What agenda did emerge? When the Archbishop of Canterbury was asked this question at the closing press conference, he immediately referred to the statement of the Windsor Continuation Group that came at the beginning of the conference.
This called for a complete cessation of
(a) the celebration of blessings for same-sex unions,
(b) consecrations of those living in openly gay relationships and
(c) all cross-border interventions and inter-provincial claims of jurisdiction
The group writes that “cessation of activity. .. applies to practices that may have already been authorised as well as proposed for authorisation in the future. “ The agenda also included the Pastoral Forum, for which bishops from overseas jurisdictions in the United States had not asked.
Had this agenda been discussed with the Primates, or endorsed by the conference? The closing presidential address had enumerated these and received a standing ovation, but not from the Presiding Bishop of TEC who stood with arms folded.
Some bishops probably saw from afar this attempt to produce an agenda out of what were only styled as reflections. The Moderators from the Churches of North and South India, Pakistan and Bangladesh issued their own statement as the conference ended. As other bishops had claimed to represent over half the church going Anglicans, they claimed to “represent nearly a quarter of the human race practicing and living all the major faiths of the world”. In other words, they knew what they were talking about in inter-faith matters. They applauded the walk of witness on world poverty but concluded that this “will mean an equitable sharing of resources within the Communion”. They were saddened and disturbed by the ”˜fractured nature of the Anglican Communion’ which “seems primarily to have been caused by the issue of human sexuality”¦”¦We acknowledge the biblical norms on human sexuality and urge that within the Anglican Communion this may be upheld for the effective witness of the Gospel.” They ask that “our differences, self-justifications and arrogant attitudes may be crucified and that we all experience the power of the resurrection for the transformation of our life together in the Communion.” Primates from the Global South, the Council of Anglican Province of Africa Bishops and the Bishops of Egypt also made public statements as the conference ended. Did this flurry of ”˜minority reports’ represent a frustration at not having any opportunity to express a common mind and a protest against the Conference leadership?
Missing most glaringly from the Reflections are the presence of sin and disobedience in the leadership of the communion, clear disobedience to revealed truth in Scripture and a total avoidance of the issues of power in any relationships local or global. Mere repetition of being gracious and not rushing to judgment is the ploy that unethical power uses to mask its strategies of continuing hegemony.
Interesting read.
The ‘Lambeth Network’ is a new one on me. Perhaps in a reflection of what is happening elsewhere. Networks are increasingly how we relate to each other, rather than through formal institutional structures. Jerusalem morphed from the alternative communion idea to the FOCA network. Now we have the ‘Lambeth Network’. There are others: blogging networks, conservative, liberal, open, Anglo-Catholic etc.
That said I believe the Communion is worth our best efforts – but the efforts to keep TEC in, in the face of their obdurate ‘can’t, won’t, shan’t response, is not worth allowing the rest to become separated for. There are some signs that ACoC HOB is making some effort, even if some of their bishops appear to have fingers crossed behind their backs.
RE: “The ‘Lambeth Network’ is a new one on me.”
I’ve heard it used before by conservatives as essentially a rhetorical device that attempts to blur the differences between Anglicans who are inside and those who are outside the Anglican Communion.
If one speaks of “the Lambeth Network” and “the Gafcon Network” one can see those two as just simple networks on an equal footing. So the device tries to disguise the inside/outside Anglican mixture of “the Gafcon Network”.
I don’t know if Chris Sugden meant to use it in that way, however.
Very insightful article. For me, the key insight regarding the relationship between sexuality and the MDG’s is here:
Very telling words…
[i] Mere repetition of being gracious and not rushing to judgment is the ploy that unethical power uses to mask its strategies of continuing hegemony. [/i]
All too true!