At the end of this month the House of Bishops will hold its annual fall meeting in New Orleans. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and several members of the Primates\u2019 Joint Standing Committee will be with us at the unanimous request of our Bishops. It is still theoretically possible there will be some surprises, but nearly every observer of the events of the past several years is convinced that a watershed moment is at hand.<\/p>\n
In their meeting in Dar es Salaam in February the Primates asked the American House of Bishops to clarify the decisions of last year\u2019s General Convention, which, in turn were The Episcopal Church\u2019s response to the recommendations of the 2004 Windsor Report and subsequent requests from the Primates themselves. More specifically, they asked our Bishops to give \u201cunequivocal assurances\u201d\u009d that we will not consent to the election of another noncelibate homosexual Bishop, and we will not authorize or permit any (more) \u201csame-sex blessings.\u201d\u009d And they set a deadline of September 30 for our response.<\/p>\n
Nearly thirty of our Bishops \u201d\u201c myself among them \u201d\u201c have given the assurances requested, but a larger number than that have said they will never agree to these requests, and more than a third of the Bishops have yet to declare themselves. (Note: The Episcopal Church has never officially authorized the blessings, but some Bishops have done so in their own Dioceses.)<\/p>\n
Everyone hopes that clarity and understanding will be improved on all sides when the Archbishop meets with us, but I know of no one who expects that at the end of the meeting the unequivocal assurances will have been given by the House as a whole.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Williams will need to consult with the other Primates to consider and evaluate whatever responses we will have given them. The Archbishop has recently said he is \u201chopeful, but not optimistic\u201d\u009d that the Anglican Communion will be able to stay together after that point.<\/p>\n