other European model. Today’s Ugandan church, he says, bears the stamp of the “East African revival”, a movement that swept the region in the 1930s, with emphasis on the need for reconciliation and repentance. The Anglican Communion needs plenty of both.

Read it all.

Today I have prepared to give witness to the Windsor Continuation Group Hearings. The “Turmoil in the USA” is one of the identified sections of their preliminary report, which bothered a number of us, as you might imagine. Troubling is the false perception that we are proclaiming alternatives to traditional Christology and soteriology. These have been extended characterizations against The Episcopal Church by those opposed to our position on human sexuality or to the broader approach to biblical interpretation. It is a surprise however to see them appear apparently uninvestigated in any extensive way. But that is what the hearings give us an opportunity to address.

We are reminded every day as we pray for those “for whatever reason” who are not here, that we are not complete as a Communion without those who stayed away or were not invited. A public statement by the Sudanese Archbishop yesterday calling on Gene Robinson to resign and excoriating The Episcopal Church reminds us that while we are being greeted at Lambeth by the very same Sudanese with whom many of us have ongoing partnerships, we must face our differences and explain ourselves to one another. Whether we can do this in the grace the Archbishop called us to in Canterbury Cathedral is a matter for all of our prayers.

Generally I would say that the focus on relationship building is at work. I have heard amazing stories of faith and courage as you might expect, and Donna has heard outrageous stories of women’s suffering which will have to become part of our focus on our return. Greetings from fellow bishops from Australia, New Zealand, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, England and Ireland (haven’t met a Welshman yet!), the West Indies, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Canada, Zambia, Tanzania, the Philippines, Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Indian Ocean, Fiji, Melanesia, Congo, Mozambique, Cuba, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Korea, Malawi, and of course Scotland, Swaziland and the United States. Greetings too from Suzanne Peterson who arrived this week as a volunteer.

Read it all

In the United States, those who disagree with …[the Presiding Bishop] have found themselves excluded: One hundred priests have been deposed and 200 congregations have been exiled from their church buildings for not accepting the liberal Episcopal Church’s position.

For the 230 bishops who declined to attend the Lambeth Conference, the problem is that the American church has blessed people in their disobedience to God. In response to a plea by English evangelical bishops to attend the conference, representatives of these conservative bishops wrote that some of their co-religionists in the United States who had objected to the consecration of V. Gene Robinson “have been charged with abandonment of communion. Their congregations have either forfeited or are being sued for their properties by the very bishops with whom you wish us to share Christian family fellowship for three weeks.”

“To do this is an assault on our consciences and our hearts. How can we explain to our church members that while we and they are formally out of communion” with the Episcopal Church, “we at the same time live with them at the Lambeth Conference as though nothing had happened? This would be hypocrisy.”

The fundamental question is this: What allows for religious freedom and religious choice? An Anglican faith that adheres to the teaching of Scripture, calls people to choose to follow Jesus and all that he teaches, welcomes all to hear the gospel but is clear where the boundaries are. Or a so-called inclusive Anglicanism that seeks to improve on the Bible, observes no boundaries, and claims to welcome all – as long as you do not disagree.

Read it all. One wonders how many so-called “first-world” bishops at Lambeth could summarize why those who are not there are not present in words the latter would agree with. Say it again after me, it is not a boycott:

Most of the time, I cannot be characterized as a patient person. I like to ”˜cut to the chase’ and ”˜get to the bottom line.’ I am well aware, though, that this approach will not work in our current context. These issues are far beyond any easy answer that can be solved using parliamentary procedure to articulate a specific answer. Besides, as has been pointed out, that hasn’t exactly been working for us. So I will make every effort to listen to my brothers and sisters without the need to defend or critique, but with a heart turned toward what God who might actually be calling me to change.

Read it all.

Find the links on this page.

One Rwandan bishop and five Kenyan bishops have broken ranks, defying their House of Bishops to attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference. However, no Nigerian or Uganda bishop has defied his church’s decision not to attend the every-10-year conference due to the presence of the American bishops.

“We’re sorry they are not here,” Archbishop Rowan Williams said, of the approximately 250 bishops from the four African provinces, Sydney and other evangelical dioceses who are absent.

Initial claims that a Nigerian bishop had bucked his Church have proven false.

However, Archbishop Peter Akinola told ReligiousIntelligence.com the whole issue of who was or was not at Lambeth was immaterial. “At this point it is a non-issue for us. After Lambeth, any Nigerian who may have chosen to flout our provincial and collective decision will have to answer to the general synod. It as simple as that.”

Access by the media to the gathering of bishops is sharply restricted, and the bishops themselves have scant knowledge of what is taking place. Unlike past conferences, there is no daily newspaper and what information that can be gleaned from official channels is available only to those bishops with laptops.

Read the whole article.

Dr Williams said: “There is a question about the legitimacy, so to speak, of what emerges from this. It’s a point I put as strongly as I can to the people who are not here in fact; that if they want their voice incorporated in this, this is the way to do it.”

One of the three English Bishops boycotting the conference, the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, said: “If Rowan wants to put that point to me, he should ask me himself.

“It’s not a question of who’s there and who’s not. It’s a question of does anybody feel that what Lambeth does is a definitive statement of what the Anglican Communion believes, because thus far it’s not been the case that people have held to agreements made.”

Bishop Broadbent also rejected the suggestion that by not being there, he could not have his voice incorporated: “I don’t think anyone’s ruled themselves out of the right to comment on the Conference’s conclusions. The bigger question is will Lambeth produce any definitive solutions to the problems of the Anglican Communion, and even if they do, will the Churches in North America take any notice?”

Read it all.

News — and sometimes Not-News — is flying thick and fast. The big news of yesterday, from my point of view, was the stand that the Bishop of Sudan took publicly — and from what I have heard through the grapevine various TEC people are meeting with him today. Whatever happens in such a rumored meeting, I’m confident that TEC will be clever enough to articulate 1) the roses, sunshine, and bubblegum of their “relationships” with the Province of the Sudan and 2) just how humble and gentle and non-retributive and generous the Episcopal Church actually is in response to the Primate of the Sudan’s remarks. That’s basically the best they can do — and of course, they must do their jobs.

Which brings me to a little glance at the press in general.

Read it all.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Indaba groups focused today on “The Bishop and Social Justice” – which really meant “The Bishop and the Millennium Development Goals,” in preparation for tomorrow’s London day. The day will begin early, with buses leaving campus at 7 AM to travel about three hours to Whitehall Place, where a “Walk of Witness” through the streets of London will be led by Archbishop Rowan and Lady Jane Williams, on behalf of the MDGs.

The Archbishop said in May, “This walk will be a poignant public act of commitment by the Anglican Communion and other faith groups to continue to put pressure on those who have the power and resources to help end extreme poverty across the globe. It will be about pledging, as a Church, to play our part in continuing to develop lasting solutions. It will also be a walk where we will be in step with those who know at first hand the impact that the unfair distribution of the world’s resources can have on daily living and life opportunities.”

The walk will pass a number of London landmarks, including the gates of Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and “Big Ben,” and Westminster Abbey, ending at Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Upon arrival there will be a “rally,” expected to draw in the neighborhood of 1,600 persons, including members of Her Majesty’s Government, an address by the Archbishop (whom we are coming to affectionately call “the Energizer Bunny”) and Hellen Wangusa, the Anglican Communion’s Observer to the United Nations.
In our Indaba groups today we focused on the twin questions: “What can I, as a Bishop, do…” and “What can we, as Bishops, do to further the MDGs”? In our group it became evident that most of our Dioceses are already fairly deeply involved in implementing at least some of the MDGs (think: houses in Honduras, relief efforts in New Orleans, Mustard Seed outreach in Ft. Pierce, etc., and our plans for a major effort to combat malaria this fall).

(Of course, the point of the effort is not so much that churches and Dioceses will implement the MDGs as it is to induce governments to do so, and there is a small irony here in that the present Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, is already under a fair amount of criticism for his very overt commitment to the MDGs! But perhaps the effort will encourage him, and others, to “keep on keeping on.”)

Tomorrow afternoon, we then go on to lunch at Lambeth Palace (where the PM will address us), and then to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Garden Party.

Anecdote: ten years ago Warren Richardson told me it was a “lifelong dream” of his to attend the Opening Eucharist of a Lambeth Conference. I said I would see what I could do. I contacted the then ABC, George Carey, who said, “No, every seat in the Cathedral will be assigned, but if he would like, I can get him an invitation to the Queen’s Garden Party.”

So, Warren and Pam took their vacation that year by coming to England for the Party. Warren told me he had a little speech prepared, should he happen to be introduced to Prince Philip. He and the Prince had been at the same place in Georgia some time earlier, and Warren wanted to relate that point of contact to him.

Well, about half an hour after we all arrived, the Queen’s ushers, in their bowler hats, came out to create a large open rectangle among the guests, and shortly thereafter the Queen and the Prince came down the stairs, and headed into the midst of it. At that point one of the ushers came directly to Warren and asked, “Would you care to meet Prince Philip?” “I WOULD; and my Bishop would, too!” exclaimed Warren; “He’s right over there.” (The Prince was very gracious to both of us.)

This afternoon we had our first “Hearing” regarding the “Windsor Continuation Group” and the effort to produce an “Anglican Covenant.” If anyone thought we might be close to completing that task at this Lambeth Conference, I think s/he was quickly disabused of the notion. I would guess there were 300 present, and following an opening update of where we are in the process we had about an hour for comments. 21 people each spoke for approximately three minutes apiece, eight of them Americans. (We haven’t entirely given up trying to dominate the proceedings!)

The tone was set by the first speaker, a Bishop from TEC, who used his time to assert the need for the FULL acceptance of LGBTs by the Church; he was really quite animated about it, and then he ended by declaring, “And I believe in the Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of our Lord, the necessity of his death upon the cross for our salvation; I believe him to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and I believe the Bible contains all things necessary for our salvation!”

Almost all of those who spoke were fairly to deeply critical of the efforts to date, albeit for all different kinds of reasons. There was great anger expressed by a number of our Bishops over the incursions into their Dioceses by international jurisdictions. And there was a claim by one of them that, “Less than 7/10 of one percent of The Episcopal Church has defected” over “the issues,” so “Please, let’s stop repeating the ‘myths’ about how deep this ‘crisis’ is.”

One of our Bishops apologized on behalf of TEC for our “tearing the fabric” of the Communion.

One of the predominant themes from many (both TEC and others) was that we do not want a Covenant that can be used “juridically” to expel, discipline, or exclude.

Apparently, a number of others wanted to speak, but we ran out of time. They were invited to write down their concerns, and to come to the other Hearings scheduled later during the Conference.

Tonight I have just come from a meeting of seven of the “Global South” Primates, several of the British Bishops, and 14 of our American Bishops, some involved in “Common Cause” and some in “Communion Partners.” The point was again made that CP is an “inside” strategy, and CC an “outside” one, but that both are needed; and we want to do the best we can to support each other. The Primates were very clear in repeating several times their promise of solidarity with both efforts.

It is nearly midnight, and tomorrow is going to be a long day. Thanks for your prayers.

Warmest regards in our Lord,

–(The Right Rev.) John W. Howe is Bishop of Central Florida

There has been “a breakdown of trust” among members of the Anglican Communion, there has been “an inconsistency between what has been agreed and what has been done,” there is “turmoil” in the Episcopal Church of the U.S., there is “a diminishing sense of communion,” the bitter divide over homosexuality is affecting relations with the church’s ecumenical partners.

These were preliminary observations made by the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) on the state of the Anglican Communion and on the responses by Anglican provinces to the Windsor Report. These responses were presented to bishops for discussion Monday at the Lambeth Conference. The WCG was created last February by the Archbishop of Canterbury to “address outstanding questions arising from the Windsor Report and the various formal responses from provinces and instruments of the Anglican Communion.”

The Windsor Report, produced in 2004 by an international commission, outlined ways of healing divisions within the Anglican Communion over human sexuality. It recommended a moratorium on public rites of same-sex blessings and on the election of a gay person to the episcopate, the enactment of an Anglican Covenant, and an end to cross-border interventions.

Read it all.

It was not the most joyous of starts for the Lambeth Conference, the once-every-10-year gathering of the bishops of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion in Canterbury, England. Speaking last Sunday at the formal opening ceremony in the city’s storied cathedral, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, observed that the global association of Anglican churches, including the Episcopal Church of the United States, faced the most serious challenge of its history.

The absence of roughly one fourth of the Communion’s 880 invited bishops underscores his words. It reflects the growing schism between conservative and liberal factions with strongly differing views on tradition, doctrine, and Scripture, particularly as they touch on the hot-button issues of homosexuality and women in the clergy.

Read it all.

The Lambeth Conference is now believed highly unlikely to resolve the controversy over the ordination of actively gay bishops or blessings for same-sex couples.

The two issues have riven the Anglican Communion in recent years and have led to about a quarter of its bishops worldwide boycotting the current conference, which continues until August 3rd.

In a statement yesterday, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Right Rev John Neill, said he believed that “we are now engaged at Lambeth not in solving an issue, but in staying together for the sake of Christ, the church and above all the world which he calls upon us to serve”.

This “has not happened because anybody is trying to impose a liberal agenda.

“Liberals and conservatives should not attempt to demonise one another.

“We need both, but we need more, we need to be together,” he said.

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(ACNS) The Archbishop of Canterbury will today (Thursday 24th July) lay down a challenge to world leaders on behalf of the worldwide Anglican Communion and other faith groups: you must keep your promises on aid and development as failure to do so will lead to further starvation, disease and death in the world’s poorest countries.

Dr Rowan Williams will be joined in his plea to governments across the world by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will also address the audience of 650 Anglican bishops, their spouses, and representatives from other faith groups and Churches. The rally, set in the courtyard of Lambeth Palace, follows a walk of witness through central London, where up to 1,500 faith leaders, diplomats, parliamentarians and NGO heads will take to the streets to highlight the urgent need for more action on tackling poverty through sustainable solutions.

In the Archbishop’s letter ”“ which is the event’s manifesto ”“ he will outline how this generation has a genuine opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty. The document stresses, however, that most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by global leaders in 2000 to halve poverty by 2015 will not, as things stand, be fulfilled by this deadline ”“ and in fact, risk never being achieved at all.

The letter will be handed to the Prime Minister during the rally by Dr Williams, flanked by Christian and other faith leaders including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi; Sir Iqbal Sacranie OBE; Dr Indarjit Singh OBE; and other senior representatives of Muslim and Sikh organisations.

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A Vatican official told the world’s Anglican bishops that ignoring Christian tradition and making decisions apart from the wider church are like degenerative diseases.

At the Lambeth Conference, where the Anglican bishops are struggling with such issues as the ordination of women, gay bishops and gay unions, Cardinal Ivan Dias appeared to allude to a “spiritual Alzheimer’s” threatening to destroy the historical memory of the Anglican churches.

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