Archbishop of Canterbury: Presidential Address at General Synod

ACNS 4259 | England | 26 FEBRUARY 2007

After the debates at the American General Convention last summer, I wrote directly to all the primates of the Communion to ask about their reaction and the likely reaction of their provinces as to whether the resolutions of Convention had met the proposals of the Windsor Report for restoring something like normal relations between the Episcopal Church and others in the Communion. The answers were instructive. About eleven provinces were fairly satisfied; about eleven were totally dissatisfied. The rest displayed varying levels of optimism or pessimism, but were not eager to see this as a life and death issue for the Communion. Of those who took one or the other of the more pronounced view, several on both sides nonetheless expressed real exasperation that this question and the affairs of one province should be taking up energy to the near-exclusion of other matters.

The public perception, as we've been reminded by several commentators in the last week or so, is that we are a Church obsessed with sex. The responses I received to my letter to Primates suggests that this is what many within the Church feel as well - and I'd be surprised if many in this chamber did not echo that. It feels as though we are caught in a battle very few really want to be fighting; like soldiers in the trenches somewhere around 1916, trying to remember just what were the decisions that got everyone to a point where hardly anyone was owning the conflict, just enduring it (we don't of course have to go as far back as 1916).

So it is natural to want to say, 'This is a war no-one chose; there must be a simple way of halting the conflict and getting the troops home.' That simple protest has been forcefully expressed, in the media and within the Church, in terms of giving up on the Communion and concentrating on the independent health and integrity of each local church. Unhappily, though, the truth is that when conflicts have passed a certain point, simple solutions are unlikely to work, to the extent that they deliberately ignore the things that bred the conflict in the first place - and that have never been properly addressed. This is a recipe for the whole thing to start up again as soon as possible.

But I'd remind you too of something I said in this Synod last year. It is folly to think that a decision to 'go our separate ways' in the Communion would leave us with a neat and morally satisfying break between two groups of provinces, orthodox and heretics or humane liberals and bigots (depending on where you stand). Every province could break in several different directions. And if you look at parts of this week's agenda, can you honestly say that our debates and their outcomes would be simpler if we didn't have the Communion's challenges as part of the background?

In my remarks today, I want to try and identify some of the factors which, if not addressed, will lead us into more of the same unedifying divisions - if not on this, then on other questions. And I want to outline why the final communiqué from Dar es Salaam might possibly leave open some constructive possibilities. But may I take the opportunity of thanking publicly the countless people who wrote to assure us of their prayers in the last fortnight? We were very deeply supported during our meeting, and that was a palpable blessing.

Two significant factors to start with. The debate triggered by certain decisions in the Episcopal Church is not just about a single matter of sexual ethics. It is about decision making in the Church and it is about the interpretation and authority of Scripture. It has raised, first of all, the painfully difficult question of how far Anglican provinces should feel bound to make decisions in a wholly consultative and corporate way. In other words, it has forced us to ask what we mean by speaking and thinking about ourselves as a global communion. When 'gentlemen's agreements' fail, what should we do about it? Now there is a case for drawing back from doing anything much, for accepting that we are no more than a cluster of historically linked local or national bodies. But to accept this case - and especially to accept it because the alternatives look too difficult - would be to unravel quite a lot of what both internal theological reflection and ecumenical agreement have assumed and worked with for most of the last century. For those of us who still believe that the Communion is a Catholic body, not just an agglomeration of national ones, a body attempting to live in more than one cultural and intellectual setting and committed to addressing major problems in a global way, the case for 'drawing back' is not attractive. But my real point is that we have never really had this discussion properly. It surfaced a bit in our debates over women's ordination, but for a variety of reasons tended to slip out of focus. But we were bound to have to think it through sooner or later.

And it has arisen now in connection with same-sex relationships largely because this has been seen as a test-case for fidelity to Scripture, and so for our Reformed integrity. Rather more than with some other contentious matters (usury, pacifism, divorce), there was and is a prima facie challenge in a scriptural witness that appears to be universally negative about physical same-sex relations.

Now in the last ten years particularly, there have been numerous very substantial studies of the scriptural and traditional material which make it difficult to say that there is simply no debate to be had. Even a solidly conservative New Testament scholar like Richard Hays, to take one example out of many, would admit that work is needed to fill out and defend the traditional position, and to understand more deeply where the challenges to this position come from.

But it is easier to go for one or the other of the less labour-intensive options. There is a virtual fundamentalism which simply declines to reflect at all about principles of interpretation and implicitly denies that every reader of Scripture unconsciously or consciously uses principles of some kind. And there is a chronological or cultural snobbery content to say that we have outgrown biblical categories. These positions do not admit real theological debate. Neither is compatible with the position of a Church that both seeks to be biblically obedient and to read its Scriptures in the light of the best spiritual and intellectual perspectives available in the fellowship of believers. And the possibility of real theological exchange is made still more remote by one group forging ahead with change in discipline and practice and other insistently treating the question as the sole definitive marker of orthodoxy.

Whatever happened, we might ask, to persuasion? To the frustrating business of conducting recognisable arguments in a shared language? It is frustrating because people are so aware of the cost of a long argumentative process. It is intolerable that injustice and bigotry are tolerated by the Church; it is intolerable that souls are put in peril by doubtful teaching and dishonest practice. Yet one of the distinctive things about the Christian Church as biblically defined is surely the presumption (Acts 15) that the default position when faced with conflict is reasoning in council and the search for a shared discernment - so that the truth does not appear as just the imposed settlement of the winners in a battle.

So we should have done more on what it means to be a Catholic church; we should have done more on the use of Scripture. And, mindful of the full text of Lambeth 1.10, we should have done more about offering safe space to homosexual people - including those who have in costly ways lived in entire faithfulness to the traditional biblical ethic - to talk about what it is like to be endlessly discussed and dissected in their absence, patronised or demonised. Again and again we have used the language of respect for their human dignity; again and again we have failed to show it effectively, convertingly and convertedly. This is not just about our fear or prejudice. It is also because we live in an environment that knows nothing of proper reticence in the public exposure and discussion of certain vulnerable places in our humanity. And what then happens is that every attempt to 'listen to the experience of homosexual people' is easily seen as political, an exercise in winning battles rather than winning understanding. Remember that in different ways this is an issue for our engagement with any and every minority group - how to secure patience and privacy and the space to be honest without foreclosing the outcomes of discussion.

It's in this light that I ask you to think about what emerged from the Primates' Meeting. Essentially, what was proposed had four elements.
First: what has been called the 'Listening Process', which has gone forward in a very large number of provinces, including some of the most conservative African ones, continues to seek at least to provide the safety and honesty I've just been talking about. It has not been straightforward, but has won a high level of ownership in the Communion, and does so because it has retained its integrity as precisely what it set out to be - a process of resourcing discussion, not of gathering ammunition.

Second, the proposal has been made - partly stimulated by the very successful international consultations held at Coventry Cathedral in the last twelve months - of a serious and sustained piece of work for the Communion on hermeneutics, the theory and practice of biblical interpretation. Combined with the ongoing and very creative programme of the working group on Theological Education in the Communion, it has the potential to take us beyond what I called the non-labour-intensive theologies we see too much of at the moment.

Third, the group that has been working on a draft Covenant for the Communion has made far more progress than anyone expected, and was able to submit a draft for discussion to the Primates which will now be circulated for further comment from Provinces. This tries to outline what a 'wholly consultative' approach to deciding contentious matters might look like - with some of the inevitable consequences spelled out if this is not followed. This is not, I must stress, threatening penalties, but stating what will unavoidably flow from more assertions of unqualified autonomy. To repeat a point I've made many times - you may feel imperatively called to prophetic action, but must not then be surprised if the response is incomprehension, non-acceptance or at least a conviction that time is needed for discernment.

And so to the fourth element, addressed to the Episcopal Church. We have asked for more clarity as to whether a moratorium has indeed been agreed on the election of bishops in active sexual partnerships outside marriage; and we have suggested a similar voluntary moratorium by the bishops on licensing any kind of liturgical order for same-sex blessings (the understanding of the Meeting was certainly that this should be a comprehensive abstention from any public rites), at least for the period during which the wider discussion of the Covenant goes forward. And to try and encourage an internal North American solution to the bitter disputes now raging, we suggested a structure for some kind of supplementary oversight, and an agreement on both sides to back away from litigation - the explicit hope being that this would remove what some see as the need for interventions from other provinces, and would begin to do away with what all agree is the anomaly of diversity of foreign jurisdictions in the USA.

Much here depends upon goodwill and patience. The Presiding Bishop rightly won praise for her careful and sympathetic engagement with these proposals and other matters, in the course of what was undoubtedly a very testing meeting. Likewise the readiness of many of the 'intervening' primates to consider negotiating a new position was welcome and impressive.

So in short, I am commending the Primates' communiqué, for all its inevitable imperfections, as representing a serious attempt to go beyond the surface problems and to give us some space to look at the underlying and neglected theological factors. I'm well aware of the way in which the imminence of the Lambeth Conference focuses some of the risks and choices. But I'm also aware of the continuing obstinate will to make the Communion work, and to work as some sort of properly Catholic and Reformed unity. I'd be sad if that will were so much eroded in this country that we felt no investment in the sort of processes envisaged in Dar es Salaam.

But let me finish with two brief reflections which may be pertinent, given some of the comment on the Tanzanian meeting. Much has been made of the relative nobility of a 'Here I stand' position as compared with the painful brokering and compromising needed for unity's sake. It's impossible not to feel the force of this. Yet - to speak personally for a moment - the persistence of the Communion as an organically international and intercultural unity whose aim is to glorify Jesus Christ and to work for his Kingdom is for me and others just as much a matter of deep personal and theological conviction as any other principle. About this, I am entirely prepared to say 'Here I stand and I cannot do otherwise'. And I believe the Primates have said the same.

But lastly - I shall be returning next week to Africa; first for a consultation in Johannesburg involving the great majority of Anglican provinces across the world and dealing with our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. It will be surveying our strategy, exploring what's needed for better co-ordination in the development resources of the Communion, discussing with our new representative at the UN - an outstandingly competent and charismatic Ugandan woman - how we become more accountable for what we're doing. After this, I go for a few days to one of the youngest and most vulnerable of our Anglican churches, the new diocese of Angola, engaged both in active development work and in a fast expanding programme of primary evangelisation.

I don't imagine that the agenda of this visit to Southern Africa will feel much like that of the Tanzanian meeting; and it's an obvious point that this is the work that the overwhelming majority of Anglicans are actually doing for the overwhelming bulk of the time, especially in Africa. But I need to say something more. Like it or not, this work will be harder and more poorly resourced if the structures of the Communion are loosened, destroyed or so localised that they cannot work flexibly on the global scene. The agenda of Tanzania has something to do with the more obviously attractive, perhaps for some more obviously gospel-related work of Johannesburg and Angola. The entire complicated business of building the trust necessary for co-operation - ultimately the trust that Christ is at work in the other person, the other group, the other province - needs work, including the kind of work done in Tanzania. In the diverse economy of Christ's Body, Primates' Meetings too have their charism and their place, however much we may yearn for deck-clearing, ground-breaking clarities. But then, you have after all been elected to a Synod, and I suspect you already know that even obscure and time-consuming labours may yet be part of the Kingdom's demands.

© Rowan Williams

ENDS

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Pomp and Colour Marks the launch of the Strategic Plan

ACNS 4258 | AFRICA | 23 FEBRUARY 2007

The second CAPA HIV/AIDS TB & MALARIA Strategic Plan was launched at the Panafric Hotel Nairobi, yesterday February 22 2007 in a colourful ceremony presided over by the CAPA Chairman and the Primate of All Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola.

In attendance were 8 CAPA Primates namely; Archbishop Peter Akinola of All Nigeria, Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa , Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Archbishop Justice Akrofi of West Africa, Archbishop Fidele Dirokpa of Congo, Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi, Archbishop Ian Ernest of Indian Ocean and the host Primate Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.

Other invited guests were CAPA Bishops, CAPA HIV/AIDS Board Members, CAPA HIV/AIDS Provincial Coordinators, CAPA Partners, Church Leaders, Government Leaders, Diplomats, NGOs and the media.

The 5-Year Strategic Plan's Goal is to strengthen CAPA HIV/AIDS Programme Coordination to deliver sustainable integrated HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria Services and mitigate their impact in Communities by 2011.

The plan focus on six identified and agreed priority areas of interventions and activities including monitoring and evaluation of the programmes, which seek to strengthen programme coordination and service delivery at all levels of the Church and Communities. These are:-

* HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care
* Tuberculosis Prevention and Care
* Malaria Prevention, control and care
* Communication
* Internal Institutional Development (Strengthen Health and Education and Sustainability)
* Related issues (Poverty Reduction and Gender equity).

In his keynote address, Archbishop Peter Akinola said, "The Church cannot afford to be indifferent because Christ calls us to proclaim his saving love to a broken, fragmented diseased world. A world in which, each of us is directly infected or affected by HIV/AIDS TB and Malaria."

This plan will be implemented in all the 12 CAPA Provinces and Diocese of Egypt.

For further information please contact the Programme Coordinator Emmanuel Olatunji

The CAPA web site can be found here: http://www.capa-hq.org/

The CAPA HIV/AIDS TB and Malaria web site can be found here: http://hivaids.anglicancommunion.org/




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Primates Meeting Communiqué and Draft Covenant Text

ACNS 4257 | ACO | 22 FEBRUARY 2007

The Spanish and French translation of the Communiqué and the Draft Covenant are being created now and will be available soon from the following links:

Primates Meeting 2007 Communiqué. http://www.aco.org/primates/downloads/index.cfm

Anglican Draft Covenant. http://www.aco.org/commission/d_covenant/downloads.cfm

Primates Meeting Photo Library

A limited number of photos were taken during the Primates Meeting. You may view what is available at the following link on the Primates Meeting page of our website. http://www.aco.org/primates/2007/photos.cfm

Prayers used at the Primates Meeting.

A Prayer for Tanzania

Almighty God we give you thanks for bringing us here together to this beautiful Island of Zanzibar. We give you thanks for people of Tanzania. We bless you for the wonders of your creation in this country. We thank you Lord for the beauty of the mountains, the seas, the lakes and rivers, the animals and the birds, flowers and all the natural beauty which you have bestowed upon Tanzania. Above all Lord, we give you thanks for the measure of peace, harmony and tranquility which is found in this land. And now Father we are gathered here to pray for this nation and its people. We ask your blessings upon the rulers of this nation, and especially we remember the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, and the President of Zanzibar, His Excellency Amani Abeid Karume. We ask you Lord that you would give them and all those who are in authority, wisdom, courage and hope so that they may govern this nation in justice and truth.

We give you thanks O Lord, for the life and witness of the Anglican Church of Tanzania and especially Donald, archbishop. We thank you for its mission of sharing the good news of salvation and its commitment to
serving those who are suffering and the needy. We pray for all the
bishops and ministers of your Church and ask you to . sustain them with your mighty power as they seek to serve you and your people in unity and love. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer for Commemoration, Reparation and Hope
Amazing Grace Sunday

O God of our Fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; in your infinite love you created us in your own image gave us freedom to choose to love you or to turn away from that love. As a result of our sin, human beings have caused evil upon each other throughout history. Thus, Lord, or the past, we ask forgiveness, for the present, mercy and for the future, humility.

Gracious Father, as we stand here at the very spot where this evil was carried out. We come into your presence with sorrow and painful memories of other such places around the world where your people were victims of violence and greed.

Compassionate God, in the midst of the tears and trials of our own generation, grant us that we may be prophetic in the midst of violence, oppression and hatred. Grant us that we may find hope in times of bondage and fear. We especially give you thanks for all those who prophetically spoke against the evil of slavery until its abolition Help us Lord to move from crucifixion and to the hope of resurrection which your son gave us by rising from the dead for he now lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever - Amen.

(Joining with Christians all over the world who on this day join in thanksgiving for the abolition of slavery, we sing the hymn Amazing
Grace)

Prayer for the Anglican Communion

Used at the Zanzibar Mass and Installation of Dr Hellen Wangusa as Anglican Observer at the United Nations

Open our hearts O Lord and kindle in us the fire of your love. Renew in us a zeal for justice, peace and the welfare of all God's creation. Bless all who work in the structures of the United Nations around the world, and make us all worthy of our calling to serve others.

May our own Anglican Communion of churches shine as a beacon of hope and faith in this our broken world and may we all, in our own vocation and ministry, empower others to be instruments of blessing in the nations we represent.

This we pray in the name of the crucified and risen Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.



ACNS would appreciate being informed of how this meeting was covered by the press in your area. Please send such information to suminder.duggal@aco.org with texts or links.

ENDS.

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Archbishop of Canterbury: comments at the final press conference in Tanzania

ACNS 4255 | ACO | 21 FEBRUARY 2007

20th February 2007

May I echo the thanks for your patience which Philip has already shared with you - we're very appreciative of the fact that it is late and we're all tired.

Also before I start, I went from one session just to check the BBC news and heard more details about he appalling bombing on the train in India and I know that all the Primates will want to put on record their grief and shock about this and their prayers for all involved and their families.

What I'd like to do is touch briefly - very briefly - on the issues in the final communiqué of our meeting. As usual, you'll see elements there of narrative - this is what we did, these are the activities we shared and these were the subjects we covered. You'll notice the reference there to the commissioning of our new representative at the United Nations, and following on from that, some discussion of future work that can be done on the Millennium Development goals by the Communion, especially in the forthcoming conference in Johannesburg in a few week's time at which I hope to be present.

We also received and welcomed the report on Theological Education and identified a new project on interpretation of the Bible.

The business of following through the recommendations of the Windsor report covers, as you see, a great deal of our business and it touches on what we've called the listening process, and we had an extremely good discussion and report from Canon Philip Groves and a great deal of information about the variety of responses and perspectives around the world on these questions around listening to the experience of homosexual people and the challenges of equitable and patient pastoral ministry to them.

There's a reference to the report on the Panel of Reference, you've heard something already of the Anglican Covenant, but it's probably the remainder of the document, from paragraph 17 onwards that contains the meat of our recommendations.

In short, the feeling of the meeting as a whole was that the response of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church to the recommendations of the Windsor report, a response made at General Convention last year, represented some steps in a very encouraging direction but did not yet represent a situation in which we could say 'business as usual'. What that means in practice is spelled out in what follows.

We're still as a communion in a place where our doctrinal position is that of Lambeth 1.10 and where that position has been reiterated in a number of Primates' Meetings, ACC meetings and a number of other fora. That hasn't changed. However there are two factors which we needed to take seriously and engage with.

The first is this: the response of The Episcopal Church, while not wholly clear, represented a willingness to engage with the Communion and awareness of the cost of difficulty that decisions have generated, so our first questions is 'how do we best engage with that willingness?' How do we work with the stream of desire to remain with the Communion?

The second factor is the very substantial group of bishops and others within The Episcopal Church perhaps amounting to nearly one quarter of the Bishops who have spelt out not only their willingness to abide by the Windsor report in all its aspects, but to provide carefully worked-through system of pastoral oversight for those in The Episcopal Church who are not content with the decisions of General Convention.

So what you have before you is an attempt to see if there is, while the Covenant is being discussed around the Communion, to see if there is an interim solution that will certainly fall very far short of resolving all the disputes that are before us but will provide a way of moving forward with integrity. A system of pastoral care for the substantial minority in The Episcopal Church, an encouragement for them and others within The Episcopal Church in whatever desire they have to remain on stream with the rest of the Communion; and also, more importantly a way of beginning to negotiate a way through the very difficult situations that have been created by interventions from other Provinces in the life of The Episcopal Church.

We accepted the good faith of those responsible for such interventions, and we heard some very moving testimonies about that; at the same time they and we recognise that that can only be a temporary solution and the preferable solution is to have some kind of settlement negotiated within the church life of the United States.

Hence the recommendations of the Primates at the end; a proposal to establish a pastoral council; a responsibility shared between the Primates' Meeting and the Presiding Bishop, asking those bishops who have already offered to take up this responsibility to provide pastoral care within The Episcopal Church for the conscientious minority and a challenge to both sides really, 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 equitable settlement within the life of the North America Church.

You'll notice that we also suggested, to pick up an unfortunate metaphor that's been around quite a bit, the kind of ceasefire in terms of litigation. At the very end of the recommendations you'll see that the very last paragraph that the primates urge representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it, to suspend all actions in law arising from this situation, None of us; none of us believe that litigation and counter litigation can be a proper way forward and we don't see that we can move towards sensible balanced reconciliation while that remains a threat in wide use.

Those are the bones of what we've said here; I'd like to put it in the context of the Covenant process which you've already heard a little about and to suggest to you that what it amounts to is a package, not one single proposal, not one single scheme, but a way of encouraging and nurturing certain elements in The Episcopal Church a way of clarifying the challenge overall that the Communion wants to put to The Episcopal Church within that time frame during which the covenant will be discussed and we hope eventually accepted. Thank you.

Question concerning homosexuality; is it a gift from God or is it a sin?


The teaching of the Anglican Church remains that homosexual activity is not compatible with scripture. The homosexual condition, the homosexual desire, we don't call conditions sinful in that sense.

Q Was the cost of keeping the communion together allowing other provinces to continue to trespass on the property of The Episcopal Church?

Well I think if you look at the communiqué you'll see that that's precisely the situation we're trying to rectify and to well, to end. Now that's not going to happen tomorrow, but that is certainly very explicitly there as a concern shared round the room.

Q What's this we hear about you guys joining up with the Roman Catholic Church?

What's this we hear about the end of the world ... I think what you hear is a really rather remarkably garbled version of a document which has appeared recently which simply states where we are practically in the limits of cooperation between ourselves and the Roman Catholic Church a document agreed by Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops around the world and suggesting what can be done in pastoral practice; it amounts to no more than that.

Q [response of the (TEC) House of Bishops ...] consequences of failure to spell out

I think it's impossible for me to speculate about the House of Bishops in the US and indeed the Presiding Bishop is not in a position, as indeed none of us is in a position to deliver the whole of the House of Bishops we hope that they will. On the specifics on the wording - well, these are the terms that have been put to them, I think it would be rather difficult if there were a response in other terms.

On consequences, you'll see there in the paper what seems a statement of bare fact; that if the House of Bishops cannot in good conscience - and that's an important phrase because there are consciences involved - on both sides of this debate. If the reassurances cannot in good conscience, then in fact the damage is not repaired, and that has to affect some of the consideration we would want to give about the organs of the Communion.

Q Including invitations to Lambeth?

Among other things, that'll have to be under consideration, I don't pre-empt a decision but that'll have to be discussed.

Q Archbishop Akinola ... has he chosen to walk away from this?

Archbishop Akinola has declared that he is prepared to support this document.

Q What message is this sending to people in the pews who are tired of this ... what would you say is the end goal?

The end goal is the Kingdom of God, isn't it, and that takes a while. What would I say to people in the pews? I would say first of all that Gospel remains the Gospel -that is the love of God, the challenge of God the love of God promising absolution, the challenge of God requiring change. That doesn't change and for people to go on in the baptised life, sharing Holy Communion, serving the world, there is no imperative bigger than that.

I said I went back from one session and put the news on and looking at the levels of human grief, terror and suffering around the world, it did seem to me that in many ways it's quite difficult to persuade people that the Church - I don't just mean the Anglican Church - has transforming good news when most of what people hear about us is our own internal divisions. There's a lot in this communiqué about what else we're doing, that is the other 97% of what the Church does in terms of the Millennium Development Goals and other matters. I do hope people will bear that in mind as the primary vision.

Q Primates concern about the problems of Africa; have they forgotten Africa?

God forbid! The discussion we had on the Millennium Development Goals, to come back to that again, focussed on many of these issues and we heard discussions not only of course about Africa, but certainly about Africa and other places. We heard about the challenge of corruption, the challenge of debt, the challenge of course about HIV and Aids, which is a major focus of a forthcoming conference in Johannesburg; and of course I had the privilege of being able to discuss some of these things with the President of Tanzania and with the President of Zanzibar during this visit and get some sense of what was being done in these terms.

Now one important fact here is that we have tired to reaffirm the capacity of the Church to deliver the Millennium Development Goals at grass roots level in a way that no other voluntary organisation can. This is a central theme in the thinking of many people in the Anglican Church at the moment and one of the challenges we have to rise to is whether we can better coordinate our work for development and in meeting these goals.

Q Primatial vicar - will he trump the canons? ...What authority will this figure have?

Well if you bear with me while I try and explain what is admittedly a slightly complicated concept. The Presiding Bishop has declared willingness to entertain the notion of a Primatial Vicar. What you have here is the model that those bishops within the United States who have declared their willingness to abide by Windsor and so forth should be given the right to nominate a person who will act in the terms that they recognise as constituting and offering adequate pastoral oversight. To that person the PB will delegate certain power, but that person will be responsible to the council, the Pastoral Council that will be set up, as a means of communications with the Primates as a body. Now operating under the canons and constitutions; that's a difficult one to be clear about.

Now you won't have, shouldn't have any bishop operating any canons and constitutions and the bishops we're talking about, never mind for a moment the practice of TEC, the canons and constitutions as such don't violate their conscience even if the practice does, so the challenge is to work out what that would mean, the proper degree of independence and critical engagement which I think is meant to be represented by the link to the Primates meeting as a whole, not just to the Presiding Bishop and the structure do TEC.

It's an experiment; pray for it.

ENDS

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Primates Meeting Communiqué

ACNS 4253 | ACO | 19 FEBRUARY 2007

The Communiqué
Of the Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam
19th February 2007

1. We, the Primates and Moderators of the Anglican Communion, gathered for
mutual consultation and prayer at Dar es Salaam between 15th and 19th
February 2007 at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and as
guests of the Primate of Tanzania, Archbishop Donald Leo Mtetemela. The
meeting convened in an atmosphere of mutual graciousness as the Primates
sought together to seek the will of God for the future life of the
Communion. We are grateful for the warm hospitality and generosity of
Archbishop Donald and his Church members, many of whom have worked hard to
ensure that our visit has been pleasant and comfortable, including our
travel to Zanzibar on the Sunday.

2. The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed to our number fourteen new
primates, and on the Wednesday before our meeting started, he led the new
primates in an afternoon of discussion about their role. We give thanks for
the ministry of those primates who have completed their term of office.

3. Over these days, we have also spent time in prayer and Bible Study, and
reflected upon the wide range of mission and service undertaken across the
Communion. While the tensions that we face as a Communion commanded our
attention, the extensive discipleship of Anglicans across the world reminds
us of our first task to respond to God's call in Christ. We are grateful for
the sustaining prayer which has been offered across the Communion as we
meet.

4. On Sunday 18th February, we travelled to the island of Zanzibar, where we
joined a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral, built
on the site of the old slave market. The Archbishop of Canterbury preached,
and commemorated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade
in the United Kingdom, which had begun a process that led to the abolition
of the slave market in Zanzibar ninety years later. At that service, the
Archbishop of Canterbury admitted Mrs Hellen Wangusa as the new Anglican
Observer at the United Nations. We warmly welcome Hellen to her post.

5. We welcomed the presence of the President of Zanzibar at lunch on Sunday,
and the opportunity for the Archbishop of Canterbury to meet with the
President of Tanzania in the course of the meeting.

The Millennium Development Goals

6. We were delighted to hear from Mrs Wangusa about her vision for her post
of Anglican Observer at the United Nations. She also spoke to us about the
World Millennium Development Goals, while Archbishop Ndungane also spoke to
us as Chair of the Task Team on Poverty and Trade, and the forthcoming
conference on Towards Effective Anglican Mission in South Africa next month.
We were inspired and challenged by these presentations. Theological Education in the Anglican Communion

7. We also heard a report from Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables and Mrs
Clare Amos on the work of the Primates' Working Party on Theological
Education in the Anglican Communion. The group has focussed on developing
"grids" which set out the appropriate educational and developmental targets
which can be applied in the education of those in ministry in the life of
the Church. We warmly commend the work which the group is doing, especially
on the work which reminds us that the role of the bishop is to enable the
theological education of the clergy and laity of the diocese. We also
welcome the scheme that the group has developed for the distribution of
basic theological texts to our theological colleges across the world, the
preparations for the Anglican Way Consultation in Singapore in May this
year, and the appointment of three Regional Associates to work with the
group. The primates affirmed the work of the Group, and urged study and
reception of its work in the life of the Communion.

The Hermeneutics Project

8. We agreed to proceed with a worldwide study of hermeneutics (the methods
of interpreting scripture). The primates have joined the Joint Standing
Committee in asking the Anglican Communion Office to develop options for
carrying the study forward following the Lambeth Conference in 2008. A
report will be presented to the Joint Standing Committee next year.

Following through the Windsor Report

9. Since the controversial events of 2003, we have faced the reality of
increased tension in the life of the Anglican Communion - tension so deep
that the fabric of our common life together has been torn. The Windsor
Report of 2004 described the Communion as suffering from an "illness". This
"illness" arises from a breakdown in the trust and mutual recognition of one
another as faithful disciples of Christ, which should be among the first
fruits of our Communion in Christ with one another.

10. The Windsor Report identified two threats to our common life: first,
certain developments in the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church and
the Anglican Church of Canada which challenged the standard of teaching on
human sexuality articulated in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10; and second,
interventions in the life of those Provinces which arose as reactions to the
urgent pastoral needs that certain primates perceived. The Windsor Report
did not see a "moral equivalence" between these events, since the
cross-boundary interventions arose from a deep concern for the welfare of
Anglicans in the face of innovation. Nevertheless both innovation and
intervention are central factors placing strains on our common life. The
Windsor Report recognised this (TWR Section D) and invited the Instruments
of Communion [1] to call for a moratorium of such actions [2] .

11. What has been quite clear throughout this period is that the 1998
Lambeth Resolution 1.10 is the standard of teaching which is presupposed in
the Windsor Report and from which the primates have worked. This restates
the traditional teaching of the Christian Church that "in view of the
teaching of Scripture, [the Conference] upholds faithfulness in marriage
between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is
right for those who are not called to marriage", and applies this to several
areas which are discussed further below. The Primates have reaffirmed this
teaching in all their recent meetings [3], and indicated how a change in the
formal teaching of any one Province would indicate a departure from the
standard upheld by the Communion as a whole.

12. At our last meeting in Dromantine, the primates called for certain
actions to address the situation in our common life, and to address those
challenges to the teaching of the Lambeth Resolution which had been raised
by recent developments. Now in Dar es Salaam, we have had to give attention
to the progress that has been made.

The Listening Process

13. The 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, committed the Provinces "to listen to
the experience of homosexual persons" and called "all our people to minister
pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to
condemn irrational fear of homosexuals". The initiation of this process of
listening was requested formally by the Primates at Dromantine and
commissioned by ACC-13. We received a report from Canon Philip Groves, the
Facilitator of the Listening Process, on the progress of his work. We wish
to affirm this work in collating various research studies, statements and
other material from the Provinces. We look forward to this material being
made more fully available across the Communion for study and reflection, and
to the preparation of material to assist the bishops at 2008 Lambeth
Conference.

The Panel of Reference

14. We are grateful to the retired Primate of Australia, Archbishop Peter
Carnley for being with us to update us on the work of the Archbishop of
Canterbury's Panel of Reference. This was established by the Archbishop in
response to the request of the Primates at Dromantine "to supervise the
adequacy of pastoral provisions made by any churches" for "groups in serious
theological dispute with their diocesan bishop, or dioceses in dispute with
their Provinces" [4] . Archbishop Peter informed us of the careful work
which this Panel undertakes on our behalf, although he pointed to the
difficulty of the work with which it has been charged arising from the
conflicted and polarised situations which the Panel must address on the
basis of the slender resources which can be given to the work. We were
grateful for his report, and for the work so far undertaken by the Panel.

The Anglican Covenant

15. Archbishop Drexel Gomez reported to us on the work of the Covenant
Design Group. The Group met in Nassau last month, and has made substantial
progress. We commend the Report of the Covenant Design Group for study and
urge the Provinces to submit an initial response to the draft through the
Anglican Communion Office by the end of 2007. In the meantime, we hope that
the Anglican Communion Office will move in the near future to the
publication of the minutes of the discussion that we have had, together with
the minutes of the Joint Standing Committee's discussion, so that some of
the ideas and reflection that have already begun to emerge might assist and
stimulate reflection throughout the Communion.

16. The proposal is that a revised draft will be discussed at the Lambeth
Conference, so that the bishops may offer further reflections and
contributions. Following a further round of consultation, a final text will
be presented to ACC-14, and then, if adopted as definitive, offered to the
Provinces for ratification. The covenant process will conclude when any
definitive text is adopted or rejected finally through the synodical
processes of the Provinces.

The Episcopal Church

17. At the heart of our tensions is the belief that The Episcopal Church [5]
has departed from the standard of teaching on human sexuality accepted by
the Communion in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 by consenting to the
episcopal election of a candidate living in a committed same-sex
relationship, and by permitting Rites of Blessing for same-sex unions. The
episcopal ministry of a person living in a same-sex relationship is not
acceptable to the majority of the Communion.

18. In 2005 the Primates asked The Episcopal Church to consider specific
requests made by the Windsor Report [6]. On the first day of our meeting, we
were joined by the members of the Standing Committee of the Anglican
Consultative Council as we considered the responses of the 75th General
Convention. This is the first time that we have been joined by the Standing
Committee at a Primates' Meeting, and we welcome and commend the spirit of
closer co-operation between the Instruments of Communion.


19. We are grateful for the comprehensive and clear report commissioned by
the Joint Standing Committee. We heard from the Presiding Bishop and three
other bishops [7] representing different perspectives within The Episcopal
Church. Each spoke passionately about their understanding of the problems
which The Episcopal Church faces, and possible ways forward. Each of the
four, in their own way, looked to the Primates to assist The Episcopal
Church. We are grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for enabling us on
this occasion to hear directly this range of views.

20. We believe several factors must be faced together. First, the Episcopal
Church has taken seriously the recommendations of the Windsor Report, and we
express our gratitude for the consideration by the 75th General Convention.

21. However, secondly, we believe that there remains a lack of clarity about
the stance of The Episcopal Church, especially its position on the
authorisation of Rites of Blessing for persons living in same-sex unions.
There appears to us to be an inconsistency between the position of General
Convention and local pastoral provision. We recognise that the General
Convention made no explicit resolution about such Rites and in fact declined
to pursue resolutions which, if passed, could have led to the development
and authorisation of them. However, we understand that local pastoral
provision is made in some places for such blessings. It is the ambiguous
stance of The Episcopal Church which causes concern among us.

22. The standard of teaching stated in Resolution 1.10 of the Lambeth
Conference 1998 asserted that the Conference "cannot advise the legitimising
or blessing of same sex unions". The primates stated in their pastoral
letter of May 2003,

"The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke for us all when he said that it is
through liturgy that we express what we believe, and that there is no
theological consensus about same sex unions. Therefore, we as a body cannot
support the authorisation of such rites.".

23. Further, some of us believe that Resolution B033 of the 75th General
Convention [8] does not in fact give the assurances requested in the Windsor
Report.

24. The response of The Episcopal Church to the requests made at Dromantine
has not persuaded this meeting that we are yet in a position to recognise
that The Episcopal Church has mended its broken relationships.

25. It is also clear that a significant number of bishops, clergy and lay
people in The Episcopal Church are committed to the proposals of the Windsor
Report and the standard of teaching presupposed in it (cf paragraph 11).
These faithful people feel great pain at what they perceive to be the
failure of The Episcopal Church to adopt the Windsor proposals in full. They
desire to find a way to remain in faithful fellowship with the Anglican
Communion. They believe that they should have the liberty to practice and
live by that expression of Anglican faith which they believe to be true. We
are deeply concerned that so great has been the estrangement between some of
the faithful and The Episcopal Church that this has led to recrimination,
hostility and even to disputes in the civil courts.

26. The interventions by some of our number and by bishops of some
Provinces, against the explicit recommendations of the Windsor Report,
however well-intentioned, have exacerbated this situation. Furthermore,
those Primates who have undertaken interventions do not feel that it is
right to end those interventions until it becomes clear that sufficient
provision has been made for the life of those persons.

27. A further complication is that a number of dioceses or their bishops
have indicated, for a variety of reasons, that they are unable in conscience
to accept the primacy of the Presiding Bishop in The Episcopal Church, and
have requested the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates to consider
making provision for some sort of alternative primatial ministry. At the
same time we recognise that the Presiding Bishop has been duly elected in
accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, which
must be respected.

28. These pastoral needs, together with the requests from those making
presentations to this meeting, have moved us to consider how the primates
might contribute to healing and reconciliation within The Episcopal Church
and more broadly. We believe that it would be a tragedy if The Episcopal
Church was to fracture, and we are committed to doing what we can to
preserve and uphold its life. While we may support such processes, such
change and development which is required must be generated within its own
life.

The Future

29. We believe that the establishment of a Covenant for the Churches of the
Anglican Communion in the longer term may lead to the trust required to
re-establish our interdependent life. By making explicit what Anglicans mean
by the "bonds of affection" and securing the commitment of each Province to
those bonds, the structures of our common life can be articulated and
enhanced.

30. However, an interim response is required in the period until the
Covenant is secured. For there to be healing in the life of the Communion in
the interim, it seems that the recommendations of the Windsor Report, as
interpreted by the Primates' Statement at Dromantine, are the most clear and
comprehensive principles on which our common life may be re-established.

31. Three urgent needs exist. First, those of us who have lost trust in The
Episcopal Church need to be re-assured that there is a genuine readiness in
The Episcopal Church to embrace fully the recommendations of the Windsor
Report.

32. Second, those of us who have intervened in other jurisdictions believe
that we cannot abandon those who have appealed to us for pastoral care in
situations in which they find themselves at odds with the normal
jurisdiction. For interventions to cease, what is required in their view is
a robust scheme of pastoral oversight to provide individuals and
congregations alienated from The Episcopal Church with adequate space to
flourish within the life of that church in the period leading up to the
conclusion of the Covenant Process.

33. Third, the Presiding Bishop has reminded us that in The Episcopal Church
there are those who have lost trust in the Primates and bishops of certain
of our Provinces because they fear that they are all too ready to undermine
or subvert the polity of The Episcopal Church. In their view, there is an
urgent need to embrace the recommendations of the Windsor Report and to
bring an end to all interventions.

34. Those who have intervened believe it would be inappropriate to bring an
end to interventions until there is change in The Episcopal Church. Many in
the House of Bishops are unlikely to commit themselves to further requests
for clarity from the Primates unless they believe that actions that they
perceive to undermine the polity of The Episcopal Church will be brought to
an end. Through our discussions, the primates have become convinced that
pastoral strategies are required to address these three urgent needs
simultaneously.

35. Our discussions have drawn us into a much more detailed response than we
would have thought necessary at the beginning of our meeting. But such is
the imperative laid on us to seek reconciliation in the Church of Christ,
that we have been emboldened to offer a number of recommendations. We have
set these out in a Schedule to this statement. We offer them to the wider
Communion, and in particular to the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church
in the hope that they will enable us to find a way forward together for the
period leading up to the conclusion of the Covenant Process. We also hope
that the provisions of this pastoral scheme will mean that no further
interventions will be necessary since bishops within The Episcopal Church
will themselves provide the extended episcopal ministry required.

Wider Application

36. The primates recognise that such pastoral needs as those considered here
are not limited to The Episcopal Church alone. Nor do such pastoral needs
arise only in relation to issues of human sexuality. The primates believe
that until a covenant for the Anglican Communion is secured, it may be
appropriate for the Instruments of Communion to request the use of this or a
similar scheme in other contexts should urgent pastoral needs arise.

Conclusion

37. Throughout this meeting, the primates have worked and prayed for the
healing and unity of the Anglican Communion. We also pray that the Anglican
Communion may be renewed in its discipleship and mission in proclaiming the
Gospel. We recognise that we have been wrestling with demanding and
difficult issues and we commend the results of our deliberations to the
prayers of the people. We do not underestimate the difficulties and
heart-searching that our proposals will cause, but we believe that
commitment to the ways forward which we propose can bring healing and
reconciliation across the Communion.

Notes

1. Namely, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the
Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meeting.
2. Cf The Windsor Report and the Statement of the Primates at Dromantine.

3. Gramado, May 2003; Lambeth, October 2003; Dromantine, February 2005. 4. Dromantine Statement, paragraph 15.

5. The Episcopal Church is the name adopted by the Church formerly known as
The Episcopal Church (USA). The Province operates across a number of
nations, and decided that it was more true to its international nature not
to use thedesignation USA. It should not be confused with those other
Provinces and Churches of the Anglican Communion which share the name
"Episcopal Church".
6. (1) the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to express its regret that the
proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached in the events
surrounding the election and consecration of a bishop for the See of New
Hampshire, and for the consequences which followed, and that such an
expression of regret would represent the desire of the Episcopal Church
(USA) to remain within the Communion (2) the Episcopal Church (USA) be
invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the
consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same
gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges.
(TWR §134)
(3) we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites, and recommend that
bishops who have authorised such rites in the United States and Canada be
invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of
affection were breached by such authorisation. (TWR §144)
A fourth request (TWR §135) was discharged by the presentation of The
Episcopal Church made at ACC-13 in Nottingham, UK, in 2005.

6. Bishop Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Moderator of the Network
of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes; Bishop Christopher Epting,
Deputy for Ecumenical Affairs in The Episcopal Church; Bishop Bruce
McPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana, President of the Presiding Bishop's
Council of Advice, and a member of the "Camp Allen" bishops.

7. Set out and discussed in the Report of the Communion Sub-Group presented
at the Meeting.

The Key Recommendations of the Primates

Foundations

The Primates recognise the urgency of the current situation and therefore
emphasise the need to:

a.. affirm the Windsor Report (TWR) and the standard of teaching
commanding respect across the Communion (most recently expressed in
Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference);
b.. set in place a Covenant for the Anglican Communion;
c.. encourage healing and reconciliation within The Episcopal Church,
between The Episcopal Church and congregations alienated from it, and
between The Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican Communion;
d.. respect the proper constitutional autonomy of all of the Churches of
the Anglican Communion, while upholding the interdependent life and mutual
responsibility of the Churches, and the responsibility of each to the
Communion as a whole;
e.. respond pastorally and provide for those groups alienated by recent
developments in the Episcopal Church.
In order to address these foundations and apply them in the difficult
situation which arises at present in The Episcopal Church, we recommend the
following actions. The scheme proposed and the undertakings requested are
intended to have force until the conclusion of the Covenant Process and a
definitive statement of the position of The Episcopal Church with respect to
the Covenant and its place within the life of the Communion, when some new
provision may be required.

A Pastoral Council

a.. The Primates will establish a Pastoral Council to act on behalf of the
Primates in consultation with The Episcopal Church. This Council shall
consist of up to five members: two nominated by the Primates, two by the
Presiding Bishop, and a Primate of a Province of the Anglican Communion
nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to chair the Council.
b.. The Council will work in co-operation with The Episcopal Church, the
Presiding Bishop and the leadership of the bishops participating in the
scheme proposed below to
a.. negotiate the necessary structures for pastoral care which would
meet the requests of the Windsor Report (TWR, §147-155) and the Primates'
requests in the Lambeth Statement of October 2003 [1];
b.. authorise protocols for the functioning of such a scheme, including
the criteria for participation of bishops, dioceses and congregations in the
scheme;
c.. assure the effectiveness of the structures for pastoral care;
o liaise with those other primates of the Anglican Communion who
currently have care of parishes to seek a secure way forward for those
parishes within the scheme;
d.. facilitate and encourage healing and reconciliation within The
Episcopal Church, between The Episcopal Church and congregations alienated
from it, and between The Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican
Communion (TWR, §156);
e.. advise the Presiding Bishop and the Instruments of Communion;
f.. monitor the response of The Episcopal Church to the Windsor Report;
g.. consider whether any of the courses of action contemplated by the
Windsor Report §157 should be applied to the life of The Episcopal Church or
its bishops, and, if appropriate, to recommend such action to The Episcopal
Church and its institutions and to the Instruments of Communion;
h.. take whatever reasonable action is needed to give effect to this
scheme
and report to the Primates.
A Pastoral Scheme

a.. We recognise that there are individuals, congregations and clergy, who
in the current situation, feel unable to accept the direct ministry of their
bishop or of the Presiding Bishop, and some of whom have sought the
oversight of other jurisdictions.
b.. We have received representations from a number of bishops of The
Episcopal Church who have expressed a commitment to a number of principles
set out in two recent letters[2] . We recognise that these bishops are
taking those actions which they believe necessary to sustain full communion
with the Anglican Communion.
c.. We acknowledge and welcome the initiative of the Presiding Bishop to
consent to appoint a Primatial Vicar.
On this basis, the Primates recommend that structures for pastoral care be
established in conjunction with the Pastoral Council, to enable such
individuals, congregations and clergy to exercise their ministries and
congregational life within The Episcopal Church, and that

a.. the Pastoral Council and the Presiding Bishop invite the bishops
expressing a commitment to "the Camp Allen principles" [3], or as otherwise
determined by the Pastoral Council, to participate in the pastoral scheme ;
b.. in consultation with the Council and with the consent of the Presiding
Bishop, those bishops who are part of the scheme will nominate a Primatial
Vicar, who shall be responsible to the Council;
c.. the Presiding Bishop in consultation with the Pastoral Council will
delegate specific powers and duties to the Primatial Vicar. Once this scheme of pastoral care is recognised to be fully operational, the
Primates undertake to end all interventions. Congregations or parishes in
current arrangements will negotiate their place within the structures of
pastoral oversight set out above.

We believe that such a scheme is robust enough to function and provide
sufficient space for those who are unable to accept the direct ministry of
their bishop or the Presiding Bishop to have a secure place within The
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion until such time as the Covenant
Process is complete. At that time, other provisions may become necessary.

Although there are particular difficulties associated with AMiA and CANA,
the Pastoral Council should negotiate with them and the Primates currently
ministering to them to find a place for them within these provisions. We
believe that with goodwill this may be possible.

On Clarifying the Response to Windsor

The Primates recognise the seriousness with which The Episcopal Church
addressed the requests of the Windsor Report put to it by the Primates at
their Dromantine Meeting. They value and accept the apology and the request
for forgiveness made [4]. While they appreciate the actions of the 75th
General Convention which offer some affirmation of the Windsor Report and
its recommendations, they deeply regret a lack of clarity about certain of
those responses.

In particular, the Primates request, through the Presiding Bishop, that the
House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church
1. make an unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not authorise
any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions in their dioceses or through
General Convention (cf TWR, §143, 144); and
2. confirm that the passing of Resolution B033 of the 75th General
Convention means that a candidate for episcopal orders living in a same-sex
union shall not receive the necessary consent (cf TWR, §134); unless some new consensus on these matters emerges across the Communion (cf
TWR, §134).

The Primates request that the answer of the House of Bishops is conveyed to
the Primates by the Presiding Bishop by 30th September 2007.
If the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops cannot in good
conscience be given, the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the
Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best, and this has
consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the
Communion.

On property disputes

The Primates urge the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those
congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law
arising in this situation. We also urge both parties to give assurances that
no steps will be taken to alienate property from The Episcopal Church
without its consent or to deny the use of that property to those
congregations.

Appendix One

"The Camp Allen Principles"

The commitments expressed in the letter of 22nd September 2006 were:

a.. an acceptance of Lambeth 1998 Res. I.10 as expressing, on its given
topic, the mind of the Communion to which we subject our own teaching and
discipline;
b.. an acceptance of the Windsor Report, as interpreted by the Primates at
Dromantine, as outlining the Communion's "way forward" for our own church's
reconciliation and witness within the Communion;
c.. a personal acceptance by each of us of the particular recommendations
made by the Windsor Report to ECUSA, and a pledge to comply with them;
d.. a clear sense that General Convention 2006 did not adequately respond
to the requests made of ECUSA by the Communion through the Windsor Report;
e.. a clear belief that we faithfully represent ECUSA in accordance with
this church's Constitution and Canons, as properly interpreted by the
Scripture and our historic faith and discipline;
f.. a desire to provide a common witness through which faithful Anglican
Episcopalians committed to our Communion life might join together for the
renewal of our church and the furtherance of the mission of Christ Jesus. The principles expressed in the letter of 11th January 2007 were:

1. It is our hope that you will explicitly recognize that we are in full
communion with you in order to maintain the integrity of our ministries
within our dioceses and the larger Church.
2. We are prepared, among other things, to work with the Primates and with
others in our American context to make provision for the varying needs of
individuals, congregations, dioceses and clergy to continue to exercise
their ministries as the Covenant process unfolds. This includes the needs of
those seeking primatial ministry from outside the United States, those
dioceses and parishes unable to accept the ordination of women, and
congregations which sense they can no longer be inside the Episcopal Church. 3. We are prepared to offer oversight, with the agreement of the local
bishop, of congregations in dioceses whose bishops are not fully supportive
of Communion teaching and discipline.
4. We are prepared to offer oversight to congregations who are currently
under foreign jurisdictions in consultation with the bishops and Primates
involved.
5. Finally, we respectfully request that the Primates address the issue of
congregations within our dioceses seeking oversight in foreign
jurisdictions. We are Communion-committed bishops and find the option of
turning to foreign oversight presents anomalies which weaken our own
diocesan familieis and places strains on the Communion as a whole.

Notes:

1. Whilst we reaffirm the teaching of successive Lambeth Conferences that
bishops must respect the autonomy and territorial integrity of dioceses and
provinces other than their own, we call on the provinces concerned to make
adequate provision for episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities within
their own area of pastoral care in consultation with the Archbishop of
Canterbury on behalf of the Primates (Lambeth, October 2003)

2. Namely, a letter of 22nd September 2006 to the Archbishop of Canterbury
and a further letter of 11th 2007 to the Primates setting out a number of
commitments and proposals. These commitments and principles are colloquially
known as "the Camp Allen principles". (see Appendix One)
3. As set out in Appendix One.

4. Resolved, That the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church,
mindful of "the repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation enjoined on us
by Christ" (Windsor Report, paragraph 134), express its regret for straining
the bonds of affection in the events surrounding the General Convention of
2003 and the consequences which followed; offer its sincerest apology to
those within our Anglican Communion who are offended by our failure to
accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and
other parts of the Communion; and ask forgiveness as we seek to live into
deeper levels of communion one with another. The Communion Sub-Group added
the comment: "These words were not lightly offered, and should not be
lighted received."

___________________________________________________________________
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Report of the Covenant Design Group

ACNS 4252 | ACO | 19 FEBRUARY 2007

The Covenant Design Group, appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, held its first meeting in Nassau, the Bahamas, between Monday, 15th and Thursday, 18th January, 2007. The Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, chaired the group.

The meeting discussed four major areas of work related to the development of an Anglican Covenant: its content, the process by which it would be received into the life of the Communion, the foundations on which a covenant might be built, and its own methods of working.

The JSC paper, Towards an Anglican Covenant, was one of the initial papers tabled at the meeting, together with a wide range of responses to it from both individuals and from churches and other alliances within the Communion. In addition, a number of correspondents had been invited to submit reflections to the group. The group noted that there was a wide range of support for the concept of covenant in the life of the Communion, and although in the papers submitted there was a great deal of concern about the nature of any covenant that might be put forward for adoption, very few of the respondents objected to the concept of covenant per se, but rather saw the covenant as a moment of opportunity within the life of the Communion.

In their discussion, all the members of the group spoke of the value and importance of the continued life of the Anglican Communion as an instrument through which the Gospel could be proclaimed and God's mission carried forward. There was a real desire to see the interdependent life of the Communion strengthened by a covenant which would articulate our common foundations, and set out principles by which our life of Communion in Christ could be strengthened and nurtured.

It was also recognised, however, that the proposal for a covenant was born out of a specific context in which the Communion's life was under severe strain. While the group felt that it was important that the strength of a covenant would be greater if it addressed broad principles, and did not focus on particular issues, the need for its introduction into the life of the Communion in order to restore trust was urgent.

There were therefore two particular factors which would need to be borne in mind:

Content

The text of the Covenant would need to hold together and strengthen the life of the Communion. To do so, it need not introduce some new development into the life of the Communion but rather be the clarification of a process of discernment which was embodied in the Windsor Report and in the recent reality of the life of the Instruments of Communion, and which was founded in and built upon the elements traditionally articulated in association with Anglicanism and the life of the Anglican Churches.

Urgency

While a definitive text which held all such elements in balance might take time to develop in the life of the Communion, there was also an urgent need to re-establish trust between the churches of the Communion. The faithfulness of patterns of obedience to Christ were no longer recognised across the Communion, despite Paul's call to another way of life (Romans 14.15), and its life would suffer irreparably if some measure of mutual and common commitment to the Gospel was not reasserted in a short time frame. We were mindful also of the words of the Primates at Oporto, "We are conscious that we all stand together at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, so we know that to turn away from each other would be to turn away from the Cross".

Bearing this in mind, the CDG recommends a dual track approach. The definitive text of any proposed Covenant which could command the long term confidence of the Communion would need extensive consultation and refining. Although several possible texts have already been developed, a text for adoption would need to be debated and accepted in the Provinces through their own appropriate processes before formal synodical processes of adoption, if the Covenant was to be received and have any strength or reality.

At the same time, there needed to be a commitment now to the fundamental shape of the covenant in order to address the concerns of those who feared that the very credibility of the commitment of the Anglican Churches to one another and to the Gospel itself was in doubt.

The CDG therefore proposes that the Primates give consideration to a preliminary draft text for a covenant which has been developed from existing models, that they commend this text to the Provinces for study and response, and that they express an appropriate measure of consent to this text and express the intention to pursue its fine-tuning and adoption through the consultative and constitutional processes of the Provinces.

The Primates are not being asked to commit their churches at this stage, since they are all bound by their own Provincial constitutions to observe due process. What they are being asked to do is to recognise in the general substance of the preliminary draft set forth by the CDG a concise expression of what may be considered as authentic Anglicanism. Primates are also asked to request a response from their Provinces on the draft text to the Covenant Design Group in time for there to be the preparation of a revised draft which could receive initial consideration at the Lambeth Conference.

The text offered is meant to be robust enough to express clear commitment in those areas of Anglican faith about which there has been the most underlying concern in recent events, while at the same time being faithful and consistent with the declarations, formularies and commitments of Anglicanism as they have been received by our Churches. In this way, nothing which is commended in the draft text of the Covenant can be said to be "new"; it is rather an assertion of that understanding of true Christian faith as it has been received in the Anglican Churches.

What is to be offered in the Covenant is not the invention of a new way of being Anglican, but a fresh restatement and assertion of the faith which we as Anglicans have received, and a commitment to inter-dependent life such as always in theory at least been given recognition.

An Introduction to a Draft Text for an Anglican Covenant

God has called us into communion in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Jn.
1:3). This call is established in God's purposes for creation (Eph.
1:10; 3:9ff.), which have been furthered in God's covenants with Israel and its representatives such as Abraham and most fully in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. We humbly recognize that this calling and gift of communion grants us responsibilities for our common life before God.

Through God's grace we have been given the Communion of Anglican churches through which to respond to God's larger calling in Christ (Acts 2:42). This Communion provides us with a special charism and identity among the many followers and servants of Jesus. Recognizing the wonder, beauty and challenge of maintaining communion in this family of churches, and the need for mutual commitment and discipline as a witness to God's promise in a world and time of instability, conflict, and fragmentation, we covenant together as churches of this Anglican Communion to be faithful to God's promises through the historic faith we confess, the way we live together and the focus of our mission.

Our faith embodies a coherent testimony to what we have received from God's Word and the Church's long-standing witness; our life together reflects the blessings of God in growing our Communion into a truly global body; and the mission we pursue aims at serving the great promises of God in Christ that embrace the world and its peoples, carried out in shared responsibility and stewardship of resources, and in interdependence among ourselves and with the wider Church.

Our prayer is that God will redeem our struggles and weakness, and renew and enrich our common life so that the Anglican Communion may be used to witness effectively in all the world to the new life and hope found in Christ.

An Anglican Covenant Draft prepared by the Covenant Design Group, January 2007

1 Preamble

(Psalm 127.1-2, Ezekiel 37.1-14, Mark 1.1, John 10.10; Romans 5.1-5, Ephesians 4:1-16, Revelation 2-3)

We, the Churches of the Anglican Communion, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ , solemnly covenant together in these articles, in order to proclaim more effectively in our different contexts the Grace of God revealed in the Gospel, to offer God's love in responding to the needs of the world, to maintain the unity in the Spirit in the bond of peace, and to grow up together as a worldwide Communion to the full stature of Christ.

2 The Life We Share: Common Catholicity, Apostolicity and Confession of Faith

(Deuteronomy 6.4-7, Leviticus 19.9-10, Amos 5.14-15, 24; Matthew 25, 28.16-20, 1 Corinthians 15.3-11, Philippians 2.1-11, 1 Timothy 3:15-16, Hebrews 13.1-17)

Each member Church, and the Communion as a whole, affirms:

* that it is part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;

* that it professes the faith which is uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures as containing all things necessary for salvation and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith, and which is set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation;

* that it holds and duly administers the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with the unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by him;

* that it participates in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God;

* that, led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons [1];

* our loyalty to this inheritance of faith as our inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making Him known to our societies and nations.

3 Our Commitment to Confession of the Faith

(Deuteronomy 30.11-14, Psalm 126, Mark 10.26-27, Luke 1.37, 46-55, John
8: 32, 14:15-17, 1 Corinthians 11.23-26,2 Timothy 3:10-4:5;)

In seeking to be faithful to God in their various contexts, each Church commits itself to:

* uphold and act in continuity and consistency with the catholic and apostolic faith, order and tradition, biblically derived moral values and the vision of humanity received by and developed in the communion of member Churches;

* seek in all things to uphold the solemn obligation to sustain Eucharistic communion, welcoming members of all other member churches to join in its own celebration, and encouraging its members to participate in the Eucharist in a member church in accordance with the canonical discipline of that host church;

* ensure that biblical texts are handled faithfully, respectfully, comprehensively and coherently, primarily through the teaching and initiative of bishops and synods, and building on our best scholarship, believing that scriptural revelation must continue to illuminate, challenge and transform cultures, structures and ways of thinking;

* nurture and respond to prophetic and faithful leadership and ministry to assist our Churches as courageous witnesses to the transformative power of the Gospel in the world.

* pursue a common pilgrimage with other members of the Communion to discern truth, that peoples from all nations may truly be free and receive the new and abundant life in the Lord Jesus Christ.


4 The Life We Share with Others: Our Anglican Vocation

(Jeremiah 31.31-34, Ezekiel. 36.22-28, Matthew 28.16-20, John 17.20-24, 2 Corinthians 8-9, Ephesians 2:11-3:21, James 1.22-27)

We affirm that Communion is a gift of God: that His people from east and west, north and south, may together declare his glory and be a sign of God's Kingdom. We gratefully acknowledge God's gracious providence extended to us down the ages, our origins in the undivided Church, the rich history of the Church in the British Isles shaped particularly by the Reformation, and our growth into a global communion through the various mission initiatives.

As the Communion continues to develop into a worldwide family of interdependent churches, we also face challenges and opportunities for mission at local, regional, and international levels. We cherish our faith and mission heritage as offering us unique opportunities for mission collaboration, for discovery ofthe life ofthe wholegospel and for reconciliation and shared mission with the Church throughout the world.

The member Churches acknowledge that their common mission is a mission shared with other churches and traditions not party to this covenant. It is with all the saints that we will comprehend the fuller dimensions of Christ's redemptive and immeasurablelove.

We commit ourselves to answering God's call to share in his healing and reconciling mission for our blessed but broken and hurting world, and, with mutual accountability, to share our God-given spiritual and material resources in this task.

In this mission, which is the Mission of Christ, we commit ourselves

* to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God
* to teach, baptize and nurture new believers;
* to respond to human need by loving service;
* to seek to transform unjust structures of society; and
* to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the earth.


5 Our Unity and Common Life

(Numbers 11.16-20, Luke 22.14-27, Acts 2.43-47, 4.32-35, 1 Corinthians 11.23-26, 1 Peter 4:7-11, 5:1-11)

We affirm the historic episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of his Church and the central role of bishopsas custodians of faith, leaders in mission, and as visible sign of unity.

We affirm the place of four Instruments of Communion which serve to discern our common mind in communion issues, and to foster our interdependence and mutual accountability in Christ. While each member Church orders and regulates its own affairs through its own system of government and law and is therefore described as autonomous, each church recognises that the member churches of the Anglican Communion are bound together, not juridically by a central legislative or executive authority, but by the Holy Spirit who calls and enables us to live in mutual loyalty and service.

Of these four Instruments of Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, with whose See Anglicans have historically been in communion, is accorded a primacy of honour and respect as first amongst equals (primus inter pares). He calls the Lambeth Conference, and Primates' Meeting, and is President of the Anglican Consultative Council.

The Lambeth Conference, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressing episcopal collegiality worldwide, gathers the bishops for common counsel, consultation and encouragement and serves as an instrument in guarding the faith and unity of the Communion.

The Primates' Meeting, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assembles for mutual support and counsel, monitors global developments and works in full collaboration in doctrinal, moral and pastoral matters that have Communion-wide implications.

The Anglican Consultative Council is a body representative of bishops, clergy and laity of the churches, which co-ordinates aspects of international Anglican ecumenical and mission work.

6 Unity of the Communion

(Nehemiah 2.17,18, Mt. 18.15-18, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 4.1-18,
13: 5-10, Galatians 6.1-10)

Each Church commits itself

* in essential matters of common concern, to have regard to the common good of the Communion in the exercise of its autonomy, and to support the work of the Instruments of Communion with the spiritual and material resources available to it.

* to spend time with openness and patience in matters of theological debate and discernment to listen and to study with one another in order to comprehend the will of God. Such study and debate is an essential feature of the life of the Church as its seeks to be led by the Spirit into all truth and to proclaim the Gospel afresh in each generation. Some issues, which are perceived as controversial or new when they arise, may well evoke a deeper understanding of the implications of God's revelation to us; others may prove to be distractions or even obstacles to the faith: all therefore need to be tested by shared discernment in the life of the Church.

* to seek with other members, through the Church's shared councils, a common mind about matters of essential concern, consistent with the Scriptures, common standards of faith, and the canon law of our churches.

* to heed the counsel of our Instruments of Communion in matters which threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness of our mission. While the Instruments of Communion have no juridical or executive authority in our Provinces, we recognise them as those bodies by which our common life in Christ is articulated and sustained, and which therefore carry a moral authority which commands our respect.

* to seek the guidance of the Instruments of Communion, where there are matters in serious dispute among churches that cannot be resolved by mutual admonition and counsel:

* by submitting the matter to the Primates Meeting
* if the Primates believe that the matter is not one for which a
common mind has been articulated, they will seek it with the
other instruments and their councils
* finally, on this basis, the Primates will offer guidance and direction.

* We acknowledge that in the most extreme circumstances, where member churches choose not to fulfil the substance of the covenant as understood by the Councils of the Instruments of Communion, we will consider that such churches will have relinquished for themselves the force and meaning of the covenant's purpose, and a process of restoration and renewal will be required to re-establish their covenant relationship with other member churches.


7 Our Declaration

(Psalms 46, 72.18,19, 150, Acts10.34-44, 2 Corinthians 13.13, Jude
24-25)

With joy and with firm resolve, we declare our Churches to be partners in this Anglican Covenant, releasing ourselves for fruitful service and binding ourselves more closely in the truth andlove of Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory for ever. Amen.



Notes:

[1] This is not meant to exclude other Books of Common Prayer and Ordinals duly authorised for use throughout the Anglican Communion, but acknowledges the foundational nature of the Book of Common Prayer 1662 in the life of the Communion.

Editors Note:

The Report and the Covenant Draft text are also available to download as a PDF Document here: http://www.aco.org/commission/d_covenant/downloads.cfm



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Clarifications regarding the front page article in The Times, 19 February 2007, on Anglican - Roman Catholic relations

ACNS 4254 | ACO | 19 FEBRUARY 2007

from
Archbishop John Bathersby, Catholic Co-chair of IARCCUM
and
Bishop David Beetge, Anglican Co-chair of IARCCUM

Growing Together in Unity and Mission is being published as an agreed statement of IARCCUM (the International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission), and is to be published under the Commission's authority, not as an official statement of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. It is being put forward to foster discussion and reflection, as the statement clearly states.

The statement was recently completed by IARCCUM, and is scheduled to be published by the Commission as soon as a Catholic commentary to accompany the document has been completed; an Anglican commentary has already been prepared for publication. The text was made available to the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council and to the Anglican Primates, currently meeting in Tanzania. The Primates were also presented with a copy of the agreed statement of the International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, entitled The Church of the Triune God. Through these two texts, Anglican leaders were able to look at the recent results of important international dialogues with which the Anglican Communion is currently engaged. Both of these texts address the theology of the Church, and given that the Anglican Primates are currently discussing the nature of the Church, it was felt that the dialogue documents had something to contribute to those discussions.

Growing Together in Unity and Mission has not yet been officially published. It is unfortunate that its contents have been prematurely reported in a way which misrepresents its intentions and sensationalises its conclusions. The first part of the document, which treats doctrinal matters, is an attempt to synthesize the work of ARCIC (the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission) over the past 35 years. It identifies the level of agreement which has been reached by ARCIC, but is also very clear in identifying ongoing areas of disagreement, and in raising questions which still need to be addressed in dialogue. Those ongoing questions and areas of disagreement are highlighted in boxed sections interspersed throughout the text. It is a very honest document assessing the state of Anglican - Roman Catholic relations at the present moment.

Both the heading of the article ('Churches back plan to unite under
Pope') and its opening sentence, which speaks of 'radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope' need to be put into proper perspective. For 35 years this dialogue has addressed questions of authority, including the papacy. The so-called 'radical proposals' found in Growing Together in Unity and Mission are the same proposals which ARCIC has been putting forward over the past 35 years. What this document says about the Petrine Ministry is not new, but a synthesis of what is said in ARCIC's documents on authority (Authority in the Church I, 1976; Authority in the Church II, 1981; The Gift of Authority, 1999). While it is encouraging that a document of this kind can be produced and that practical day to day cooperation between Catholics and Anglicans can be strengthened, talk of plans to reunite the two communions is, sadly, much exaggerated.

The second part of the document sets forward proposals for concrete initiatives, identifying aspects of common mission, common study, common prayer which are for the most part already permitted according to authoritative sources of the Catholic Church and the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Most of these proposals aren't new, and some of them have been implemented for decades in some places. The document draws together a series of proposals which IARCCUM's members believe are possible in the present context given the degree of faith we share. But it also says that local bishops in each part of the world will need to discern what is appropriate locally, given that the context and dynamics of relationships between Anglicans and Roman Catholics differ widely across the world.

The Times article speculates about the Catholic Church's response to a possible schism within the Anglican Communion. It should be pointed out that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has consistently spoken of the value of the Anglican Communion remaining a communion, rooted in the Apostolic faith, as indicated in this statement from 2004: "It is our overwhelming desire that the Anglican Communion stays together, rooted in the historic faith which our dialogue and relations over four decades have led us to believe that we share to a large degree." During the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Pope Benedict in November, 2006, the Holy Father noted: "It is our fervent hope that the Anglican Communion will remain grounded in the Gospels and the Apostolic Tradition which form our common patrimony and are the basis of our common aspiration to work for full visible unity."

We hope that when published, Growing Together in Unity and Mission invites a good deal of discussion, and that it will be a helpful instrument on the long journey towards full communion which has been the stated goal of Anglican - Roman Catholic relations for the past 40 years.



ENDS

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