© MMW 2005
EDITORIAL
Editor and Webmaster: Bishop Michael Wright - 18 Frenchfield Road, Peasedown St John, Bath, BA2 8SL, UK: Tel. (0)1761 433149: Fax. (0)1761 434388, e.mail Bpmwright@aol.com
Editor and Webmaster: Bishop Michael Wright -
Dear Friends,
Lambeth Conference 2008 has come to an end. The Conference has met against the background of the threatened fragmentation of the Anglican Communion. The past three weeks have been devoted to listening to the ‘concerns’ of fellow bishops in order to build a greater understanding and acceptance of the diversity of the Communion. The Conference was designed to avoid any resolutions and decisions which might prove controversial and divisive. To this end the agenda and the participants have been tightly controlled to ensure that the process of dialogue continues into the future. The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the Conference, an outcome he had planned beforehand.
To some commentators this means that the Anglican Communion has avoided disintegration thanks to the leadership of Archbishop Rowan Williams. Serious problems remain to be resolved, but a new way of dealing with internal conflict through mutual sharing and listening has been explored and offers hope for the future. Unfortunately this happy scenario hides the fact that the Conference is a total disaster for the Anglican Communion. It was intended to resolve nothing and nothing has been resolved.
Someone has likened this Conference to a roomful of people determined to ignore the unwelcome presence of a large elephant sitting on the carpet in the middle. Lambeth 2008 has been a display of total unreality. The reality is that approximately a quarter of the entire invited Anglican episcopate has chosen not to attend and these absent bishops represent three quarters of the total membership of the Communion. The bishops who declined to attend are said to have been unwilling to meet with the consecrators of Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC). This explanation hides a far deeper conflict.
The decision not to attend the Lambeth Conference was taken as a result of a Conference held in Jerusalem a few weeks earlier. GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) was concerned with the intrusion of ‘another Gospel’, into the Anglican Communion and took steps to remedy the situation. This ‘another Gospel’ was ‘revisionism’ which can best be described as secular humanism dressed up in selective quotations from Scripture and liturgical innovation. Revisionism is dominant in the leadership of several Anglican Provinces, notoriously so within the TEC (hence the consecration of the openly ‘gay’ Gene Robinson), but also within the Provinces of Canterbury and York. Rowan Williams is very far from being an impartial arbitrator.
Gafcon aims to recall the Communion to its true doctrinal identity quoting the Church of England’s Canon A5: “The doctrine of the Church (of England) is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal.” This is a conflict between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, the truth of the Gospel and a falsehood which is ‘another Gospel’.
Is there any possibility of reconciling the two? The answer is a firm ‘No’ this is an absolute break not the relative conflict such as Rowan Williams would like to characterise it. Things have gone much further still. The Anglican Primates present at Gafcon have set up their own ‘Council of Primates’ to coordinate, empower and guide what is, in effect, the orthodox Anglican Communion as distinct from Lambeth’s revisionist version of the Communion. Now that the Lambeth Conference is over, the real attitudes and feelings of the participants will begin to emerge. The polarisation will grow rather than diminish.
There is one further consideration which needs to be noted. True orthodoxy involves holding to the common mind of the Church. Some Anglican Provinces which regard themselves as orthodox admit women to the ordained ministry. This is the very tool used by the revisionist to begin to overturn the orthodoxy of the Anglican Communion. Both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches are well aware of this and have long warned Anglicans that such a move was destructive of any hope of future reunion. We may find that the forces of disintegration reach further into orthodox Anglicanism than we reckoned.
Please note the following:
A new Page has been added to the ‘Europe’ section of this web-site; it reports on the Spanish Mission of Fr. David Worsley.
Bishop Victor Manuel Cruz-Blanco now has a dedicated web-site for his Diocese. The web-site location is:
Lambeth Conference 2008 has come to an end. The Conference has met against the background of the threatened fragmentation of the Anglican Communion. The past three weeks have been devoted to listening to the ‘concerns’ of fellow bishops in order to build a greater understanding and acceptance of the diversity of the Communion. The Conference was designed to avoid any resolutions and decisions which might prove controversial and divisive. To this end the agenda and the participants have been tightly controlled to ensure that the process of dialogue continues into the future. The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the Conference, an outcome he had planned beforehand.
To some commentators this means that the Anglican Communion has avoided disintegration thanks to the leadership of Archbishop Rowan Williams. Serious problems remain to be resolved, but a new way of dealing with internal conflict through mutual sharing and listening has been explored and offers hope for the future. Unfortunately this happy scenario hides the fact that the Conference is a total disaster for the Anglican Communion. It was intended to resolve nothing and nothing has been resolved.
Someone has likened this Conference to a roomful of people determined to ignore the unwelcome presence of a large elephant sitting on the carpet in the middle. Lambeth 2008 has been a display of total unreality. The reality is that approximately a quarter of the entire invited Anglican episcopate has chosen not to attend and these absent bishops represent three quarters of the total membership of the Communion. The bishops who declined to attend are said to have been unwilling to meet with the consecrators of Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC). This explanation hides a far deeper conflict.
The decision not to attend the Lambeth Conference was taken as a result of a Conference held in Jerusalem a few weeks earlier. GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) was concerned with the intrusion of ‘another Gospel’, into the Anglican Communion and took steps to remedy the situation. This ‘another Gospel’ was ‘revisionism’ which can best be described as secular humanism dressed up in selective quotations from Scripture and liturgical innovation. Revisionism is dominant in the leadership of several Anglican Provinces, notoriously so within the TEC (hence the consecration of the openly ‘gay’ Gene Robinson), but also within the Provinces of Canterbury and York. Rowan Williams is very far from being an impartial arbitrator.
Gafcon aims to recall the Communion to its true doctrinal identity quoting the Church of England’s Canon A5: “The doctrine of the Church (of England) is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-
Is there any possibility of reconciling the two? The answer is a firm ‘No’ this is an absolute break not the relative conflict such as Rowan Williams would like to characterise it. Things have gone much further still. The Anglican Primates present at Gafcon have set up their own ‘Council of Primates’ to coordinate, empower and guide what is, in effect, the orthodox Anglican Communion as distinct from Lambeth’s revisionist version of the Communion. Now that the Lambeth Conference is over, the real attitudes and feelings of the participants will begin to emerge. The polarisation will grow rather than diminish.
There is one further consideration which needs to be noted. True orthodoxy involves holding to the common mind of the Church. Some Anglican Provinces which regard themselves as orthodox admit women to the ordained ministry. This is the very tool used by the revisionist to begin to overturn the orthodoxy of the Anglican Communion. Both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches are well aware of this and have long warned Anglicans that such a move was destructive of any hope of future reunion. We may find that the forces of disintegration reach further into orthodox Anglicanism than we reckoned.
Please note the following:
A new Page has been added to the ‘Europe’ section of this web-
Bishop Victor Manuel Cruz-
Both Bishop Wright and Bishop Cruz-
