Archbishop
of Canterbury seeks assurances from bishops
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will write all bishops planning to attend the Lambeth Conference this summer, requesting that they support an Anglican Covenant and be prepared to abide by the recommendations of the Windsor Report.
The Windsor Report calls for a moratorium on the consecration of homosexual bishops and the blessing of same-gender relationships until a new consensus within the Communion emerges. For that reason, offering such assurances may be problematic for some bishops from The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Scotland, the Anglican Church of Brazil and the Church of England. Bishops from other Anglican churches, primarily in Africa, have expressed reservations about another section of the Windsor Report that condemns ministry in another geographic diocese without the permission of the local bishop.
A spokesman for Archbishop Williams confirmed to The Church of England Newspaper that the letters had not yet been mailed, but would be sent shortly. He also said the list of attendees for the Lambeth Conference continues to grow, noting that approximately 600 of the Communion's 887 active bishops have now registered.
Archbishop Williams implied that he would ask for assurances from the bishops attending Lambeth in his Advent letter to the primates.
"Many will say this is
far too little, far too late - just as many others will be livid to think
that the Archbishop, having already not invited Gene Robinson to Lambeth,
should be suggesting that some others might absent themselves as well," said
the Rt. Rev'd N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. "But
this is what he promised he would do, and he is doing."
—From the Web site of The Living Church.
