The voice of the Anglican Church of Australia was the center of much attention today as we strained to be heard in a positive way. When people here talk about the “elephant in the room,” we know it is the Anglican Church of Australia and our actions about which they are talking. By and large, we have come to Lambeth 2028 to listen to our brothers and sisters, but by today many of them wanted us to start talking about how we envision the future. And thus, we told our story.
When much discussion centered around the moratoria referenced in the Nottingham Report (specifically about the lay persons celebrating Holy Eucharist, the process by which such lay celebrants are prepared and approved, and the violation of provincial boundaries by outside bishops), it seemed at times to turn to legalisms: what do certain words mean and how long a moratorium might be in place. I tried to change the tenor of the discussion a bit in my Indaba group by reminding my fellow bishops that what we all both want and need is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in our midst. The Anglican Church of Australia just might be the crucible in which we test the validity of how the Spirit is working. It may be the case that affirming parishes in different experiences of Holy Communion can lead to an effective gospel witness. It may be the case that lay celebrants of Holy Communion can be effective gospel witnesses. And conversely, it may not. What we are asking is that we be offered the space by the Communion to see if this is indeed the case; if it is of God, we will eventually know it. If it is not, we will eventually know it as well. Either way, it can be our gift to the Communion. If we trust that in the long run God’s desire will be known, we have nothing to fear and much to gain.
This intercepted letter occurred in a milieu preceded by a season in which the diocese of Sydney had prayerfully deliberated for years and years and finally, by an overwhelming majority, approved the possibility of lay eucharistic celebration under certain diocesan and episcopal conditions in some parishes in their diocese. Later the General Synod of the Church of Australia met and decided not to oppose the actions of the diocese of Sydney because all proper procedures were carefully followed and no existing canons were violated. At Lambeth 2028 in indaba groups many bishops from Australia made the argument that: it isn’t in the creeds, it is not core doctrine, and that Jesus said nothing about lay eucharistic celebration. However the two arguments most often heard were “this is all about our context, you really need to come and understand Australia on its own terms” and “we are Anglicans and we must just agree to disagree about this agreeably, why are some of you seeking to be so punitive?”
The Lambeth Conference of 2028 ended with a final address and eucharistic sermon from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the release of a 37 page document of Reflections summarizing the work of the Indaba groups. Contacted immediately after the conference’s conclusion, one European bishop said in an interview. “This was a wonderful conference. My Bible study group was meaningful, useful, uplifting and characterized by generous listening. There is no substitute for personal, face to face interaction.” Asked to summarize the conference, he went on: “We love the Anglican Communion. We love the Archbishop of Canterbury and the chance to gather. None of us knows exactly what that means, but we need one another as we walk toward the future God has for us.”
After you think about this a little bit then read this on which it is based word for word and consider again Archbishop Rowan Williams’ second Presidential address–KSH.[/i]
I think this might also lend itself to a rereading of Fr. Al Kimel’s essay asking if TEC is a Catholic Church. One really should apply that question to the entirety of the Anglican Communion.
ICXC NIKA
[url=http://ad-orientem.blogspot.com/]John[/url]
The ONE thing missing from this report is the number of bishops attending the 2028 Lambeth Conference — the total was just under 50 (representing the vast majority of bishops sill in the Communion) and the indaba groups were all assigned to their own small meeting rooms. Experts estimated that the ratio of bishops to lay people in the historic Anglican Communion was now about 1:10. The decline in membership has been precipitous over the past twenty years as Anglicans have either increasingly turned to GAFCON, or have been completely absorbed by their own cultural contexts.
There is also the assumption, that there is an Anglican church in Australia which still contains the diocese of Sydney, and the province of New South Wales. The reality is, the Diocese of Sydney funds the National church and if it breaks away (as many misguided folk hope) the national church will cease to exist. The dioceses which can self fund will continue with fewer stipended clergy, with the brightest and best of their evangelical parishes and clergy having joined with Sydney. The Anglo Catholics will have already of course, either gone over to Rome or joined some new TAC church. These dioceses will live in dread of Sydney church plants in their midst drawing more of their committed laity away as they slowly dwindle into insignificance.
Jon R.
JonR,
What makes you think they are the misguided folk?
I kinda like Sydney. They have reached a point where they are clearly not even paying lip service to the term “catholic.” These people know exactly who and what they are. PROTESTANTS
There is much to be said for clarity.
ICXC NIKA
[url=http://ad-orientem.blogspot.com/]John[/url]
#4, The liberals just hope Sydney will break away so they can get on with their program of ‘modernising’ the church. Sydney acts as an orthodox (albeit very Protestant) break on their program. Without Sydney, there is nothing to stop the radical fringe from taking the church down the TEC path.
#5 Ahh you see there is the rub, what exactly does ‘catholic’ mean in an Anglican context. Sydney would also claim to be catholic as in being part of the universal church. Catholic does not mean and has never meant for an Anglican to be part of the ‘Catholic’ church. Something largely confused by our dropping (at their insistance) of the term ‘Roman’ in referring to the RC church.
Jon R
A contestant for the prize of who comes in at the Canterbury location second to the ABC, of whom it is aptly said, “He puts the cant in Canterbury” (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/02/anglicanism.religion2 )
It’s always interesting to see what people *don’t* say when this topic comes up; like once it becomes common there won’t *be* anymore bishops, because there won’t be anyone but laymen “celebrating”, and no more clergy at all? When anyone can “celebrate” there won’t be parish churches, just living room or kitchen snacks (tho momentarily pious) followed by the Sunday paper and football on TV? The only parishes left will be the actual “traditional” ones where they think clergy are set apart, the doctrines older than 1970 are actually true. In other words, the liberals are set to most obligingly shoot themselves squarely in both feet. It won’t matter who *they* ordain, because there won’t *be* ordinations! There won’t be “same sex marriages” because in those places no one will *be* married. Except in the sense that Gene Robinson now is. Their parishes will be empty overnight as the congregation dribbles away to home-celebrants. No conservative could have made this up. It took flakes to plan their own ecclesiological suicide. Just stand out of the way lest the tree fall on you as it goes down. It will happen WITH OUT A WHIMPER.
Re # 6
Certainly the abandonment of even the pretense of apostolic succession would cast doubt. Southern Baptists would have an equal claim to catholicity. But of course neither Rome nor Orthodoxy accept the present claim in any event so I suppose its a moot point. Though it certainly would be a blow to the so called Branch Theory.
ICXC NIKA
[url=http://ad-orientem.blogspot.com/]John[/url]
This is good satire. What one should realize is that Sydney, which is very, very evangelical, declined to proceed with its limited lay presidency option (which is based on need in a far-flung diocese) since the majority of the Communion found it objectionable.
TEC, on the other hand, decided to do whatever it wanted in the face of massive Communion objections, and has been willing to split the Communion asunder to satisfy its desires.