Posted on 01/29/2007 7:50:47 PM PST by Huber
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has been allotted two sessions of next month’s primates’ meeting to describe The Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Report.
Sessions on the “listening process,” the proposed Anglican Covenant, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference, as well as social and development issues are on the agenda for the Feb. 12-19 meeting to be held at a hotel near Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, sources in London tell The Living Church.
Archbishop Peter Carnely, the former Primate of Australia and chairman of the Panel of Reference, will brief the primates and respond to criticism that the panel has been dilatory in its work. Established as a “matter of urgency” by the 2005 primates’ meeting, the panel has released recommendations on petitions received from the Diocese of Fort Worth and from traditionalist congregations in the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster. Petitions from the Dioceses of Florida and Lake Malawi are currently under review.
One session is to be devoted to the “listening process” envisioned by the 1998 Lambeth resolution 1.10. The bishops at Lambeth committed the church “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons” and assured them “they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.” The resolution also reaffirmed the traditional Christian belief in the parameters of sexual behavior of faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman and abstinence for those unmarried.
The primates’ 2005 Dromantine communiqué urged the appointment of a facilitator to monitor the work being done in this area. Church of England Canon Phil Groves was appointed in January 2006, and will report on the work done to date.
Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, chairman of the Covenant Design Group, will speak on the design group’s preliminary findings from its first meeting in Nassau this month. The primates will also make a pilgrimage to the Cathedral Church of Christ in Zanzibar, also known as the Cathedral of the Universities Mission in Central Africa.
Two full sessions of the meeting, as well as two external sessions with presentations by three American bishops, will discuss The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Bishop Jefferts Schori is expected to face tough questioning from the primates and is likely to outline what steps The Episcopal Church has taken in response to the Windsor Report.
Whether the primates will follow the agenda crafted in London by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is uncertain. The agenda for the 2005 primates meeting underwent significant changes as the meeting progressed, and similar changes are anticipated for this meeting. A pre-meeting strategy session for the African primates and other American and international church leaders will be held Feb. 10 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I think she'll find the Primates not so easily impressed as the mainstream reporters she's been making her case to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.