THE MCJ

COMES THE DAWN

So how's the Lambeth Conference going?  Jim dandy, if you listen to the Episcopalians:

"We’re at a place in our lives now where we’re ready to start talking about the issues of life that we have in the Anglican Communion," said Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno after the bishops’ retreat ended at midday on July 19.

"This retreat has set the foundation for us to build the building blocks of love, compassion, grace and understanding," he added. "The only way that that would be disabled or derailed is if people go to places within them of their own personal agendas, that they become ideological idolaters, and that they move to a place of hatred, rather than a place of love."

Double J's referring to conservatives, of course.  Geralyn Wolf was as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Diocese of Rhode Island Bishop Geralyn Wolf said July 17 that “for those who like to be taken into a vision and work into that vision," the retreat’s first day was "thrilling."

"For those who like absolute answers and wish him to address the issues in the Communion, it was probably a disappointment," she added.

The LA contingent thinks conservatives should be there so they'd find out what bigots they are.

Williams challenged the bishops July 18 to seek out another bishop who made them fearful or anxious and ask that bishop to pray for them. Bishop Assistant Sergio Carranza of Los Angeles said he sought out African bishops.

"All of them were optimistic and said it’s going to be alright," he told ENS the next day. "Everybody with whom I talked is concerned we find a way to stay together, and not break communion."

Williams noted the absence of bishops who decided to boycott the Lambeth Conference due to theological disagreements with the main body of the church, asking those present to pray for them. Bruno said the few bishops who refused to come "are cheating themselves and moving to a place of cutting themselves way from the body."

"No one has pushed them out. We’re trying to envelop them," he said. "If they would only come and be part of the body, they would be enriched and maybe changed. As the archbishop said, they would be offering themselves as teacher and taught."

There's one down note.  The Americans think it sucks that Robbie's not there.

Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe said during an interview that the absence of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson was palpable during the retreat, especially for his fellow bishops in the Class of 2003. "We’re a very close class," Wolfe said. "We’ve never been divided in this way. There’s a sense of absence."

Diocese of New Jersey Bishop George Councell, another member of that class, told a media briefing on July 18 that he felt "a very deep ache for my brother." He said many bishops will worship with Robinson on the afternoon of July 20 at a Eucharist in St. Stephen’s Field, about a 20-minute walk from Canterbury Cathedral where the conference’s opening Eucharist will have been held that morning.

Thus the Episcopalians.  Tom Wright, on the other hand, sees an entirely different Conference than the Americans do.

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, has revealed that there is deep unease over the future of the communion and an atmosphere of mutual suspicion among bishops.

His comments come as about 650 bishops meet at the once-a-decade Lambeth conference in Canterbury, with continuing division over the issue of homosexuality.

Bishop Wright, a senior figure in the Church hierarchy, expressed concern that the summit was lacking direction and admitted that the Anglican Church was in a mess. "All sorts of forces have built up over the years in the communion through misunderstanding and people doing things differently without really consulting," he said.

"Sooner or later this was all going to meet and hit the buffers. It’s been like a slow-moving train wreck."

The bishop, who is highly respected and a close friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, told The Sunday Telegraph that the presence of American bishops involved in the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop, was proving divisive.

"A lot of people here have a lot of questions about why the American bishops are here," he said. "Those questions are in the room."

Around 250 bishops, mainly from Africa, have boycotted the conference in protest at Dr Rowan Williams’s decision to invite the American bishops, whom they hold responsible for causing the schism. Organisers have drawn up an agenda lacking any major votes or debates in the hope that it will limit ­conflict.

But Bishop Wright said that there was mistrust between the different factions over who was going to make the next significant move. "It’s like a very odd game of cards," he said. "We’re all being very civil and talking politely, but people are wondering who is going to play which card next and hence what responses may be possible."

Bishop Wright added that the summit was lacking direction and questioned how effective it would be.

"There’s a sense that we’re all not quite sure where this is going. That’s the mood of the conference. It is gloriously confusing at the moment and slightly worrying in that one has no idea what’s actually going on."

So who's right?  In a way, both are.  The Americans know that Dr. Williams has structured the Conference so that the most pressing issue facing the Anglican Communion will not be addressed.  The Americans also know that they will have a free hand effective immediately since their "official" Anglican standing is safe for another ten years.  So the Episcopalians can hallucinate any kind of Conference they like.

Bishops like Dr. Wright, on the other hand, who claim to have been shocked by the American and Canadian actions of 2003, may finally be coming to the realization that Rowan Williams has structured this Conference so that the Americans and Canadians will get away with it.  And they may realize that, Anglican Covenant or no Anglican Covenent, the controversy is not going to go away.  Indeed, it will probably get even worse.

GAFCON recently declared the Covenant proposal currently on the table to be dead-on-arrival.  And Tom Wright's smart enough to know that a Covenant will not and cannot stop people like Mrs. Schori.  So maybe, just maybe, somebody's finally put some coffee on that institutional conservatives can smell.

Posted on 7/19/2008 8:43:03 PM , 33 comments