ECUMENISM
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Primate of the Church of England and leader of the Anglican Communion that comprises 77 million faithful throughout the world, has appointed four wise men and given them the task of advising him in the weeks ahead. This is a particularly delicate time for Williams and for the Anglican Communion, which risks a schism on the question of the ordination of homosexual pastors. The general Convention of the Episcopalian Church is in fact due to meet in Columbus, Ohio from 13 to 21 June. It was this Convention that elected Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in Anglican history in 2003, causing an almost irreparable breach in the Communion. In February last year, the Anglican primates had asked the USA and Canada for a kind of “moratorium” both on rites for the blessing of homosexual couples and on the consecration of any other openly gay bishop. If the Episcopalians accept the primates’ request in June, the unity of the Anglican Communion will be secured. If on the other hand they decide to proceed in their course, Williams could be forced to exclude them from the Lambeth Conference in 2008, the summit that takes place once every ten years and that brings together all the Anglican bishops, and an irreparable schism could follow from this decision. The most hard-line front against the churches of the USA and Canada is that of the bishops of Africa and Asia, who have already asked, on several occasions, that the Episcopalian Church be expelled from the Anglican Communion. So far the Archbishop has succeeded in avoiding a breach. Only in recent days the Anglican diocese of California chose a married man rather than a homosexual as its next bishop, although there were three homosexuals among the candidates. This was an important vote of confidence in the line recommended by Williams, and a rather unexpected one given that the Californian diocese was considered among the most liberal.
