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Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi: The Episcopal Church needs to Accept Responsibility for Plunging the Anglican Communion into its Present Broken State
February 20th, 2007 posted by kendall at 7:32 amListen to the whole audio interview. Note carefully the emphasis on “one last” chance for the Episcopal Church, on the importance of Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10, that there need to be “no same sex blessings” in dioceses in order to meet the call of the Primates, and this gracious emphasis: “We wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
From the BBC: Ultimatum for Anglicans in US
February 20th, 2007 posted by kendall at 6:12 amThe Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said the document provided “a challenge to both sides”.
“A challenge to the Episcopal Church to clarify its position, a challenge also to those who have intervened from elsewhere to see if they can negotiate their way towards an acceptable, equitable, settlement.”
He admitted the communique would “certainly fall very short of resolving all the disputes”, but said it would “provide a way of moving forward with dignity”.
The document announced the setting up of a pastoral council to represent the international church leaders in the US.
Anglicans who do not agree with the Episcopal Church’s stance on homosexuality will be able to worship separately to the others, under the auspices of the council.
The body will be made of up five members - three of whom will be appointed by non-US clergy.
Groups such as Integrity, which represents Episcopal gays and lesbians, have accused the leaders of bigotry and urged Episcopalians to lobby their bishops to reject the demands.
Anglican leaders in many parts of the world were angered by the consecration of openly-gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
From the Los Angeles Times: Anglicans tense but not split after talks
February 20th, 2007 posted by kendall at 6:00 amA spokeswoman at the Episcopal Church’s New York office said the meeting appeared to have produced no clear victor between the communion’s vying liberal and conservative factions.
“Nobody walks away as an absolute winner or an absolute loser,” said the Rev. Jan Nunley, the U.S. church’s deputy for communication. “Nobody’s going to be happy with this, and there’s going to be a lot of hard work ahead.”
But some conservative Anglicans expressed cautious optimism. The Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, a conservative from South Carolina who posted regular blog updates from Tanzania throughout the meeting, called parts of the final communique “very good news.”
Harmon, who wrote that the meeting did not produce everything he would have wanted, praised the leaders for coming to an agreement and giving the Episcopal Church “specific deadlines with real consequences.”
Conversely, the group Integrity, a 30-year-old national gay and lesbian advocacy organization, on Monday called on its members and allies to urge their bishops to reject the demands of the primates, as presiding bishops are known.
“The primates chose bigotry over the baptized,” said the Rev. Susan Russell, of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena and president of Integrity. The leaders’ action, she said, “grieves the heart of God.”
The Living Church: Overtime Required for Primates to Agree on Communiqué Wording
February 20th, 2007 posted by kendall at 5:55 amThe primates of the Anglican Communion will assist The Episcopal Church to comply with certain recommendations addressed to it in the Windsor Report after concluding that “sincere” but insufficiently clear previous attempts, particularly resolutions approved by the 75th General Convention, failed to mend relationships which were “torn” by “the controversial events of 2003.”
Those conclusions and discussion related to the implications of the Windsor Report consumed more than 85 percent of the content contained in a carefully worded, nine-page communiqué that was released Feb. 19 during a press conference held after 11 p.m. local time at the White Sands Resort, located outside Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The late hour of the communiqué’s release, which was reportedly due to protracted negotiations over the language of the proposed remedies, meant that a number of meeting participants and media had already departed East Africa to catch flights of 20 hours or more back to their home countries by the time the communiqué was available. Four primates were present at the concluding press conference.
Aside from a daily press briefing, the primates had committed not to speak publicly about the meeting until after it had adjourned. That practice was honored with the one notable breach being an announcement published on the official website of the Anglican Church of Nigeria. That statement explained that seven of the 38 Anglican Communion leaders had declined to share in the Holy Eucharist with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori during the meeting as “a poignant reminder of the brokenness of the Anglican Communion.”
At the final press conference, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, said the meeting had damaged the church’s witness in the eyes of the world.
“Looking at the levels of human greed, terror and suffering around the world, it is difficult for people to have transformed views about the Anglican Communion when we have our own internal divisions,” he said as quoted by Episcopal News Service. “I do hope that people will bear the MDGs as the primary vision.”
posted by t19elves at 7:54 AM
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