Lambeth Commission Report on Homosexual Bishop Pending
by Jim Brown
September 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - A special commission set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury following the Episcopal Church USA's consecration of an openly homosexual bishop is set to release its final report in mid-October.
Many eyes are on the denomination, and many of the observers are making guesses as to how the Lambeth Commission will address the controversial issue. Two London newspapers recently carried articles speculating that the special commission may opt to suspend the ECUSA from membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion as a penalty for its approval of the consecration of practicing homosexual, V. Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire.
But Doug LeBlanc, a lifelong Episcopalian who operates the website "GetReligion.org," believes the report will likely recommend a more moderate level of discipline. On the other hand, he says he would be surprised if the much anticipated Lambeth Commission report is an "Anglican fudge" that offers weak recommendations and satisfies no one.
LeBlanc, who is also a contributing editor for Christianity Today, considers it likely that the Commission's October 18 report will recommend the ECUSA undergo some form of discipline, but will not advise that the U.S. denomination be expelled from the Anglican Communion.
"I think the most plausible thing I'm hearing," LeBlanc says, "is that it may mean that the bishops who voted in favor of consecrating Bishop Robinson or the bishops who actively took part in consecrating him -- and those are mostly the same bishops -- would be not invited to the next meeting of the Lambeth Conference, which meets once every 10 years."
The conservative journalist expects the Lambeth commissioners will likely regard the offending clergy in light of their role as the leading edge of a schism that remains unresolved. What the ECUSA – and likewise the Anglican Church of Canada -- have done, he notes, is to take radical stances and expect the rest of Anglicanism to catch up with them.
"That's a unity-smashing action," LeBlanc says, "and it very much puts the broader communion in a very awkward position of thinking, 'How do you deal with this kind of unruly, rebellious child who happens, in the case of both Canada and the United States, to be wealthy and powerful.'"
At any rate, the Commission's final recommendations must be endorsed by the top bishops of the communion's 38 member churches and the Anglican Consultative Council, and even then, many questions will remain unanswered. For example, LeBlanc says the Commission probably will not provide the last word on whether there should be an official rite of blessing for homosexual relationships.
