Tanzania: Expectations, Promises, and the Danger of Impotence

Stand Firm ^ | 1/30/2007 | Matt Kennedy

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When Eli failed to discipline his sons, the Ark of the Covenant was taken from Israel and God allowed his people to fall to their enemies. When David failed first to discipline Amnon for raping Tamar and then Absalom for murdering Amnon, his kingdom was rent. If the leaders of the Anglican communion fail to discipline the Episcopal Church not only for “breaking the bonds of affection” but, more importantly, for defying the Word of the living God, then you will see Windsor and Network dioceses begin to crumble as many of the strongest parishes realize that the Communion is toothless and that the Windsor “process” is just that…an endless process leading nowhere…and depart.

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In recent days there has been a noticeable attempt to lower expectations for the meeting in Tanzania. Some have urged us not to expect anything dramatic from the meeting and have suggested that “blogs” are actively reflecting heightened and unrealistic hopes for entirely speculative outcomes.

Not this time.

There is in fact a perfectly legitimate reason for people to expect significant decisions and dramatic happenings at Tanzania.

It is (or perhaps was) in fact, entirely reasonable for people to hope for: 1. the discipline of the Episcopal Church and 2. the initial steps toward the establishment/recognition/legitimization of a “separate structure” for orthodox Anglicans in North America.

These two hopes have not been excited by the blogs or irresponsible journalists. These hopes are founded on the published words and promises of the primates themselves.

First, the primates, all of them, identified the 75th General Convention as the venue for The Episcopal Church to make her official response to the requests articulated in the Windsor Report as accepted by the primates at Dromantine. Here is the specific section of the Dromantine Communique wherein this time-frame is established:

Within the ambit of the issues discussed in the Windsor Report and in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, we request that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference. During that same period we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion. (DC para 14)

The “relevant constitutional body” for the Episcopal Church USA is the General Convention. Within the given time frame, General Convention was scheduled to meet only once: June 2006.

Second, the Windsor Report clearly statesthat a legislative or official decision not to accede to the three Windsor requests: 1. An expression of regret 2. a moratorium on the election, consent to the consecration and consecration of bishops living in non-celibate homosexual unions and 3. a moratorium on the authorization and development of public rites for same sex blessings (WR 133 & 144), would represent a decision to “walk apart.”

Here is the relevant section of the Windsor Report:

…Should the call to halt and find ways of continuing in our present communion not be heeded, then we shall have to begin to learn to walk apart. We would much rather not speculate on actions that might need to be taken if, after acceptance by the primates, our recommendations are not implemented. However, we note that there are, in any human dispute, courses that may be followed: processes of mediation and arbitration; non-invitation to relevant representative bodies and meetings; invitation, but to observer status only; and, as an absolute last resort, withdrawal from membership. We earnestly hope that none of these will prove necessary. Our aim throughout has been to work not for division but for healing and restoration. The real challenge of the gospel is whether we live deeply enough in the love of Christ, and care sufficiently for our joint work to bring that love to the world, that we will “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4.3). As the primates stated in 2000, “to turn from one another would be to turn away from the Cross”, and indeed from serving the world which God loves and for which Jesus Christ died. (WR 157)

This reading is affirmed in the Dromantine Communique paragraphs 12 through 14 wherein it is stated that:

Whilst there remains a very real question about whether the North American churches are willing to accept the same teaching on matters of sexual morality as is generally accepted elsewhere in the Communion, the underlying reality of our communion in God the Holy Trinity is obscured, and the effectiveness of our common mission severely hindered (DC 12)

And the Episcopal Church is called to determine officially whether this obscuration is to be permanent or temporary:

…we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion. (DC 14)

It is very clear from these that non-compliance will represent a willed decision to walk apart.

Third, the primates meeting following the 75th General Convention has been identified by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the setting in which The Episcopal Church’s response will be evaluated.

“It is not yet clear how far the resolutions passed this week and today represent the adoption by the Episcopal Church of all the proposals set out in the Windsor Report. The wider Communion will therefore need to reflect carefully on the significance of what has been decided before we respond more fully. I am grateful that the JSC of the primates and ACC has already appointed a small working group to assist this process of reflection and to advise me on these matters in the months leading up to the next primates’ Meeting.” (from his initial response to the actions of the 75th General Convention)

It will be recalled that the Archbishop of Canterbury also asked for position papers and responses to be sent in preparation for the meeting in Tanzania where the official actions of the Episcopal would be evaluated.

Here also is the text of his most recent letter to the primates, again indicating that the meeting in Tanzania will be the venue for evaluation of the place of the Episcopal Church relative to other provinces:

This meeting will be, of course, an important and difficult and important encounter, with several moments of discernment and decision to be faced, and a good deal of work to be done on our hopes for the Lambeth Conference, and on the nature and shape of the Covenant that we hope will assist us in strengthening our unity as a Communion.

There are two points I wish to touch on briefly. The first is a reminder of what our current position actually is in relation to the Episcopal Church. This Province has agreed to withdraw its representation from certain bodies in the Communion until Lambeth 08; and the Joint Standing Committee has appointed a sub-group which has been working on a report to develop our thinking as to how we should as a meeting interpret the Episcopal Church’s response so far to the Windsor recommendations. In other words, questions remain to be considered about the Episcopal Church’s relations with other Provinces (though some Provinces have already made their position clear). I do not think it wise or just to take any action that will appear to bring that consideration and the whole process of our shared discernment to a premature end.

This is why I have decided not to withhold an invitation to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the elected Primate of the Episcopal Church to attend the forthcoming meeting...

Clearly, the Archbishop understands this to be a decision-making meeting.

Fourth, as has been sufficiently demonstrated both here and in other contexts, the official response of the Episcopal Church is wholly inadequate. She inadequately responded to the requests for an expression of regret and a specific moratorium on the election, consent to and the consecration of non-celibate homosexual bishops and, even worse, she failed even to address the requested moratorium on the authorization and development of rites for same sex blessings. In the near future, I will publish an article summarizing the TEC’s non-compliance, but for now most objective observers take it as a given that the resolutions of the 75th General Convention failed to accede to the Windsor Requests.

The Archbishop of Canterbury himself recognized this point:

“The recent resolutions of the General Convention have not produced a complete response to the challenges of the Windsor Report, but on this specific question there is at the very least an acknowledgement of the gravity of the situation in the extremely hard work that went into shaping the wording of the final formula.” (ABC's Reflection)

Finally, the Global South has clearly indicated that now is the time to, at the very least, take the “initial steps” toward the formation of a separate structure for orthodox Anglicans in North America. Here is the relevant section from the Kigali Communique:

We are convinced that the time has now come to take initial steps towards the formation of what will be recognized as a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA. We have asked the Global South Steering Committee to develop such a proposal in consultation with the appropriate instruments of unity of the Communion. We understand the serious implications of this determination. We believe that we would be failing in our apostolic witness if we do not make this provision for those who hold firmly to a commitment to historic Anglican faith. (Kigali 10c)

The reason, then, that people are expecting dramatic results from the primates meeting in Tanzania is because they have, rightly or wrongly, placed their trust in the leaders of the Anglican Communion and believed the statements and declarations they have made.

If indeed these public statements and declarations turn out merely to be public “statements” and “declarations” without substance or matter then that trust is misplaced and, in fact, Canterbury based Anglicanism as a whole, sans the ecclesial mark of Christian discipline, will lose credibility as a functioning Christian entity.

When Eli failed to discipline his sons, the Ark of the Covenant was taken from Israel and God allowed his people to fall to their enemies. When David failed first to discipline Amnon for raping Tamar and then Absalom for murdering Amnon, his kingdom was rent.

If the leaders of the Anglican communion fail to discipline the Episcopal Church not only for “breaking the bonds of affection” but, more importantly, for defying the Word of the living God, then you will see Windsor and Network dioceses begin to crumble as many of the strongest parishes realize that the Communion is toothless and that the Windsor “process” is just that…an endless process leading nowhere…and depart.

For the new Covenant to mean anything at all; for the Anglican Communion as it is currently bound together to retain any integrity, the primates at Tanzania must act in accordance with their words and in accordance with the processes they themselves have established and recognize that the Episcopal Church has chosen to walk away and, at the very least, take concrete steps to establish/recognize/legitimize some form of separate structure.

Otherwise, words, promises, and exhortations to patience will, rightly, be recognized as groundless, baseless and untrustworthy.

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