If the work of the Lambeth Conference is in fact to strengthen rather than weaken the Communion in the days and years to come, we are firmly convinced that the bishops there assembled must find ways to address in a constructive manner several key issues.
First and foremost among these is the already announced intention of a significant number of bishops within TEC to allow clergy within their dioceses to bless unions between members of the same gender. This course of action is patently contrary to Lambeth resolution 1:10, the Windsor Report, the Dar as Salaam Communiqué, and the positions of all the Instruments of Communion. Further, the dioceses in question are well known, having made their intentions quite public. To ignore what can only be understood as defiance of the mind of the Communion will serve only to increase the jurisdictional battles now being waged. It will also weaken both the credibility and moral authority of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops and the integrity of the Anglican Communion as a whole.
A second issue that requires immediate attention is the vulnerable state of those Anglo Catholic dioceses and parishes in TEC that do not believe that the ordination of women is in accord with catholic tradition. Though the issue is a disputed one, it is nonetheless the case that the Communion has judged this practice a matter of "reception" rather than "right". Within TEC, however, the ordination of women is no longer treated as a matter of reception. As a result, Anglo Catholic dioceses and parishes within TEC see a future in which their convictions will not be honored. Consequently, they are seeking to fold themselves into overseas jurisdictions that will allow them to continue honoring their conscience. If no remedy is provided them, two results will follow-the splintering of TEC and the Communion will continue unabated and the counsel of the Communion to treat the ordination of women as a matter of reception will have been rebuffed in a way that further weakens the claim of Anglicans to belong to a communion rather than a federation of churches.
A third issue that can be ignored only to the peril of all is the way in which the Primates of the Communion are to assume the enhanced responsibility the Lambeth Conference has assigned them in cases where problems arise within a Province that the Province itself seems unable to resolve. The creation of a self-selected 'Primates Council' at the recent GAFCON conference makes it plain that although an important responsibility has been assigned the Meeting of Primates, adequate means for its fulfillment have not been provided. Frustration with the good working of the Primates Meeting has occasioned the development of an alternative whose existence, charge, and viability are all in doubt. An executive committee determined by the Primates themselves and chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury or by someone elected by the Primates might fulfill such a role in a way that accords with the original charge of the Lambeth Conference. Whatever the case may be, however, a means for the Meeting of Primates to function effectively between gatherings of the Lambeth Conference must be found if the Communion is to sustain its unity and health. We urge the development of such an Executive Committee of the Primates Meeting.
Finally, there is the matter of the proposed covenant. Though GAFCON did not address the covenant at its recent gathering, leaders of the fellowship (Archbishops Akinola, Kolini, and Venables) previously have joined with Archbishops Chew and Anis in support of a covenant that "is in line with our common classical Anglican heritage of biblical, historical and reformed formularies of faith and ecclesiology." The covenant thus seems a promising way ahead for all. It is no secret, however, that the nature of this covenant is a matter of intense debate. Is it to be a covenant that binds the various Anglican Provinces into a communion or is it to be a much looser agreement that joins them in a federation of churches that have a common origin but not necessarily a common set of beliefs and practices? If the upcoming Lambeth Conference does not engage the issue of communion or federation, we can hardly expect the Communion as a whole to do so.
Many have said that the Lambeth Conference will simply reveal the imminent dissolution of Anglicanism as a worldwide Communion. However, as the recent GAFCON conference has shown, the sort of face-to-face conversation for which the upcoming conference is designed can, despite internal divisions, produce real results. If the issues noted above are addressed with courage, honesty, and charity, there is good reason to believe that the Anglican Communion can emerge from this difficult season with greater clarity and strength.
The Anglican Communion Institute
Philip Turner
Christopher Seitz
Ephraim Radner
