Related articles and links |  1 of 3

One day after the release of the much-anticipated report from the Lambeth Commission on Communion, the state of the world's third largest Christian communion remains uncertain.

Conservative global leaders of the Anglican Communion welcomed the recommendations—in what is being called the Windsor Report—from the 17-member panel, but only if the report's recommendations are "taken seriously."

The Windsor Report "represents a genuine way forward for the future of the Anglican Communion," states Bernard Malango, a member of the Lambeth Commission.

"If the recommendations of our report are not taken seriously, then the question of our future together in the Anglican Communion will remain, and greater division may result," said Malango, head of the Anglican Church of Central Africa, which includes Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

The 93-page document, which spells out the Communion's response to the contentious consecration of openly gay cleric Gene Robinson by the Episcopal Church (USA) last November, urges ECUSA to apologize for the consecration's consequences, invites those who took part in the consecration to consider self-initiated resignation, and suggests a ban on any future consecrations of any candidate who is "living in a same-gender union."

The report also reprimands the ECUSA, along with the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada, for developing rites for same-sex marriages and authorizing gay marriage, which "constitutes action in breach of the legitimate application of the Christian faith."

"The Episcopal Church (USA) has caused deep offense to many faithful Anglican Christians both in its own church and in other parts of the Communion," the report states.

The Anglican Communion is a global body of more than 77 million Christians in autonomous regional churches, who profess shared commitment to the identity, theology, and traditions of the historic Church of England. ECUSA, with 2.4 million members, is one of 38 Anglican provinces worldwide.

Archdeacon Oluranti Odubogun, secretary general of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, embraced the theological stance of the Windsor document. His was one of the most vocal provinces in denouncing the Robinson consecration.

"Ordaining homosexuals is heresy, unbiblical, should never have been done and should be reversed," said Odubogun. With more than 17 million Nigerian Anglicans, the Church of Nigeria is the second-largest province in Anglicanism after Britain. "Homosexual behavior is deviant, unbiblical, un-Christian, and unnatural," he said.

Other primates or leaders in the global communion also welcomed the report but voiced concern that perhaps the recommendations are not forceful enough.

The report gave the church "minimum tools to be able to get on track," South American Archbishop Greg Venables told the Reuters news agency Monday.

But the ultimate outcome of the recommendations made by the Commission depends on the actions of the ECUSA and the Diocese of New Westminster, he said

"They've already said they're sorry for the pain they've caused, but that is like an adulterous husband saying to his wife: 'I'm sorry I've hurt you,'" Venables said. "It doesn't deal with the underlying problem."

In a preliminary written statement released Monday, Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of ECUSA, stated that he and others in the American church "regret how difficult and painful actions have been in many of the global provinces," but reaffirmed "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."

next page... |  1 of 3

October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48