Lambeth Commission Releases Report on Anglican Divide

by Fred Jackson and Ed Thomas
October 18, 2004

(AgapePress) - An emergency panel set up by the Church of England to address rifts in the worldwide Anglican community over issues of homosexuality has released its report. The newly published "Windsor Report 2004" contains the Lambeth Commission's recommendations on communion and includes a strong denunciation of the Episcopal Church USA for choosing to ordain an openly homosexual bishop.

The Lambeth Commission On Communion, chaired by the Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames, was requested by the Primates of the Anglican Communion at their meeting in London, October 2003. The panel was appointed to explore means of restoring unity within the international Anglican community after the ECUSA's controversial decision last year to appoint an openly homosexual man as Bishop of New Hampshire, and after the recent decision of a Canadian diocese to bless same-sex unions.

The Lambeth Commission's report urges the ECUSA to apologize for its consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a divorced man now living with his same-sex partner in an openly homosexual relationship. The report also calls upon the ECUSA to refrain from promoting any other clergy members living in same-sex unions, and it suggests that the 38 national churches of the Anglican Communion sign a covenant expressing support for "current Anglican teachings."

Moreover, the Windsor Report requests an explanation from the ECUSA as to "how a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ." This explanation, the commissioners note, must necessarily be supported with Scripture.

The Episcopal Church USA's Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has expressed "regret" over the pain that has resulted from that denomination's actions. In a public statement following the Windsor Report, the American primate lamented "how difficult and painful actions of our church have been in many provinces of our Communion, and the negative repercussions that have been felt by brother and sister Anglicans."

However, Griswold stopped short of offering the apology the Lambeth Commission suggested. Instead, the bishop voiced once again his support for homosexual church members and leaders, affirming "the presence and positive contribution of gay and lesbian persons to every aspect of the life of our church and in all orders of ministry."

The ECUSA spokesman felt after reading the Windsor Report that the Commission's intent has been to contain the differences among Anglicans in the interest of reconciliation. To his thinking, this approach does not go far enough. In his statement, Griswold remarks, "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."

Like Griswold, many progressive Anglicans see the consecration of homosexual clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions as positive steps toward change after what some consider to be a long history of oppression and discrimination against homosexuals by the Church.

However, many conservative Anglicans, who are heavily in the majority worldwide, regard these actions as steps in the wrong direction, taken by wayward liberal leaders in violation of the Bible's teaching and established doctrine and tradition. A 1998 conference of all Anglican bishops concurred, declaring the practice of homosexuality "incompatible with scripture."

The actions of the ECUSA and the Canadian diocese have undoubtedly served to widen the already extensive ideological rifts in the 77-million-member Worldwide Anglican Communion. Some conservative churches in Africa and other parts of the world have refused to meet with ECUSA leaders and have even assisted conservative Episcopalians in North America in cutting ties with their increasingly liberal denominations and reorganizing under foreign clerical authority.

The Lambeth Commission was asked to address how the Anglican and Episcopal churches and provinces can maintain communion amid the current diversity of opinion, biblical interpretation, and practice. The international Anglican communion has eagerly awaited the Windsor Report 2004, with many hoping it would bring healing to the deeply divided group. But whether the commission's recommendations will serve to heal, narrow, or perhaps even widen the Anglican rift, remains to be seen.