'Time
Out' proposed at Lambeth Conference
by Steve Waring
Private blessings of same-sex unions would continue under a preliminary proposal
submitted to the Lambeth Conference Monday by the Windsor Continuation Group.
A few hours later, the first draft of the conference's final reflections paper
was distributed. It calls for support of those "who are isolated in their
diocese by initiatives such as that by GAFCON (the Global Anglican Fellowship
Conference)."
The document from the Windsor Continuation Group was the third to be distributed during the 20-day conference which began July 16 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. As currently configured, the report calls for all to agree to a "time out," with the one exception being the proposal for the formation of a plan under which dioceses and parishes which already have broken with their province would be held in trust until they were reconciled.
"The proliferation of ad hoc episcopal and archiepiscopal ministries cannot be maintained within a global Communion," the report states. "Such a scheme might draw on models derived from religious life (the relationship of religious orders to the wider Church), family life (the way in which the extended family can care for children in dysfunctional nuclear families) or the law (where escrow accounts can be created to hold monies in trust for their rightful owner on completion of certain undertakings.) Ways of halting litigation must be explored, and perhaps the escrow concept could even be extended to have some applicability here."
The bishops discussed the Windsor Continuation Group report for 90 minutes in the afternoon. Lambeth Conference organizers held a second media briefing at which the two documents were distributed following that discussion. The leaders of the groups that produced the two documents: Archbishop Roger Herft of Melbourne, Australia, chair of the reflections group, and from the Windsor Continuation Group, Bishop Clive Handford, former primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, made statements and answered questions.
The eight-page reflections paper said there is a strong desire to remain in communion, but notes a lack of confidence in the Instruments of Unity as a means of achieving that end with "a particular concern about the role of the Primates' Meeting." The last page notes that conversations on topics scheduled to take place this week will be included in future drafts.
When asked whether the proposals to provide sanctuaries for conservatives in liberal provinces and liberals in conservative provinces was creating separate communions in all but name, Archbishop Herft said he needed to check with the indaba discussion group which had submitted the proposal to support those isolated by initiatives undertaken during the GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem last month. Archbishop Handford said the Windsor Continuation Group would not permit any new parish or diocese to "opt out" of its diocese or province. "This is not something for the future,"
Archbishop Handford said.
"This is meant to be a diminishing body." Archbishop Handford was also questioned
about the wording of the report, which calls for a moratorium on the "public
Rites of Blessing of same-sex unions" and private rites. "One cannot legislate
what happens in an individual parish," he said.
—Steve Waring is news editor of The Living Church. From that
publication's Web site
