Anglican Communion Institute (ACI)

Questions We Avoid At Our Peril

The Anglican Communion Institute has argued consistently for solutions to our present conflicts that preserve the integrity of The Episcopal Church (TEC), the Anglican Communion (AC), and the full membership of TEC in that Communion. The overwhelmingly negative response of the House of Bishops to the proposals from Dar es Salaam made by the Meeting of Primates (MP) leaves little doubt in our minds that the Bishops and Dioceses of TEC will soon have to decide two crucial questions that touch the very center of these concerns.

The March Statement by the House of Bishops: Confusing the Flock

Many, including those opposing its content, have praised the recent House of Bishops Statement for its "clarity". In what follows, I want to dispute that evaluation. The Statement is unclear in numerous important respects, except one, viz. its animus against the Anglican Communion's Primates' Meeting. The reasons for that animus, however, are hardly spelled out, are often contradictory, and are lodged within a tissue of assertions that are without stated rationale. This is not clarity at all.

The Pastoral Council and the Primatial Vicar

Much was accomplished through obviously difficult and taxing work by the Primates at Dar es Salaam. In one key area, it is clear that the work of two Camp Allen meetings of Windsor Bishops was endorsed at Dar es Salaam. Up until now, that work has been largely confidential though public statements were released as was possible.

Here is what was accomplished:

• The Pastoral Council scheme (suggested in an early form by ACI) was discussed and adapted in Camp Allen deliberations – it emerged in the Dar communiqué in specific form

What Way Ahead? - Part Two

It is a maddening time within American Anglicanism. Even in the last few days, there is a new restlessness born of the energies of sorrow and hope both, as they seek some resolved path ahead. A few days ago, I wrote about the need to take this time seriously indeed. I wrote in terms of conservative presence within the Episcopal Church, and its now apparent incongruity with the official structures of our leadership. "Normative Christianity" (as one friend has put it) has been demoted and even banished: the Episcopal Church has declared independence. We must take our stands.

What Way Ahead? - Part One

To a certain kind of faithful Episcopalian, things may indeed look bleak. The recent House of Bishops meeting in Texas seems to put a seal of finality to the fraying hopes many of us had for the renewal of our common life.To be realistic, however, is not to lose hope; rather, it is see more clearly where our true hope must lie.

TEC and the Anglican Communion - On the Eve of the Upcoming H

We are grateful for the general direction and careful recommendations offered by the Primates in their Dar es Salaam Communiqué. With them, we share the "belief that it would be a tragedy if the Episcopal Church was to fracture", and with them "we are committed to doing what we can to preserve and uphold its life". But the Primates are right in noting that, whatever their particular recommendations may be for The Episcopal Church, they are only recommendations: "such change and development which is required must be generated within [TEC's] own life" (28).
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