CNS STORY: Catholic leaders cautious about Anglican report on church divisions

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CNS Story:

ANGLICANS-REACT Oct-20-2004 (1,000 words) With photo. xxxi

Catholic leaders cautious about Anglican report on church divisions

By Jonathan Luxmoore
Catholic News Service

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Catholic leaders have reacted cautiously to a major Anglican Communion report that establishes guidelines for tackling controversial issues such as blessing same-sex unions and ordaining gay bishops.

"We can't speak in one voice on this document until it's been fully debated," said Auxiliary Bishop Philip Pargeter of Birmingham, England, head of the English and Welsh bishops' Committee for Christian Unity.

"In the meantime, Catholic-Anglican relations are ongoing. Any moves to keep the church's traditional teaching would obviously be a good thing," he said.

In the United States, Archbishop Alex J. Brunett of Seattle, Catholic co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, said although he had not yet read the full report, from what he had seen it would not resolve the issues that had stalled the international dialogue.

"I don't think the study, from what I've seen, has resolved the issue because ... there isn't any format or structure yet present in the Anglican Church by which they can resolve these issues," he said Oct. 20.

The two prelates were reacting to the Oct. 18 release of The Windsor Report, commissioned by Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, England, spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Williams commissioned the report a year ago after the ordination of an actively gay bishop in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions in Canada's New Westminster Diocese. The actions threaten to split the Anglican Communion, which represents about 77 million Anglicans around the world.

Among its recommendations, The Windsor Report called for a moratorium on consecrations of gay bishops and on blessings of same-sex unions until the Anglican Communion's 38 self-governing provinces reach a consensus.

It also urged bishops who participated in the November 2003 ordination ceremony of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire to withdraw from international appointments and meetings until they expressed regret for causing "deep offense" to other Anglicans. The ordaining bishop, Episcopal Bishop Frank Griswold, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States, resigned as Anglican co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission Nov. 29, 2003.

However, the report also criticized Anglican bishops who had intervened to support traditionalist parishes since Bishop Robinson's appointment.

"We cannot avoid the conclusion that all have acted in ways incompatible with the communion principle of interdependence," said the report, produced by the 18-member Lambeth Commission on Communion, chaired by Anglican Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh, Northern Ireland.

"Our fellowship together has suffered immensely as a result," it said.

Although gay episcopal ordinations and same-sex unions are backed by a number of Anglican leaders in Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and South Africa, vigorous opposition has come from other bishops.

The Anglican Communion lacks any authority to enforce doctrinal matters, and The Windsor Report called for a nonbinding covenant to discourage Anglican provinces from acting unilaterally and to "sustain the minimal conditions" for church unity.

Archbishop Brunett said the key question was: "What is the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury? Nobody has the authority to really make an authoritative decision."

In 1998 the Lambeth Conference -- a gathering of the world's Anglican bishops held every 10 years -- upheld a ban on ordaining or "marrying" homosexuals as "contrary to Scripture."

However, Archbishop Brunett said, Anglican reports or conferences do not "clarify what the autonomy of national church bodies is or the right of dissent in these churches. So you've got a major part of the Anglican Church that's dissenting, in a sense, from what they decided at Lambeth."

The archbishop said he would be meeting at the Vatican Nov. 13 or 14 with representatives of the archbishop of Canterbury and with Vatican officials to analyze The Windsor Report and "whether or not we can now reopen the dialogue or whether we still have some serious issues."

A standing committee of Anglican primates is scheduled to discuss the report at a late-October meeting in London. Leaders of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. member of the Anglican Communion, are expected to discuss the document at talks in November and January.

However, in an Oct. 18 statement, Bishop Griswold said the U.S. church sought "to live the Gospel in a society where homosexuality is openly discussed and increasingly acknowledged in all areas of public life." He said he felt "obliged to affirm the presence and positive contribution of gay and lesbian persons to every aspect of (the) church and in all orders of ministry.

"Unless we go beyond containment and move to some deeper place of acknowledging and making room for the differences that will doubtless continue to be present in our communion, we will do disservice to our mission. A life of communion is not for the benefit of the church but for the sake of the world," he said.

Bishop Pargeter said he expected The Windsor Report to be discussed at a November session of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

"There's always been an element of difficulty in knowing whom one is dealing with, and who has the authority to represent the Anglican Communion, when evangelicals don't recognize the same principles as High Church Anglicans," the bishop said.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham welcomed The Windsor Report's emphasis on reconciliation and said he would refer it to the diocesan synod, which meets in May.

"We are glad that the report does leave open the door to further discussion about issues such as the ordination of gay or lesbian persons and the blessing of same-sex unions," Bishop Ingham said in a statement.

"We in this diocese will continue to respect the dignity of every human being, as our baptismal covenant says," he added. "We will continue to affirm the presence and the contributions of gay and lesbian persons in our church, within whom the spirit of God moves."

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Contributing to this story were Jerry Filteau in Washington and Deborah Gyapong in Ottawa.

END

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