No Lambeth Invitation for Vicky Gene

The Bishop of New Hampshire will not be invited to participate in the 2008 Lambeth Conference, according to the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary of the Lambeth Conference.

Invitations to the conference were mailed May 22 to more than 800 bishops of the Anglican Communion by the conference’s host, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) and the Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy and his suffragans, the bishops of the Anglican Mission in North America (AMiA) will not receive invitations either, the conference organizers said.

Invitations to two other diocesan bishops, including the Bishop of Harare, Zimbabwe, the Rt. Rev. Nolbert Kunonga, have been held pending further “consultation,” said Canon Kearon, who is also the ACC secretary general.

In a letter accompanying the invitation, Archbishop Williams stated he hoped the meeting would be “a place where we can try and get more clarity about the limits of our diversity and the means of deepening our Communion, so we can speak together with conviction and clarity to the world.”

He noted that Lambeth would not be “a formal Synod or Council of the bishops of the Communion,” nor does attending the conference commit a bishop to accept “the position of others as necessarily a legitimate expression of Anglican doctrine and discipline, or to any action that would compromise your conscience or the integrity of your local church.”

Archbishop Williams said he had reserved the right “to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion,” but did not name names.

Canon Kearon stated there was “no question that Gene Robinson had been duly elected and consecrated” Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. However, paragraph 133 of the Windsor Report recommends the archbishop “exercise very considerable caution in inviting or admitting him to the councils of the Communion,” he said.

The “archbishop recognizes the widespread objections in many parts of the Communion to [Bishop Robinson’s] consecration and to his ministry," Canon Kearon said. However, the “archbishop intends to explore the possibility of inviting [Bishop Robinson] to Lambeth as a guest or observer,” he added.

Bishop Robinson was traveling when the announcement was made, but issued a statement in response to the news.

“It is with great disappointment that I receive word from the Archbishop of Canterbury that I will not be included in the invitation list for the Lambeth Conference, 2008," he said. "At a time when the Anglican Communion is calling for a 'listening process' on the issue of homosexuality, it makes no sense to exclude gay and lesbian people from that conversation. It is time that the bishops of the Anglican Communion stop talking about gay and lesbian people and start talking with us.

“While I appreciate the acknowledgement that I am a duly elected and consecrated bishop of the Church, the refusal to include me among all the other duly elected and consecrated bishops of the Church is an affront to the entire Episcopal Church," he said. "This is not about Gene Robinson, nor the Diocese of New Hampshire. It is about the American Church and its relationship to the Communion. It is for The Episcopal Church to respond to this challenge, and in due time, I assume we will do so. In the meantime, I will pray for Archbishop Rowan and our beloved Anglican Communion."

Bishop Robinson was not expected to comment further until he has spoken with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The bishops of the AMiA would not be invited to Lambeth because of the decision taken by Archbishop George Carey in 2000. Archbishop Carey “wrote to them saying he could not recognize their ministry” and that their “consecrations were irregular,” Canon Kearon explained. This decision was “confirmed at Oporto” by the primates in 2000, and the “decision was already fixed” by Archbishop Williams’ predecessor.

The case of CANA Bishop Martyn Minns exhibits “no difference” from the AMiA and he falls into the same category, Canon Kearon said.
On Bishop Kunonga, Archbishop Williams is “seeking further advice,” Canon Kearon said, but noted his case and that of one or two others had “nothing to do with the Windsor process.”

In 2002, the United States and the European Union banned Bishop Kunonga from travel to Europe and America in response to his complicity with the crimes of the regime of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

The Rev George Conger