The report drawn up by the “Commission on Communion” better known as the “Lambeth Commission” that was given the task of studying for a year the most important causes of the divisions that have arisen within the Communion, is due to be published in London on 18 October. The Commission headed by the archbishop of Armagh, Robin Eames was set up by the archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams last October to respond to the primates of the Anglican Churches who had asked for clarification on the degree of union that could still be registered within the Anglican Communion following the sharp divisions that threatened to split it apart in 2003. At the centre of controversy was the decision taken by the diocese of New Westminster (Canada) to authorise homosexual unions and the consecration in the USA of the first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson. There had been many hostile reactions to these two decisions: the most hardline positions had been registered in the Churches in the southern hemisphere (especially in Africa and Asia). According to the intentions of Rowan Williams, the most important task of the Lambeth Commission was that of making recommendations and suggesting viable ways of healing the rift that “currently threatens to divide the Communion”. A year after its establishment, the Commission met from 6 to 10 September and announced it was ready to publish its report. “We received said the Rev. Eames a great challenge and I have had the privilege to work on so delicate a question. I have no doubts about the fact that the recommendations contained in the report can have a practical and profound impact on the life and mission of the Anglican Communion”.
