Anglican Mainstream: Updates on the 2008 Lambeth Conference

It has been affirmed that the Lambeth Conference is definitely going ahead and that prior to the Lambeth Conference there will be a mini-Lambeth in each diocese, where hospitality will be offered throughout the UK dioceses to the arriving bishops from overseas. Many bishops of course from overseas have indicated that for many reasons they cannot currently accept the invitation to Lambeth. This has to do with the impossibility for them to have fellowship with those who have blatantly defied the counsels of the Lambeth Conference and the wishes of the Communion over the last 10 years. Some have mentioned their concern at the possibility of being subject to protests over their orthodox stances.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Lambeth 2008

11 comments on “Anglican Mainstream: Updates on the 2008 Lambeth Conference

  1. Br_er Rabbit says:

    So, Kearon (or his ilk) will be pairing up British dioceses with their like-minded counterparts in the hinterlands of Anglocommunia? Wouldn’t want to have any unseemly disagreements, now, would we?

  2. dwstroudmd+ says:

    If the listed topics are correct, there has been a change of heart about this Lambeth. The topic is on the agenda. Of course, this is designed still to be in small groups so no Lambeth-wide imbroglio such as at 1998 can offend the great burdened global northpersons. So it is still a jamboree and not substantive – rather like ECUSA/TEC and ACCanada have made the Anglican Communion.

    God indeed sets above the circle of the earth and laughs.

  3. Mick says:

    Isn’t it curious that half of the Lambeth Conference Design Group are bishops from provinces that have signed the CAPA and/or Global South statements calling for it to be postponed:
    +Ian Ernest (Indian Ocean)
    +James Tengatenga (Central Africa)
    +Thabo Makgoba (Southern Africa)
    +Miguel Tamayo (Southern Cone)

    In addition, the following GS bishops have taken part in the St Augustine’s Seminar, which takes further the plans of the Design Group:
    +Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem & Middle-East)
    +George Tite Ande (Congo)
    +Ken Okeke (Nigeria)
    +Simon Chiwanga (Tanzania)
    +Bolly Lapok (SE Asia)

    I wonder how many of them will decline to attend the Conference which they themselves are helping to plan?

  4. Br_er Rabbit says:

    [blockquote] It has also been indicated that there will be resolutions at Lambeth on matters requiring responses to ecumenical statements, and statements of solidarity with people under pressure. [/blockquote]
    Does this mean that there will be more resolutions to try to make the reasserters happy, and more resolutions to try to make the reappraisers happy? Being “on the fence” entails working both sides of the fence, apparently.
    [blockquote] There will be also be discussions on the Anglican Communion Covenant and Sexuality. [/blockquote]
    Is this the same statement as the previous one? In any case, there will be [i]no[/i] Anglican Communion Covenant, only “discussions.” There will be [i]no[/i] resolution of the questions surrounding sexuality, only “discussions.”

    Tell me, for just whom might these invitations to Lambeth seem attractive?

  5. Paula says:

    See this proposed topic for the Lambeth Conference, as reported in an article in the _Church Times_ called “Acceptance helps gays, psychiatrists inform Anglicans”:

    http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=47420

    The article (by Bill Bowder) reads (in part) thus:

    “THE Royal College of Psychiatrists has challenged Anglican bishops to support gay clergy and laity as an example to parents struggling to come to terms with having gay or lesbian children.

    “’The Church has a wonderful opportunity to lead rather than to be dragged along kicking and screaming. Christianity is such an inclusive religion,’ said Professor Michael King, an executive committee member of the College’s special-interest group of 200 to 300 psychiatrists who work with lesbians, gay men, and bisexual and transsexual people.

    “His committee has submitted a report to the Church’s Listening Exercise on Human Sexuality, to inform a study guide for next year’s Lambeth Conference.”

    You’ve got to see the illustration that accompanies this piece, too.

  6. Mick says:

    As of October 25th, approx. 500 bishops have so far officially registered for Lambeth 2008, in full knowledge that TEC has been invited. Certainly no sign of a mass boycott yet.

  7. Brian from T19 says:

    It has been affirmed that the Lambeth Conference is definitely going ahead

    I think that is all of the proof we need that TEC will not be disciplined in any meaningful way.

  8. Sherri says:

    Brian, I don’t think there’s been any doubt about that for a long time.

  9. carl says:

    Lambeth [i]must[/i] go ahead. Rowan Williams must call the bluff of the Global South. It’s his only chance. But the Global South isn’t bluffing. So the parallel Anglican communion will emerge, and the conflagration will at long last reach the shores of England. The CoE will begin to devolve, and 815 will become the de facto center of the old communion. The crisis will increase as 815 feels at liberty to pursue an increasingly radicalized agenda, and – little by little – provinces will peel off and join the new communion. At the end, 815 will sit in NY and look out its window – the master of all it can survey.

    carl

  10. Virgil in Tacoma says:

    #9…carl…I think you’re too pessimistic. If the global south ‘pealed off’, there would still be numerous entities available for the [i] post-departum [/i] remnant of the communion.

  11. carl says:

    10. Virgil in Tacoma wrote:
    [blockquote] carl…I think you’re too pessimistic. [/blockquote]
    Why, thank you. 🙂 Only woolly-headed optimists can’t see that the glass is half-empty, cracked, and leaking.
    [blockquote] post-departum remnant [/blockquote]
    That’s a brilliant descriptive phrase. My compliments.
    carl