Anglicans United & Latimer Press

The triennial governing convention, which will meet from June 19 to 25 in Winnipeg, is expected to consider whether dioceses and parishes may decide individually whether to allow blessing ceremonies for gay couples. It will consider a theological commission's opinion that such blessings touch upon the doctrine of marriage, but not on core Christian doctrine. It is also expected to consider a response to the Windsor Report, a document calling for a moratorium on the election of gay priests to the episcopate and on same-sex blessings.

Rev. George Sinclair, co-chair of the conservative Essentials group and rector of St. Alban the Martyr church in Ottawa, said in an interview that he would like to see the Anglican Church of Canada "embrace wholeheartedly" the view that homosexuality is contrary to Scripture and to Christian teaching. "If they don't, we hope that they will respect the conscience and livelihood of Canadians who are biblically-minded," he said.

He noted that Canada was cited in the primates' communiqué as one of two sources (the other being the U.S. Episcopal Church) of a breakdown in relationships in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

(In Canada, the Vancouver-based diocese of New Westminster has voted to allow parishes to offer blessing services for gay partners. In the U.S., the national church approved the election of Bishop Gene Robinson, who is gay, by the diocese of New Hampshire. Several U.S. dioceses also permit same-sex blessings.)

Looking toward Canada's General Synod, Mr. Sinclair said he thinks "there are many dioceses and a very powerful segment of the Anglican Church of Canada deeply committed to going in the direction of New Westminster."

The convention, he said, "might have a fudge. They might try to allow it (a 'local option') on the grounds of moving forward while making the appearance of not doing so - try to do both at the same time."

In April 2005, the Canadian house of bishops agreed not to make any new moves toward blessing same-sex unions at least until General Synod 2007. A month later, New Westminster voted to impose a moratorium on allowing any new parishes to permit same-sex blessings, but to continue to permit the ceremonies in those that have already received approval from the bishop. The moratorium lasts until General Synod revisits the issue in June.

The communiqué also took up the issue of primates and bishops that cross national and diocesan lines to supervise congregations at odds with liberal leaders. "My reading of the communiqué is that it rejects the moral equivalence" between a more-liberal view of homosexuality and interventions by foreign primates, said Mr. Sinclair.

Several dissenting parishes in New Westminster have chosen to affiliate with the conservative Anglican Mission in America, he noted, "some have chosen to stay but in a broken relationship."

Canon Charles Masters, national director of Essentials and rector of St. George's church in Campbellville, Ont., traveled to Tanzania with three other Canadians to meet with Global South primates before the main meeting.

He said the Canadians were there "to pray and be available to answer questions and the primates they met with "expressed concern and interest." He declined to name the primates with whom they met.

The communiqué, he said, contains a warning for the Episcopal Church and for the Canadian church. "There are consequences for membership in the Anglican Communion. The requirements are clear already and those same kinds of assurances need to be made in Canada," he said. General Synod, he added, will need to be clear in its response to the Windsor Report, noting that the primates criticized a lack of clarity from the Episcopal Church General Convention concerning same-sex blessings. (The convention, which met last June in Columbus, Ohio, rejected moves to limit such blessings, which are allowed to take place in some dioceses.)

Dean Peter Wall, of Christ's Church Cathedral in Hamilton, Ont. and chair of the General Synod planning committee, said synod delegates "might have a sense that we need not to be part of the problem, but part of the solution." However, he added, "I would hope that the Anglican Church of Canada would act in the way the Anglican Church of Canada needs to act and not feel undue pressure from external sources."

Chris Ambidge, a co-convener of the Toronto chapter of Integrity, a support group for gay Anglicans, said in an interview that he feels "the primates are trying to arrogate all sorts of power to themselves which they don't have. What happened to synodical government? Here are 38 primates barging in here and telling us what to do. That's not the way we've done things."

Mr. Ambidge said he saw a bullying tone in the communiqué, which set a deadline of Sept. 30 for U.S. bishops to say they will not authorize same-sex blessing rites or consent to the election of a gay candidate to the episcopate.

"I'm afraid that it will scare members of synod to say, 'Oh dear, we want to be nice to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, but we can't risk offending the communion.' It may harpoon any progress in terms of a full welcome for gays and lesbians," he said.

Canon Joyce Sanchez, chaplain to Montreal's Integrity chapter and associate priest at Christ Church Cathedral, said synod's actions may "depend on how people receive and understand the recommendations from Tanzania. We are not the Roman Catholic church with pronouncements from on high." Some will use the communiqué "as ammunition in the debate around blessing same-sex unions," she said.

As for relations with the worldwide Anglican Communion, she said the grouping, isn't "a uniform mass." Each province, or country, "has its own context and own understanding of the Gospel."

New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson said in a statement that Episcopalians should set aside the Anglican Communion's request for now "and get on with the work of the Gospel" even at the risk of losing their place in the Anglican fellowship.

"Doesn't Jesus challenge the greater whole to sacrifice itself for those on the margins?" Robinson said. "Now is the time for courage, not fear."

It was Robinson's first public statement on an ultimatum that Anglican leaders issued last week during a meeting in Tanzania. They gave the U.S. denomination until Sept. 30 to unequivocally pledge not to consecrate another gay bishop or authorize official prayers for same-sex couples. If it doesn't, the church risks a much-reduced role in the Anglican family of churches that trace their roots back to the Church of England.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. wing of world Anglicanism.

Robinson's comments were a direct criticism of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has been regarded as a liberal leader but left the Tanzania meeting saying the denomination should make concessions "for a season" until relationships with fellow Anglicans can be healed.

Jefferts Schori personally supports ordaining gays and voted to confirm Robinson in 2003; but, noting that the season of Lent was beginning, she said Anglican leaders — called primates — were asking for a "fast" by both sides in the debate. Conservative Anglican leaders have been asked to stop crossing into Episcopal territory to take control of breakaway conservative parishes.

Robinson said gays and lesbians were being asked to sacrifice much more than others. He compared Anglicans who oppose full acceptance of gays and lesbians to the Pharisees, and said Jesus would never have been asked to halt his ministries out of sensitivity to them.

"How will we explain this 'forbearance' to all those gay and lesbian Christians who have come to the Episcopal Church because, for the first time ever, they have believed that there is a place for them at God's table, not simply beneath it, hoping for fallen scraps?" he wrote.

Meeting these latest demands of the primates may not even avert a communion-wide split, so Episcopalians should decide in their own time whether accepting gays and lesbians is the right thing to do, he said.

"Does anyone believe that our full compliance with the primates' demands, our complete denunciation of our gay and lesbian members or my removal as bishop would make all this go away?" he asked. "For the first time in its history and at the hands of the larger communion, the Episcopal Church may be experiencing a little taste of the irrational discrimination and exclusion that is an everyday experience of its gay and lesbian members."

In a companion statement to gay and lesbian Christians, Robinson said they should not be "intimidated into doubting our own vision of God's will for the church."

Canon Bob Williams, a spokesman for Jefferts Schori, said she "is unwavering" in her commitment to a church open to all. "Her call to Lenten reflection provides space for individuals and for the church corporately to contemplate next steps forward," he said.

Among what else Archbishop Venables said, which does not appear on the video, was his pleasure at being able to report the freedom at the meeting in Tanzania for everyone to express themselves. 'There was no political pressure,' he said. 'No-one was intimidated by any one Primate. That was significant, and helped the meeting a lot.' He said the communique was 'as good as we could expect from the meeting.'

The Archbishop, who the day before was interviewed by the Sunday prgramme, continued: 'There was a desire to find a way forward but there was a great deal of suspicion and tension. It was polite and cordial, but there was a lot of suspicion and an awareness that there were a lot of agendas.'

He admitted it was unlikely TEC would be able to comply with the September 30 deadline. 'They are just continuing with what they did as a result of conviction. It is extremely unlikely that they will back off. It would be a complete denial of everything that has happened. The problem is, they will use legalese and their ways of following the letter of the law. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has said over the last couple of days that at no point has TEC been asked to stop blessing same-sex relationships. They have been asked not to authorise rites. It shows that even if they understand the spirit of it, they are not following the spirit.'

He said the point of the meeting had been to get the covenant sorted out. This meant creating space so that the two vital questions at the heart of the debate could be confronted: do the different parts of the Communion want to be in a relationship with each other, and can they be in a relationship. 'The covenant will help us answer that. We want to live in a relational church, but can we, theologically? People want to belong to the Anglican Communion for all sorts of reasons, but I am not sure they want to live together. There is not a lot of love lost. Were there love there, we would not be doing what we are doing.' TEC wants to be in the Communion because it wants to be part of the larger church, he said. 'Without a doubt, some of them care about the concept of the Church Catholic.'

The one thing lacking, he finds, is a willingness to sit down and talk about belief. 'It is all about strategy.'

So can it all hold together for the future?

'I personally think there is not enough good will, or the opportunities to develop the relationships needed to make it happen.' He believes the States could become a separate The Episcopal Church, and acknowledges there is already a large number who would want to be part of an Episcopal Church. He named Mexico, Central America and Brazil as partners who would consider themselves Episcopal. He sees the CofE remaining in the Anglican Communion.

Posted by Ruth Gledhill on Monday, 26 February 2007 at 10:40 PM in Anglican Communion |

Washington, D.C. attorneys Mary A. McReynolds and Steffen N. Johnson asked by letter on February 22 that the litigation be put on hold after the communiqué (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_82571_ENG_HTM.htm) issued at the end of the recent Primates' Meeting "urge[d] the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation."

The Primates' recommendation concerning litigation was one of a number of interrelated recommendations (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_82570_ENG_HTM.htm) which they made concerning the way the Episcopal Church should deal with disagreements among its members.

In their February 26 reply, David Booth Beers, chancellor to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and his colleague Heather H. Anderson, first reminded the two attorneys that the Anglican Communion is a federation and not a "juridical or legislative body."

Thus, they wrote, it "has no legal authority over the affairs of its members."

"Rather, through a series of meetings of its members, the bishops and other representatives of the member churches from time to time adopt teachings and policies as recommendations to those churches," Beers and Anderson wrote.

In the case of the Communiqué, Beers and Anderson said that the Primates' recommendations are "interrelated," and they noted that the Primates recognized that the Episcopal Church must generate ways to handle differences among its members "within its own life."

The full story may be found at:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_82836_ENG_HTM.htm

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

Its pews are full of Roman Catholics and Christians from other traditions attracted by its aura of radical acceptance.

Now the conservatives who numerically dominate the global Anglican Communion have handed their Episcopal branch in the U.S. an ultimatum that requires the church to reel in the rainbow if it wants to remain a part of the Communion.

With a communiqué issued in Tanzania on Monday after a five-day meeting, the leaders of Anglican provinces around the world (known as primates) asked the U.S. branch to bar gays from becoming bishops and to stop official blessings of same-sex unions. The communiqué even specified a deadline: Sept. 30.

There is no certainty at all that Episcopal leaders will comply. In interviews last week, some liberal and moderate leaders who constitute the church's majority voiced everything from confusion to serious misgivings to defiance. Many took umbrage at what they see as meddling by foreign primates imposing their culture and theological interpretations on the American church.

"Being part of the Anglican Communion is very important to me," said Bishop Mark Sisk of New York. "But if the price of that is I have to turn my back on the gay and lesbian people who are part of this church and part of me, I won't do that."

On her way home from the meeting in Tanzania, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, wrote three pages of "Reflections on the Primates Meeting" that were released late Tuesday.

Many in her church had been eager to hear her explain why she signed on to the communique, when she, as much as anyone, is clearly a product of the church's inclusive culture. In her former diocese in Nevada, she allowed the blessing of same-sex unions and consented to the election of Gene Robinson, a gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. She is the first woman to be presiding bishop and the first female primate in the Anglican Communion.

In her "reflections," Jefferts Schori struck a tone of respect for those on both sides: "Both parties hold positions that can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority -- scripture, tradition, and reason -- but each finds it very difficult to understand and embrace the other."
She suggested that the struggle for equality for gay men and lesbians would eventually prevail, just as the slaves in Africa were eventually freed.

Conservatives in the church were also wary about the communique's plan, but generally far more upbeat than the liberals. The communique recommends that the Episcopal Church establish two unprecedented new positions, a council and a "primatial vicar," who will be primarily responsible for the pastoral care of the conservatives within the Episcopal Church, so they don't have to turn to primates from other countries.

Bishop Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, who addressed the primates in Tanzania on behalf of the conservatives, said of the communique's recommendations, "I believe it to be the beginning of a process, a mechanism that will enable us to work toward healing and reconciliation."
The most despairing reactions came from gay men and lesbians in the church who say this is not reconciliation, but capitulation.

"They're trying to make people choose between the Communion and the church's commitment to gay and lesbian people," said the Rev. Michael Hopkins, a priest in Rochester, N.Y., and the former president of Integrity, a long-established organization of gay and lesbian Episcopalians.

Although the Episcopal Church is known as an inclusive haven, Hopkins said, he already knows gay men and lesbians who are leaving. He said, "People like me can only convince other people to hang in there for so long."

Analysis

Q&A on the Rift
Q. What is the Anglican Communion's teaching about sex?
The teaching is that sex is for married heterosexual couples. That teaching states that gay people are children of God and members of the church but that homosexual behavior is "incompatible with Scripture." The Episcopal Church directly challenged those views in 2003 when it consecrated Gene Robinson, a gay man living with his partner, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Q. What happens if the Episcopal Church does not meet the demands?
The primates warned that if the U.S. church does not or cannot give the reassurances they seek, it risks having to play a reduced role in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

Q. Who will decide how the Episcopalians will respond?
Church officials say it is not clear that the bishops, who are scheduled to meet for a retreat in March, have the authority to answer the primates' demands on their own. The Episcopal Church's next General Convention, which would include lay and clergy delegates, is not scheduled to be held until 2009.

Q. What has the Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said so far?
Reflecting on the meeting, she noted that Lent was about to begin and said that both sides in the dispute were being asked to undergo a period of "fasting," pointing out that the primates had made requests not just of liberals, but of conservatives, too. Liberals were asked to stop blessing same-sex couples and consecrating gay bishops; conservative primates were asked to refrain from "transgressing diocesan boundaries" during the next seven months.

Q. Where are the largest Anglican churches found?
The Anglican Communion's largest provinces, or national and regional churches, are England, with 26 million members, Nigeria with 17.5 million and Uganda with 8 million. The U.S. branch has 2.3 million members.
The archbishop of Canterbury, currently the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, is the spiritual head of the denomination, but its 38 churches are considered autonomous. Williams, in other words, does not have the authority to force a solution in the current crisis.

Why do you think alcohol flows so freely at bachelorette parties? Something must be done to calm her down, right?

So, what happens when there are two brides? Does that double the potential for a nuclear wedding meltdown? Should wedding planners run in fear from lesbian clients? Are lesbian weddings a recipe for disaster? Really, it depends on the lesbians; when the two women in question are both Episcopal clergy, that certainly changes things a bit.

Case in point: When Kate Lewis and Pat Hendrickson decided to marry, they didn’t hire a wedding planner. They didn’t get swept up in all the wedding hoopla. For the two women, getting married was solely about asking for a blessing from God and their community. It was, for all intents and purposes, as simple as a wedding could be. These were not two crazy, stressed out brides; these were two grown women who, after much time and careful thought, knew what they wanted for the rest of their lives.

Heart is where the home is

Kate, dressed in black pants, a red sweater and a white, clerical collar (they’d both just come from church) sits cross-legged on the couch next to Pat in the living room of their Thousand Oaks home. It is an airy, comfortable, two-story house that they love. Even though Kate works as a priest at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach and Pat is a deacon at St. Augustine by the Sea in Santa Monica, moving closer to work is out of the question. This is their home.

They’ve been married for almost three years and together for nearly 10. “It’s almost 10,” says Pat, smiling, “That’s so cool!”

Kate nods in agreement, offers her hand for a quick high-five and the two giggle. Their chemistry is playful and warm. They tease each other affectionately about everything from driving habits to communication styles. Pat is a tall woman with cropped silver hair; Kate is smaller, with brown hair and warm, pink cheeks.

The two met at a Cursillo Weekend, a sort of church retreat, and instantly became close friends. However, it didn’t take very long for them to realize that they were embarking on a relationship that was more than a friendship. They talked for hours on the phone, “and I don’t talk on the phone,” says Pat. They just clicked.

As clichéd as it might sound, their relationship had the requisite fireworks. Neither had been in a relationship with a woman before, so first they had to come out to themselves. After that, things moved quickly: Within six months, they were living together. In 2000, they registered as domestic partners and moved to Berkeley, where they lived in married student housing for three years while Kate, who left behind a high-paying job as a script supervisor in Hollywood, trained to become a priest.

When the two returned to Thousand Oaks in 2002, they began seriously considering marriage.

Tying the knot

So what was the first thing Kate and Pat did after deciding to marry? While most newly engaged couples might have started picking out gifts on their registry, these two chose to begin a full year of premarital counseling. They laugh a little, admitting to the length of their program, as this sort of counseling is usually wrapped up in six sessions. “It helped us really know that this was the step we wanted to take,” says Pat. “More married couples should do it. We got to work a lot on communication.”

“We’re still working on it,” says Kate, out of the side of her mouth, with spot-on comedic timing.

Then, like almost all engaged couples, they set a date and went ring shopping. Their rings are simple, braided bands, no diamonds. The date? Mother’s Day, May 9, 2004.

They made their own wedding invitations, which asked friends and family to join the couple as they “joyfully commit their lives to one another.” And while they invited friends and family, they also fully expected a large number of strangers at their wedding as well. Embracing a tiny trend in the Episcopal Church, Pat and Kate planned to have their ceremony as part of the main Sunday service. Meaning that a number of people (including tourists) who thought they were simply showing up for Sunday church, ended up as guests at Pat and Kate’s wedding ceremony.

“No one left. A few were surprised, though,” says Kate.

Dressed in matching tan pants and colorful, pink sweaters, Pat and Kate were married on a gorgeous day at St. Augustine by the Sea in Santa Monica. The wedding service was read from the Book of Common Prayer (traditional wedding vows) with just one alteration — the line about procreation was omitted, which, Kate points out, is already done for couples over the age of 60 when they are married. Pat’s grandson, Caydon, dressed in a miniature white tuxedo, was the ring barer. (At the time, Caydon was not quite 1 year old.)

After the daytime service, wedding guests were invited to an outdoor reception in the church’s courtyard. There, guests enjoyed a light meal and a wedding cake baked by one of the couple’s friends. During the reception, Kate and Pat’s rector presented them with an interesting gift: A marriage license signed by none other than George W. Bush. “I guess you can just send in for them,” says Kate, laughing.

All in all, it was a simple affair. Afterward, instead of hopping a flight to Hawaii, the two brides returned home. “We sort of surprised ourselves at how …” Pat struggles for a way to describe the feelings she experienced that night, after the ceremony.

“Touched?” suggests Kate.

“How touched we were by having that service,” says Pat.

The politics of marriage

A woman approached Pat after the wedding ceremony. She had come to church that morning with her daughters, not knowing that there would be a wedding. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that we were here to see this happen,” she said to Pat. It was a moment that has remained etched in Pat’s memory.

For Pat and Kate, getting married wasn’t about politics. The thrust, as Kate puts it, was religious. However, neither denies the fact that what they did was a political act. Because gay marriage is not legal in California, Kate and Pat cannot be legally “married.” However, they are as close as they can possibly be, legally. They explain that their bishop requires gay couples who are going to be married to have all their logistical ducks in a row — domestic partnership, power of attorney, a will, health directives — things that heterosexual couples considering marriage need not worry about.

“We wanted to make an example of ourselves,” says Kate, acknowledging the almost intrinsically political nature of their wedding ceremony.

Pat leans forward a little on the couch. She is dressed in black pants, a green blouse and a white, clerical collar. “We’re not in your face,” she explains. “But just by being who we are, it knocks down stereotypes.”
Later, upstairs, while looking through wedding photographs on the computer, Pat laughs at a few of the pictures. “You can’t have a gay wedding without the color pink, right?” asks Kate, smiling, while pointing out their bright wedding-day sweaters. The ceremony was nearly three years ago, but it is fresh in their memories. There they are exchanging vows. There Pat is, bent over in near hysterics at the sight of the George W. Bush-approved marriage license bearing their names. There is the happy couple standing proudly in front of the homemade wedding cake. Their hair was a bit longer. They were a few years younger. But here they are, still the same happy couple. Perhaps happier, if that’s possible.

So, now that they’ve done the whole wedding thing, what’s next on their agenda? Maybe trying to appear on the reality TV show, The Amazing Race. Because, after all, “how could they say ‘no’ to lesbian clergy?” asks Kate.
02-22-2007

As I read the Communiqué from the Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I am deeply troubled by its implications for the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

I continue to offer the Primates my affection, prayer and companionship along the way of the
Cross and I respect their leadership of our Communion. Their Communiqué, however, raises
profound and serious issues regarding their authority to require any member Church to take
the types of specific actions the Communiqué contemplates and whether they have authority to
enforce consequences or penalties against any member Church that does not act in a way they
desire. The type of authority for the Primates implicit in the Communiqué would change not
only the Episcopal Church but the essence of the Anglican Communion.

The polity of the Episcopal Church is one of shared decision making among the laity, priest
and deacons and bishops. The House of Bishops does not make binding, final decisions about
the governance of the Church. Decisions like those requested by the Primates must be
carefully considered and ultimately decided by the whole Church, all orders of ministry,
together.

Some are asking whether the Primates can ask our House of Bishops to take certain actions and put a deadline on their request. Yes, they can ask. There are larger questions that need to be addressed, including: Is it a good idea for our House of Bishops to do what they have asked? Is the House of Bishops the right body within the Episcopal Church to respond to the Primates' requests?

Our baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all people must be very carefully considered when we are being asked as Episcopalians to exclude some of our members from answering the Holy Spirit's call to use their God-given gifts to lead faithful lives of ministry. Our promise to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of all people binds us together. The Episcopal Church has declared repeatedly that our understanding of the Baptismal Covenant requires that we treat all persons equally regardless of their race, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disabilities, age, color, ethnic origin, or national origin.

To honor all of the Primates' requests would change the way the Episcopal Church understands its role in the Communion and the way Episcopalians make decisions about our common life. Our church makes policy and interprets its resolutions and Canons through the General Convention and, to a lesser extent, the Executive Council.

As president of the 800-plus member House of Deputies, it is my duty to ensure that the voice of the clergy and the laity of our Church will be heard as the Church discusses and debates the Primates' requests and that that process will not be pre-empted by the House of Bishops or any other group. I have already begun to work toward that end.

All Anglicans must remember that the second Lambeth Conference in 1878 recommended that "the duly certified action of every national or particular Church, and of each ecclesiastical province (or diocese not included in a province), in the exercise of its own discipline, should be respected by all the other Churches, and by their individual members."

This has been the tradition of the Anglican Communion. To demand strict uniformity of practice diminishes our Anglican traditions.

Our tradition of autonomous churches in the Anglican Communion, that come together because of our love of Christ and our common heritage, has allowed us to focus on mission and evangelism to our broken world which is in desperate need of the Good News of God in Christ. In recent times, however, we have spent too much of our time, talent and treasure debating if we ought to deny some people a place at the table to which Jesus calls us all. Instead, we must listen to each other - really listen and not just read reports - so that we can hear the voice of
the Holy Spirit moving through all of us and calling us to be more faithful.

But the effort to keep the worldwide Church in one piece was worthwhile, even though it might look like a dysfunctional family heading for the divorce courts, Dr Williams said in an article for The Daily Telegraph.

The Archbishop said that the "painful intensity" of the talks, which very nearly ended in a split, had not represented the "easy option".

But there was a need for a worldwide Christian Church that "could balance unity and consent" for the sake of human society.

The Archbishop's comments, his first since the end of the five-day meeting near Dar Es Salaam on Monday, follow growing outrage from liberals over the final statement issued by the primates.

The strongly-worded, unanimous communique gave the liberal American Episcopal Church just seven months to prove that it has fully reversed its pro-gay agenda or face expulsion.

A number of liberal American bishops, from New York to California, have already said that they would prefer schism to reversing their pro-gay policies and others are expected to follow.

The Bishop of Connecticut, the Rt Rev Andrew Smith, said: "If the primates are asking us to undo what we have already done, that is a step many of the bishops would be unwilling to take."

The mood in the Church of England, which is facing a highly-charged debate on homosexuality and civil partnerships at its General Synod in London on Wednesday, was also tense.

The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Tom Wright, said the outcome of the primates' meeting had been a triumph for Dr Williams as many people had feared that it would end in schism, and he called for calm.

But the Rev Richard Kirker, the chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said that the primates' policy was "as worthless as Chamberlain's piece of paper from Hitler."

He added: "Stalling for more time, equivocating, appeasing, and colluding with homophobia will not stand the test of time or close scrutiny.

"At a time when we are celebrating the end of slavery, the Anglican Primates, perversely, seem willing to enslave and scapegoat gays. Who wants to belong to such a cruel Church?"

Led by Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola and Kenya's Benjamin Nzimbi, the bishops said if Canterbury "does not come back to us by September 30, we will decide whether they will continue being with us or not."

"Let us know if they will have stopped celebrating same sex marriages and ordaining homosexuals," Bishop Akinola who is the chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (Capa) said during the launch of an HIV /Aids prevention plan at Panafric Hotel.

Lambeth meeting

The council works in 12 Anglican provinces in Africa and the Indian Ocean. These include Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Others are Cameroon, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, South Africa and Kenya.

Bishop Akinola regretted that even after Lambeth meeting in 1998 which advocated marriage between man and woman and resolved that the church did not support gay marriages, Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire who was divorced and was living in a homosexual union, was re-admitted to the church, splitting the Anglican communion worldwide.

Bishop Akinola said although African bishops had demanded repentance from churches which had embraced homosexuality and that the practice be stopped, nothing had been done. "They have failed to meet all our requirements. We decided to continue together in love but given them another chance to stop by the end of September," the bishops said.

He said there was no way Anglicans in Africa could continue working together with those supporting homosexuality as it was contrary to Bible teachings.

Bishop Akinola described homosexuality as a global problem.

"If God said it is not right, who am I to say it is?" he asked.

Bishop Nzimbi said homosexuality was against biblical teachings and that is why "God made Adam and Eve". The Bishop said those allowing homosexuality went against church teaching which says "marriage is between a man and a woman."

He said the churches that had embraced same sex relationships should go and "put things right."

"We will see if they comply by September 30," the bishop said.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that Anglicans in Africa planned to form a splinter group after September 30 if some churches in the West continued to embrace homosexuality.

Yesterday, Bishop Nzimbi and Akinola further supported talks on plans to merge Anglicans and Catholics.

They said the negotiations have been on for 40 years and that the two churches separated 500 years ago due to fundamental differences.

Major churches

The differences, they said, included Eucharist and views of the Virgin Mary-the mother of Jesus.

Bishop Nzimbi said the Catholics and Anglicans were exploring ways on how they could "mission and run their affairs together".

"We want to encourage ecumenism and give glory to God. We don't want people to exploit our divisions," Bishop Nzimbi said.

The clergyman said a committee working on the re-unification of the two major churches would tell how they would work together.

Reports of radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope came as archbishops who lead 38 province of Anglican Communion met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania early this week.

The regions were represented by eight archbishops Nzimbi, Akinola, Bernard Ntahoturi, Bernard Malango, Justice Afiofi, Ian nest, Fidel Dirokpa and Emmanuel Kolini.

Now, Episcopalians are asking themselves whether the cost of membership has become too high.

"We made our 'yes' to gays and lesbians," wrote the Rev. Ann Fontaine of the Diocese of Wyoming, in an examination of the Anglican demands. "Let it stand."

The global Anglican Communion, represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church, has spent years debating how its 77 million members should interpret Scripture on salvation, truth and sexuality.

But for theological conservatives, the time for talk ended in 2003 when the U.S. denomination consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. To them, the confirmation was beyond the bounds of true Christianity.

Ever since, Episcopalians have had a tough lesson in what it means to be Anglican in the 21st century. The communion was once dominated by its North American and European provinces. But these days, its biggest and fastest-growing churches — by far — are in parts of the developing world where traditional Bible beliefs aren't questioned.

As a result, Episcopalians have found themselves on the defensive.

It's no coincidence that Archbishop Peter Akinola, head of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, is leading the charge against consecrating gays. With its 17.5 million members, the Nigerian church is more than seven times bigger than the U.S. denomination.

Episcopalians who share these conservative views of Scripture are in the minority in their own church. But by putting their time, energy and resources behind overseas traditionalists, they have helped move the communion toward the kind of demands they made this week.

Anglican leaders ended their meeting Monday in Tanzania by giving the Episcopal Church until Sept. 30 to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for blessing same-sex couples. If that promise is not given, the Episcopal Church could face a much reduced role in the Anglican world.

Many Episcopalians say they're being asked to give up what they cherish most about their denomination: its emphasis on social justice in Scripture, which led them to accept gay relationships, and its democratic policy making that gives lay people and clergy a vote in major decisions.

They look at what they've already done to mend the rifts and consider it more than enough.

The church has apologized repeatedly for failing to more fully consult with Anglican leaders before confirming Robinson — although it hasn't apologized for consecrating him. Episcopal leaders have explained themselves before Anglican panels and in countless private meetings.

If the Anglican family is forcing a choice between rejecting gays or going it alone, the liberal view says, then it may be time to say goodbye.

"If how others view us becomes our consuming concern, our mission will suffer or die," said Bishop Paul Marshall of the Diocese of Bethlehem, Pa., in a letter to his congregations Wednesday.

But the head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, returned from the Tanzania meeting saying the denomination should make the very concessions liberals abhor "for a season" until relationships with fellow Anglicans can be healed.

Jefferts Schori personally supports ordaining gays, and she has upset some with her willingness to agree to the Anglican leaders' demands. Yet, she is not alone in wanting to keep the U.S. affiliation with the communion.

Bishop Kirk Smith of the Diocese of Arizona told his parishioners this week that "my heart breaks" at the thought of stepping back from full inclusion of gays and lesbians.

"However, I believe that we are at a moment in our history when we must remain together," Smith said. "I am committed to a fully inclusive church, but I am also committed to remaining part of the larger Anglican Communion." It's a bond that goes back hundreds of years, with roots in the Church of England.

Anglican leaders said Monday that the Episcopalians' pledge would have to hold until "a new consensus emerges" over sexuality.

But that might never happen, considering the intense differences over sexuality.

Whatever the Episcopal House of Bishops decides over the next seven months, the church can easily survive without the communion. The 2.3 million-member U.S. denomination may be relatively small, but it is affluent — and well situated to continue its missions with other Christians overseas.

In fact, the Anglican Communion itself may suffer more from any broken ties.

A significant chunk of its budget comes from the U.S. church.

"If they agree to stop, there will be a huge celebration of the [Anglican] communion," Akinola told journalists in Nairobi on 22 February following a meeting of Anglican leaders from around the world in neighbouring Tanzania. "But if they chose to continue with it as a way of life, then they will be told to walk away from the communion.

The leaders, known as primates, from the worldwide Anglican Communion, said the US denomination must declare unequivocally it would not authorise same-sex blessings and that no one living in a same-sex union would be made a bishop. Failure to do so would have "consequences for the full participation of the [US] church in the life of the [Anglican] Communion", they said.

The stand-off was triggered in 2003 after the US church consecrated V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay divorced father, as a bishop in New Hampshire. Many Anglican leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin America are opposed to the views of what they say is a minority from the West who are more tolerant of homosexuality in the Church.

"We still say marriage is between a man and woman as it was ordained by God. We need to stick to that. We told those churches that were not sticking to that, to go and put these things right," said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya at the 22 February media conference.

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda told Ecumenical News International in Nairobi: "It is a process. You can't tell them to break a system in day. It will take time. But at least we agreed on our differences."

The Episcopal Church risks being severed from the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, the largest, most unified Protestant denomination in the world. The question roiling the global body is whether it can be multicultural enough to include literal believers in Nigeria as well as liberals in the Bay Area.

In the Bay Area diocese, which is believed to have performed more same-sex unions than any other in the country, many Episcopalians say unity must not come at any cost.

"I'm resolved that we're not going to turn our backs on any members of the diocese," said Bishop Marc Andrus, who oversees the 27,000-member diocese covering San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa counties and part of Santa Clara County. "If we have unity where we have hollowed out our moral core to achieve it, then it's a hollow victory. ... I don't think we can build our unity on a foundation of injustice."

The issue of sexual orientation has been stirring the Anglican Communion since 2003, when the Episcopal Church approved the consecration of a gay, partnered man as a bishop of New Hampshire. More than a third of the 38 Anglican Communion provinces worldwide had declared themselves as being in "broken" or "impaired" relations over the issue.

Only about 1 in 10 U.S. dioceses have asked to be overseen by foreign provinces, such as those more conservative branches in Africa or South America. Some individual parishes -- including St. John's Anglican Church in Petaluma -- already align with provinces abroad.

But on Monday in Tanzania, a gathering of the 38 leaders of those provinces, including the Episcopal Church, collectively issued an ultimatum. They want the Episcopal Church's bishops to unequivocally state by Sept. 30 that they will not authorize rites for same-sex blessings and declare that clergy in homosexual relationships cannot be approved as bishops.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church, issued a statement on Tuesday that characterized the global church's moratorium on same-sex blessings and gay bishops as "a season of fasting."

That logic upsets religious conservatives as well as supporters of gay Christians. While liberals see it as a suppression of justice, conservatives see it as a lie because the Episcopal Church actively supports gay and lesbian Christians.

Temporarily hiding one's beliefs is wrong, said the Rev. David Miller, rector of St. John's in Petaluma, which is now aligned with a province in South America.

"If you're not addressing what you believe, you eventually are going to enact it in the actions of the church," Miller said. "You will continue to encourage gays and lesbians to participate in the life of the church without being told that they need to repent of their sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Gospel."

Some church members don't see how a moratorium on same-sex blessings will change views so fundamentally opposed, said the Rev. Van McAlister, a spokesman for the Diocese of San Joaquin, which encompasses Episcopal churches in 14 Central Valley counties. The conservative diocese, headed by Bishop John-David Schofield, is leading the charge to secede from the Episcopal Church.

"I don't see the bishop having a sudden revelation from Scripture that he's misread it after all these years," McAlister said. "I'd be surprised if the leadership of the Episcopal Church had a similar revelation by Sept. 30."

For Christians who are homosexual, the Bay Area offers an array of places to worship and marry using the same rites as heterosexuals. But remaining Episcopal is vital to many church members who are gay and lesbian.

At the Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco, the garb of clergy, the number of ministers at the altar and certain rites are so traditional that they go back to the thousand years in which the Church of England was part of the Roman Catholic tradition. The Church of England split off in 1597, and its branches around the world became the Anglican Communion.

For the Rev. Paul Burrows, those "high church" or "Anglo-Catholic" rites connect him on a deeper spiritual level to history, tradition and people around the world.

"Being part of a worldwide church is very important to us," said Burrows, who is gay, like an estimated one-fourth of the Diocese of California's clergy. "It's not just what we individually believe, but what we believe as a community. Being together as a community is an essential element of what our faith is about."

Same-sex unions have been a painful subject for many gays in the diocese because they fall short of marriage -- or any consistent practice of rituals. There have never been authorized rites for same-sex unions, as there are for baptism, for example, so they have varied in practice.

The Anglican Communion's directive this week wants to ensure that there is no official practice.

Even if the Episcopal Church should agree with that request, that won't change ministry toward gays and lesbians, said the Rev. John Kirkley, board president for Oasis California, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ministry in the Bay Area diocese.

"The fact that a rite is not authorized does not mean same-sex blessings will not happen," said Kirkley, who also is the rector at St. John the Evangelist in San Francisco. "In fact, I'm absolutely positive they'll continue to happen. I know I'll be performing them."

Jonathan Streeter and his partner, Devin Tau, had a "Mass and celebration" for their union last year. Streeter is annoyed that he can't call it a marriage, but he wants to respect the church's rules.

"You have to be contorted about it," he said. "It's ridiculous."

But he wanted to have his union affirmed by his Noe Valley congregation, Holy Innocents.

"This marriage takes place in a spiritual context, not just a celebratory context," he said. "In my view, a relationship is not simply about a biological pairing within a culture; it's informed by my relationship with God."

E-mail Matthai Chakko Kuruvila at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/21/MNGTLO80MQ47.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Four American bishops testified on Feb 15 before a special session of the Primates Meeting, describing the situation in the American church. Bishops Bruce McPherson of Western Louisiana and C. Christopher Epting of the Presiding Bishop’s staff left the meeting following after they gave their testimony, while Bishop Duncan and Presiding Bishop Katharine Schori stayed through the end. A last minute push to reach an agreement moved the close from mid-day to near midnight, preventing him from staying until the close. Bishop Duncan spoke to CEN on Feb 20 in Zurich moments after reading the text of the Communiqué.

Q: Bishop Duncan what is your initial response to the Communiqué?

A: My initial response to the Communiqué is quite positive. There remain a number of things we still have to work through, but I am pleased. Many wanted this meeting to settle things. We all want things settled. We want them settled yesterday. That is not how it works in Anglicanism, but this is a very good move forward.

Q: Do the Primates recommendations follow along the lines of the requests made by the Camp Allen bishops last year?

A: Yes, the Camp Allen principles are there, but there is much more. If one were to compare the Camp Allen principles sent to the Primates with what the Primates Communiqué says in notable areas like legal battles, we raised those questions and they are included in a very significant way.

Q: What would you tell the person in the pew, what should they come away with after having read this?

A: They should come away encouraged. They must recognize that this is a very significant reformation. Another important chapter of the reform of the Chu rch and that this reformation has moved forward. They should also persevere. If they want to find a place where all the questions are answered, they won’t find that until they are on the other side of this life.

Q: There appear to be two issues at play within the Communiqué, one of structure and one of doctrine. Is there a priority? Do the primates believe they need to get the structure right to enforce doctrine?

A: My initial reaction is that I don’t agree with that. What was behind this is the doctrinal piece. This meeting was about doctrine, that is to say will the doctrinal test be upheld, and it has been. That is very significant.

Q: Are you saying the debate is not over the rightness of the actions of the Episcopal Church’s actions, but that the Episcopal Church has acted improperly and the primates debate was over what they are going to do about it?

A: I think that is true.

Q: What would you say to your colleagues in the House of Bishops? This statement is addressed to them for action.

A: To my colleagues in the House of Bishops what I have said for a very long time is ‘come back, live within the boundaries.’ We are significantly divided. I know that my colleagues, that most bishops will do what their conscience directs them, and that will put us in a very divided house.

Q: Do you have any observations to make following your encounters with the Primates of the Global South this week in Dar es Salaam?

A: Their commitment, their vigor is real. With some exceptions, they are as united as they have ever been. Again, America presents a challenge as they try to respond to the situation there. I think they would all be very happy for the American issue to be settled. That was their hope for this meeting, as it was ours. It hasn’t been settled yet, but it is well on the road.

Q: Does this communiqué tacitly affirm the request made by seven dioceses for alternative primatial oversight, or a commissary?

A: This document recognized the large number of bishops, clergy, and people who are completely with the received teaching of the Communion. We have asked for oversight from the Primates and at this meeting, I reaffirmed this request. This document goes a very long way towards providing that. The document recognizes that there are some in the Episcopal Church who for theological reasons and for ecclesiological reasons cannot recognize Katharine Jefferts Schori as our primate. The document recognizes the legitimacy of our request of opening a space between the two sides while the covenant process moves forward. It is a very acceptable result.

What I think I really want to say is that I am cautiously optimistic. Anglicanism, as represented by the Primates at this meeting, has stood with the faith once delivered. We are in the midst of a reformation, and still have much work ahead for us.

–From the Church of England Newspaper, 22 February 2007 edition

“Let us pray it doesn't take another hundred years for yet-unborn primates to gather for a service of repentance for what the church has done to its gay and lesbian members today, as they repented in Zanzibar yesterday for what it did to those the church failed to embrace as full members of the Body of Christ.”

The Rev. Michael Hopkins, immediate past President of Integrity had this
reaction: “Jesus weeps, and so do I. If the House of Bishops (or any other body with actual authority in this church) capitulates to these demands and sacrifices gay and lesbian people to the idol of the Instruments of Unity, it will have become the purveyor of an “anti-Gospel” that will (and should) repel many.”

Integrity encourages its membership and allies to directly contact their bishops—urging them to reject the demands of the primates. Our leadership will seek an immediate meeting with the Presiding Bishop to express our deep concerns and encourage the Executive Council to insist on the inclusion of all orders of ministry in the ongoing process of discernment on Anglican Communion issues.
The Rev. Susan Russell, Presidentpresident@integrityusa.org 714-356-5718 (mobile)626-583-2741 (office) Mr. John Gibson, Director of Communicationsjhngb@aol.com 917-518-1120 (mobile)

Even until the last night of our meeting, we were in a deadlock. But, the Lord has prevailed. Biblical authority is being restored, and from that, we are hopeful that Biblical mission will be the result. Thank you for upholding me and all of the Primates in your prayers.

ACTIONS TOWARD TEC

In 2003, the Episcopal Church USA, now abbreviated as TEC (T – E – C), culminated years of their theological revision by consecrating as Bishop a divorced man living in a same-sex relationship. This was a blatant action in violation of Scripture and the historic teaching of the Church.

As the Primates wrote at the end of an emergency meeting in October 2003, this action has torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level. In fact, the Church of Uganda, along with 21 other Provinces of the 38 Provinces in the Anglican Communion, broke communion with TEC. Accordingly, I have not received Holy Communion at any Primates meeting since then – I did not receive Holy Communion in 2005 in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, and the two times we celebrated Holy Communion at this meeting in Tanzania, I did not receive Holy Communion.

Scripture teaches that before coming to sit with one another at the Lord’s Table we must be reconciled. (Matthew 5:23-26 and 1 Corinthians 11:27-29). I, along with several other of my brother Primates, were unable to come to the Holy Table with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church because to do so would be a violation of Scriptural teaching and the traditional Anglican understanding of Holy Communion. The Prayer Book invitation to Holy Communion makes this very clear. It says, “Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith.” (Book of Common Prayer)

The Primates Communiqué from our last meeting in 2005 in Dromatine, Northern Ireland, put in place several recommendations in order for trust to be restored within the Communion, which TEC was supposed to address at its General Convention in June of 2006. While TEC may have done the best they could at the time, it was not good enough. We need reassurance that they are really serious. So, we have asked for two simple things before 30th September.

1. The House of Bishops of TEC needs to make an unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not authorise any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions in their dioceses or through General Convention
2. The House of Bishops of TEC needs to make a statement that all its members will definitely NOT consent to the consecration of any person as a Bishop who is living in a same-sex union

If they do not give these assurances, it will have “consequences for the full participation of [their] Church in the life of the [Anglican] Communion.” TEC’s Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, signed this Communiqué. We pray that she will take it more seriously than her predecessor did when he signed our Communiqués but proceeded to denounce and violate them.

The Church of Uganda remains in broken communion with TEC until they demonstrate true repentance. We continue to reject funds from official TEC sources and from American dioceses who have revised historic and Biblical faith and morality.

Once again, I take this opportunity to urge our Church to embrace this season as a God-given opportunity to vigorously pursue self-sustainability for our Church. We are a strong, healthy, and vibrant Church. We have tremendous assets – natural and human resources. I urge us to pray and work for the release of our God-given creativity to harness these resources not only for the self-sustainability of God’s Church here in Uganda, but for it to thrive and even support the mission of God’s Church in our neighbouring countries. God has blessed us in Uganda. And, when God blesses, we have a spiritual obligation to be a blessing to others.

OUR PARTNERS

Since the dramatic and unbiblical decision of TEC in 2003, a number of congregations in America have appealed to the Church of Uganda to provide a safe place of refuge for them. Ten of our Bishops are now providing ecclesiastical oversight to more than 20 congregations in America. I want to assure our Bishops here and our congregations in America that we stand with you. You are safe and secure in the Church of Uganda. We will not abandon you or repatriate you until there is truly a safe and Biblically faithful ecclesial entity in America. That has been our promise, and we stand by it.

We continue in full fellowship and Communion with the members of the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (a mission initiative of the Church of Rwanda), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (a mission initiative of the Church of Nigeria), and on an individual basis with those Bishops and Dioceses who have explicitly put policies in place that prohibit the blessing of same-sex unions and the consecration of bishops in same-sex relationships, according to the Windsor Report.

THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

I want to thank my brother Primates from Africa who have elected me to represent them on the Primates Standing Committee; it is an honour and a huge responsibility. We are comprised of five Primates from the five main regions of the world in which the Anglican Communion is present, and chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

This Primates meeting has not solved the current crisis in the Anglican Communion. We hope we have clarified the steps needed for trust to be restored, healing to take place, and for our full bonds of affection to once again flourish.

Anglicanism has always stood for a Biblical faith grounded in Holy Scripture as its primary source of authority. In the 16th century, British church leaders were martyred for this faith. In Uganda, our children were martyred at the hands of Kabaka Mwanga. Our former Archbishop, Janani Luwum, who we honoured last Friday, stood up for the Gospel in the face of unbiblical tyranny.

Not only will I honour the memory of these Anglican ancestors on the Primates Standing Committee; not only will I represent Africa, but my greater responsibility will be our Lord Jesus Christ, who “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4.25).

I want to take this opportunity to highlight, once again, the appointment of one of our own to be the Anglican Observer to the United Nations. Hellen Wangusa, a former member of our Provincial Staff, was installed on Sunday during a service we held in Zanzibar. Hellen represents Uganda and all of us in the Global South who seek to see the fulfillment of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals for our people, so many of whom are suffering the ravages of extreme poverty, preventable diseases, and lack of access to education. Together with our grassroots efforts and Hellen’s work at a governmental and policy level, we pray for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It is not enough, however, to “make poverty history.” We must also “make greed history.” That is why it is not enough to substitute support for the Millennium Development Goals for the fullness of the Biblical understanding of God’s mission in the world. Evangelism, repentance, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and Biblical discipleship are as much a key to the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals as all the programmes and strategies we will put in place. And we have and will continue to put them in place. But, the whole counsel of God in Scripture must be proclaimed and embraced as the only way to the full and abundant life that Jesus promises.

CONCLUSION

I want to restate what the Church of Uganda stands for:

1. The Church of Uganda upholds the biblical teaching on sexuality, namely that sexual intimacy is reserved for a husband and wife in lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage. For us in Uganda, this is a matter of life and death. For our own good, the Bible teaches abstinence before marriage, and faithfulness in marriage. And, marriage is defined as between one man and one woman.

2. Therefore, the Church of Uganda also supports the 1998 Lambeth Resolution, which states that “homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture.”

3. At the same time the Church of Uganda is committed to providing pastoral care for those struggling with sexual temptation, for example, homosexual urges, heterosexual pornography, pre-marital sex, and post-marital adultery. There is no sin too big for God. Sadly, many of our girls have also been defiled and sinned against, and they grow up with confusion about Godly sexuality. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers the only way to a transformed life, including a transformed sexuality. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about transformation, not inclusion. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more,” not, “Go and sin some more.” For the North American chu rch, pastoral care means providing services for the blessing of same-sex unions. We do not mean that. For us in Uganda, pastoral care means leading people into the fully transformed life that Jesus promises to those who call upon His name. We welcome all those struggling with sexual temptation, and those suffering from sexual violation, to find healing and deliverance through Jesus Christ.

4. I call upon our government leaders to uphold marriage between one man and one woman, and the family they produce, as a foundational building block for our society and our country. This part of our African culture is affirmed in the Bible and we must not let Western influence pressure us into abandoning this part of our heritage.

In my Charge at my Enthronement, I said, “I desire to see the Church rise and shine. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” Three years later, that is still my desire. I have a lot of hope for the Church in Uganda, and, if our recommendations are taken seriously, I have hope that the Anglican Communion can be put back on its Biblical foundations, for that is the only place where it can flourish.

–The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.

While much of our time and energy was focused on the Episcopal Church, several other agenda items were of considerable interest to many of those who gathered.

The Design Group for an Anglican Covenant submitted an initial draft for consideration by the Primates' Meeting, which in turn commended it to the Communion for consideration, debate, and revision before the Lambeth Conference next year. This covenant is a further step in the Windsor process, engaged in the understanding that all human communities need boundaries in order to function. Anglicanism has always valued a rather wide set of boundaries, and boundaries are a central issue in the current debate - where are they, and how wide a space can they contain? The Covenant in its current draft attempts to define what the essentials and non-negotiable elements of Anglicanism might be, and how the Communion might live together in diversity.

The new United Nations observer, Hellen Wangusa, was installed during our meeting, and also led a discussion on the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals are directed primarily toward the governments of this world, both those in the developing world, who will have to design the systems to implement the goals, and the governments of the developed world, which are asked to contribute 0.7% of their annual incomes. She challenged us to recognize that these goals only go part way toward achieving full healing in the world, and that our own vision is of a world entirely reconciled and healed in God.

We also heard about the work being done on Theological Education in the Anglican Communion (TEAC). This body has produced thoughtful and creative, outcome-based guidelines for theological education of our baptized and ordained members.

The highlight of our meeting was the visit to Zanzibar and the remembrance of the end of the slave trade. We worshiped at the Anglican Cathedral in Zanzibar, built over the old slave market. Slavery was outlawed in British Empire in 1807, but it took another 90 years for the trade in Zanzibar to finally come to an end. Anglicans were a profound influence all through that period, and the Sultan of Zanzibar only signed the final treaty when faced with British warships in the harbor. David Livingstone is commemorated here for his tireless efforts to put an end to the ancient and inhuman practice of slavery. The struggle to end slavery has some parallel with our current controversy, and we can note the less than universal agreement about the moral duty of Christians over a lengthy period. The United States also experienced major division over slavery, even though the Episcopal Church [sic. I believe they meant The Union] did not fully divide. Some see that part of our history as shameful, while others see it as a sign of hope, and that, too, has current parallels.

We traveled home from this meeting at Carnival, the farewell to meat (carne vale) that comes just before Lent begins. That is an image that may be useful as we consider what the Primates' gathering is commending to the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church has been asked to consider the wider body of the Anglican Communion and its needs. Our own Church has in recent years tended to focus on the suffering of one portion of the body, particularly those who feel that justice demands the full recognition and celebration of the gifts of gay and lesbian Christians. That focus has been seen in some other parts of the global Church, as inappropriate, especially as it has been felt to be a dismissal of traditional understandings of sexual morality. Both parties hold positions that can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority - scripture, tradition, and reason - but each finds it very difficult to understand and embrace the other. What is being asked of both parties is a season of fasting - from authorizing rites for blessing same-sex unions and consecrating bishops in such unions on the one hand, and from transgressing traditional diocesan boundaries on the other.

A parallel to this situation in our tradition might be seen in the controversy over eating meat in early Christian communities, mentioned both in the letter to the Romans and the first letter to the Corinthians. In those early communities, the meat available for purchase in the public market was often part of an animal that had been offered (in whole or in part) in sacrifice in various pagan religious rites. The troubling question in the Christian community was whether or not it was appropriate to eat such meat - was it tainted by its involvement in pagan religion? Did one participate in that religion (and thus commit apostasy) by eating it? Paul encourages the Christians in Rome and Corinth to recall that, while there may be no specific prohibition about eating such meat, the sensitive in the community might refrain if others would be offended. The needs of the weaker members, and the real possibility that their faith may be injured, are an important consideration in making the dietary decision.

The current controversy brings a desire for justice on the one hand into apparent conflict with a desire for fidelity to a strict understanding of the biblical tradition and to the main stream of the ethical tradition. Either party may be understood to be the meat-eaters, and each is reminded that their single-minded desire may be an idol. Either party might constructively also be understood by the other as the weaker member, whose sensibilities need to be considered and respected.

God's justice is always tempered with mercy, and God continues to be at work in this world, urging the faithful into deeper understandings of what it means to be human and our call as Christians to live as followers of Jesus. Each party in this conflict is asked to consider the good faith of the other, to consider that the weakness or sensitivity of the other is of significant import, and therefore to fast, or "refrain from eating meat," for a season. Each is asked to discipline itself for the sake of the greater whole, and the mission that is only possible when the community maintains its integrity.

Justice, (steadfast) love, and mercy always go together in our biblical tradition. None is complete without the others. While those who seek full inclusion for gay and lesbian Christians, and the equal valuing of
their gifts for ministry, do so out of an undeniable passion for justice, others seek a fidelity to the tradition that cannot understand or countenance the violation of what that tradition says about sexual ethics. Each is being asked to forbear for a season. The word of hope is that in God all things are possible, and that fasting is not a permanent condition of a Christian people, nor a normative one. God's dream is of all people gathered at a feast, and we enter Lent looking toward that Easter feast and the new life that will, in God's good time, be proclaimed.

Archbishop Hutchison acknowledged that while the Canadian church has not ordained a gay bishop nor decided as a national church to allow same-sex blessings, it could face the same consequences "if it were to follow the same path" as The Episcopal Church. The American church's decision in 2003 to ordain Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, has triggered near-schism in the Anglican Communion.

"The American church is in a different position than we are. It's the ordination of Bishop (Gene) Robinson (of New Hampshire) that was the main issue that triggered all of these and we're not in that situation in Canada," Archbishop Hutchison said in telephone interview with the Anglican Journal. "Furthermore, in the United States, same-sex blessings is something that has happened in a number of dioceses across the country. In Canada, there's only one diocese where that's happened and we're still in the middle of a conversation. So it's hard to say what the implications may be."

But he added, "I suppose that if Canada were to follow the same path, which would be a radical move in the same direction as the United States, then we might look forward to a similar kind of response."

He explained that the Canadian church was not discussed at the meeting because its governing body, General Synod, has yet to offer its response to the Windsor Report. The Canadian church is expected to offer its formal response to the report during its General Synod in Winnipeg this June. Also on the agenda Is a resolution that would allow individual dioceses to decide whether to consent to the blessing of same-sex unions.

Asked what effect the primates' decision regarding The Episcopal Church may have on the same-sex resolution to be presented to General Synod, the primate said, "That's something that we'll have to consider very carefully (whether) it's appropriate or not. But we'll study that very carefully."

Primates of the Anglican Communion on Feb. 19 gave the U.S. Episcopal Church until September 30 to "make an unequivocal common covenant" that its bishops will not allow same-sex blessings in their churches and that it would not consent to the election and consecration of a bishop living in a same-sex
union "unless some new consensus on this matter emerges" across the Anglican world.

Failure to do so would mean that "the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remain damaged at best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion," the communiqué warned. It did not specify what those "consequences" would be.

Archbishop Hutchison said the primates' meeting, held Feb. 15-19 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, had been "complicated" but had given him "real hope." Asked if the communion of 38 Anglican provinces worldwide was still intact, he said, "It is, at this stage." But, he added, "There are still some provinces that would say that their communion with The Episcopal Church is broken and until everything in this communiqué is complied with, they won't see that the relationship has been healed."

Archbishop Hutchison also said that the communiqué had been "a difficult document to put together in a complicated meeting. It was very late at night before we handed it in, in its final form." He described it as "the best we could do as a body."

Asked what made the meeting "complicated," Archbishop Hutchison pointed to a number of factors. "(There were) 14 new primates aboard so that changes the dynamic. People who have never been involved in that discussion at that level were present. It was difficult in that before the meeting there were a few African primates who had taken a position that they wouldn't sit at the table with (U.S. Presiding Bishop) Katharine (Jefferts Schori)." In the end, he said, "everybody did sit at the table; sorting out those dynamics was complicated and trying to make room for everybody to hold the Communion together is very complex."

But he said that the meeting in Tanzania proved to be less difficult than the one held in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in 2005. "There was a much more general will to keep the family together (in Tanzania) and the level of protest that was present in Dromantine, with 14 primates who didn't want to pray with us was very much reduced at this meeting," he said. Seven conservative primates boycotted a eucharist in Tanzania, calling it a move to dramatize the "brokenness" of the communion and their provinces' "impaired relationship" with the U.S. church.

"This could have been the meeting that could have broken the whole thing apart," he said, instead it was marked by "a general atmosphere of congeniality and friendship across party alliances." He said the
prescriptions offered to The Episcopal Church "and the willingness of the presiding bishop to take that proposal back to the House of Bishops" was what "saved the day."

The primates also said they would establish a "pastoral council" that would "negotiate the necessary structures for pastoral care" to American bishops, dioceses and congregations that have moved to disassociate from the Episcopal Church following disputes over the place of homosexuals in the church. The council would also liaise with conservative primates of the communion who have exercised Episcopal oversight over parishes in the U.S., a move that has been criticized as an invasion of the American province's jurisdiction.

The council would consist of up to five members: two to be nominated by the primates, two by the presiding bishop of the U.S., and a primate to be nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury as chair.

"We believe that such a scheme is robust enough to function and provide sufficient space for those who are unable to accept the direct ministry of their bishop or the Presiding Bishop to have a secure place within The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion until such as time as the covenant process is complete," the primates said.

The primates urged U.S. conservative groups that have been lobbying the Archbishop of Canterbury for a "commissary" to lead them, to negotiate with the council "to find a place for them within these provisions."

Katharine Jefferts Schori went to this conference sounding like the leading revisionist she may well be; however her comments following indicate a person moving toward the center. Anglicans United is hopeful that this is a sign of her continued development from limited diocesan perspective to Communion perspective about her new job.

Anglicans United calls on the Presiding Bishop to put aside her personal agenda and truly and honestly serve all of those whom she has been selected to lead, including the Biblically orthodox in the Episcopal Church. Much repair is needed and within the week, we will know if there is any change of heart on her part that can begin that repair.

Anglicans United is hopeful that the moderate center bishops of this Church will see this as their day to construct a new consensus in the center of the church’s life; a consensus that wants to maintain the bonds of affection not only abroad but also at home. Will they continue to treat each other with suspicion and mistrust, with catcalls and hissing; or will they attempt to forgive and extend a hand during this season of Lent? The onus to lead lies with them.

Anglicans United believes that it is the heartfelt desire of the vast majority of Episcopalians to remain Anglican; to deal with the broken parts of each of us and remain faithful to Biblical truth and Christian tradition. This Communiqué give us hope that this can actually be accomplished.
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The US Episcopal Church has been given seven months to change its ways or face being kicked out of the Anglican Communion. In an unexpectedly hard-hitting set of recommendations, Primates of the Anglican Communion demanded an "unequivocal common covenant" under which dioceses in The Episcopal Church agree not to authorise same-sex blessings.

They also demanded that no more gay men or women in active relationships with a person of the same sex be consecrated bishop.

The recommendations are so severe in demanding proper repentance and a turning back from The Episcopal Church that even arch-conservative Peter Akinola of Nigeria was prepared to sign up. Bishop Jefferts Schori also signed it, but there will be many in The Episcopal Church who will be angry at what they see as a sell-out of their liberal ideals.

The Primates further demanded that The Episcopal Church cease the costly litigations it has begun against traditionalist parishes seeking to leave the oversight of a liberal bishop.They pledged to set up a new Pastoral Council that will take responsibility for securing traditional oversight for those who cannot accept the ministry of their bishop or of Bishop Jefferts Schori, a liberal on other doctrinal issues besides human sexuality.

In a key passage, the communique states: "At the heart of our tensions is the belief that The Episcopal Church has departed from the standard of teaching on human sexuality accepted by the Communion in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 [which set a Biblical standard on the issue] by consenting to the episcopal election of a candidate living in a committed same-sex relationship, and by permitting Rites of Blessing for same-sex unions. The episcopal ministry of a person living in a same-sex relationship is not acceptable to the majority of the Communion."

The bishops of the Episcopal Church have been given until September 30 to respond. If they refuse to comply, action is certain to be taken to suspend in some way the province's membership of the central councils of the Communion. It would be doubly embarrassing for the province given that their Primate, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, was also elected onto the Standing Committee of the Primates, a highly-prestigious seat which places her at the right hand of the Archbishop of Canterbury and at the centre of the structures of power in the Anglican Church.

The communique says: "If the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops cannot in good conscience be given, the relationship between The Episcopal Church and theAnglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion."

Earlier yesterday, it appeared as though The Episcopal Church would escape discipline.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, told a press conference in Dar es Salaam: "There are two factors we need to take seriously. The response of the episcopal church represents a willingness to engage with the Communion and the cost of doing so. How does the communion best engage with that willingness and desire to remain with the Communion?"

He said a settlement had to be worked out in the US. "If in good consciences the assurances cannot be given it has to affect their relationship with the organs of Communion."

The meeting convened in an atmosphere of mutual graciousness as the Primates sought together to seek the will of God for the future life of the Communion. We are grateful for the warm hospitality and generosity of Archbishop Donald and his Church members, many of whom have worked hard to ensure that our visit has been pleasant and comfortable, including our travel to Zanzibar on the Sunday.

2. The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed to our number fourteen new primates, and on the Wednesday before our meeting started, he led the new primates in an afternoon of discussion about their role. We give thanks for the ministry of those primates who have completed their term of office.

3. Over these days, we have also spent time in prayer and Bible Study, and reflected upon the wide range of mission and service undertaken across the Communion. While the tensions that we face as a Communion commanded our attention, the extensive discipleship of Anglicans across the world reminds us of our first task to respond to God's call in Christ. We are grateful for the sustaining prayer which has been offered across the Communion as we meet.

4. On Sunday 18th February, we travelled to the island of Zanzibar, where we joined a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral, built on the site of the old slave market. The Archbishop of Canterbury preached, and commemorated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United Kingdom, which had begun a process that led to the abolition of the slave market in Zanzibar ninety years later. At that service, the Archbishop of Canterbury admitted Mrs Hellen Wangusa as the new Anglican Observer at the United Nations. We warmly welcome Hellen to her post.

5. We welcomed the presence of the President of Zanzibar at lunch on Sunday, and the opportunity for the Archbishop of Canterbury to meet with the President of Tanzania in the course of the meeting.

The Millennium Development Goals

6. We were delighted to hear from Mrs Wangusa about her vision for her post of Anglican Observer at the United Nations. She also spoke to us about the World Millennium Development Goals, while Archbishop Ndungane also spoke to us as Chair of the Task Team on Poverty and Trade, and the forthcoming conference on Towards Effective Anglican Mission in South Africa next month. We were inspired and challenged by these presentations.
Theological Education in the Anglican Communion

7. We also heard a report from Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables and Mrs Clare Amos on the work of the Primates' Working Party on Theological Education in the Anglican Communion. The group has focussed on developing "grids" which set out the appropriate educational and developmental targets which can be applied in the education of those in ministry in the life of the Church. We warmly commend the work which the group is doing, especially on the work which reminds us that the role of the bishop is to enable the theological education of the clergy and laity of the diocese. We also welcome the scheme that the group has developed for the distribution of basic theological texts to our theological colleges across the world, the preparations for the Anglican Way Consultation in Singapore in May this year, and the appointment of three Regional Associates to work with the group. The primates affirmed the work of the Group, and urged study and reception of its work in the life of the Communion.

The Hermeneutics Project

8. We agreed to proceed with a worldwide study of hermeneutics (the methods of interpreting scripture). The primates have joined the Joint Standing Committee in asking the Anglican Communion Office to develop options for carrying the study forward following the Lambeth Conference in 2008. A report will be presented to the Joint Standing Committee next year.

Following through the Windsor Report

9. Since the controversial events of 2003, we have faced the reality of increased tension in the life of the Anglican Communion - tension so deep that the fabric of our common life together has been torn. The Windsor Report of 2004 described the Communion as suffering from an "illness". This "illness" arises from a breakdown in the trust and mutual recognition of one another as faithful disciples of Christ, which should be among the first fruits of our Communion in Christ with one another.

10. The Windsor Report identified two threats to our common life: first, certain developments in the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada which challenged the standard of teaching on human sexuality articulated in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10; and second, interventions in the life of those Provinces which arose as reactions to the urgent pastoral needs that certain primates perceived. The Windsor Report did not see a "moral equivalence" between these events, since the cross-boundary interventions arose from a deep concern for the welfare of Anglicans in the face of innovation. Nevertheless both innovation and intervention are central factors placing strains on our common life. The Windsor Report recognised this (TWR Section D) and invited the Instruments of Communion [1] to call for a moratorium of such actions [2] .

11. What has been quite clear throughout this period is that the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 is the standard of teaching which is presupposed in the Windsor Report and from which the primates have worked. This restates the traditional teaching of the Christian Church that "in view of the teaching of Scripture, [the Conference] upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage", and applies this to several areas which are discussed further below. The Primates have reaffirmed this teaching in all their recent meetings [3], and indicated how a change in the formal teaching of any one Province would indicat