The ABC's Address To Church Of England Synod

The experiences of last summer's Lambeth Conference and last week's Primates' Meeting have left me with one or two strong impressions which seem worth sharing with Synod as it prepares for further discussion of some sensitive matters this week. Despite many predictions of doom - and a fair number of subsequent assessments of inefficacy - the Lambeth Conference at least established two things. The first was the significance of a climate in which every participant is guaranteed a hearing....

Indeed, one might say that the ABC's statement is technically correct, but what about the duly elected and consecrated bishop of the Episcopal Church who was not permitted to be a participant? What about Bishop Gene Robinson? Everyone who was included was, indeed, "guaranteed a hearing", but Bishop Gene's voice was never heard, because he was not allowed to be present.

What good does it do to put a good face on the process at Lambeth, while simply ignoring the exclusion of Bishop Gene? I'm tempted to dismiss every word of the ABC's address that follows, because he refuses to acknowledge or address the exclusion, which was his very own doing, but, I won't.

He goes on about mission and the horrific plight of the church in Zimbabwe and of supporting the the church there by prayer and practical help, a good thing, surely. Then on to self-restraint and moratoria for we know whom. The burden of self-restraint and moratoria on the backs of our LGTB brothers, will, I hope, be lifted in the Episcopal Church. As to the incursions into the territory of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada by unauthorized bishops, who believes that these will cease?

Yet last week, all the Primates who had attended GAFCON were present, every one of them took part in daily prayer and Bible study alongside the Primates of North America and every one of them spoke in discussion. In a way that I have come to recognise as very typical of these meetings, when talk of replacing Communion with federation of some kind was heard, nearly everyone reacted by saying that this was not something they could think about choosing.

Well, whoop-de-doo! The GAFCON primates were present, and they all spoke. A federation is not something which can be agreed to now. Excellent.

It appears that Primates are not contaminated by sharing Scripture studies, but sharing the Lord's table is in another category altogether.

No-one wants to rest content with the breach in sacramental fellowship, and everyone acknowledges that this breach means we are less than we are called to be. But the fact that we recognise this and that we still gather around the Word is no small thing; without this, we should not even be able to hope for the full restoration of fellowship at the Eucharist.

Perhaps, there is hope.

And there are those in the Church of England who are adamantly opposed to women bishops, and on the other side, those who believe that it must happen.

This is not the place to elaborate on what that could mean in practice, but it does no harm to hold in mind the vision of a Church in which a difficult plurality of conviction will not simply be done away with by decree. This is not, though, simply a matter of tolerating private views, since it bears on the public life and worship of the church. If I hear correctly what is being said by those opposed to the Code of Practice currently on the table, they are asking what more might be offered to secure some kind of continuity of pastoral care for congregations and clergy unwilling to accept women as bishops, and some measure of organisational (including sacramental) coherence for them, rather than being wholly dependent on ad hoc provision and local chance.

Wholly tongue in cheek, how about a team from ACNA, The Anglican Church in North America, the parallel "province-in-waiting" as Mark Harris calls it, to help the Church of England along with providing pastoral care for all?

Once I quieted down from my "guaranteed a hearing" outrage, I gave the ABC's address far more time and attention than I intended to - a fairly close reading and an admittedly quite personal commentary.

UPDATE: H/T to The Lead for the link to the ABC's address, which I should have acknowledged from the beginning.