A “wounded” Communion

There still isn’t official talk of a “schism”. The definition is rather that of a “damaged communion”. In particular, emphasis is placed on the fact that the crisis with the Anglican Communion, 77 million faithful in the world, dates back to 10 years ago, 1997. The “novelty” consists in the fact that on June 22-29 one thousand Anglican leaders from 25 world Countries – including 280 bishops- decided to meet in Jerusalem for the “Global Anglican Future Conference” (Gafcon). The Assembly was called few days before another important event for the Anglican Communion: the “Lambeth Conference”, which brings together all world primates. This year the Conference will be presided by the archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams. However, this year a number of Anglican leaders won’t be attending the Lambeth Conference. These are the archbishops of Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South America and Sydney (Australia). They disagree with the stands on homosexuality taken by bishops in the U.S., Canada and England. They support Jerusalem’s “Global Anglican Future Conference”. For the meeting, called in the land which gave birth to Christianity, they asked a commission of 25 experts and theologians to draw up a paper which will be debated by the bishops and whose final version will be submitted at the end of the Conference. The situation. The “paper” is a 94-page-long document available on the website www.gafcon.org. The first chapters take stock of the “recent story of the conflicts within the Anglican Community”. The crisis – wrote the primate of Nigeria Peter Akinola, who leads the dissident movement – dates back to 1997. However, in 2003 relations between primates in the North and the South of the world fell into a chasm. In that same year, the Episcopal Church in the United States (Ecusa) appointed Gene Robinson as bishop, who openly admitted he was involved in a homosexual relationship. “In 2004 – wrote the Nigerian bishop – there was a growing number of so-called blessings of homosexual unions by American and Canadian pastors”. This happened in spite of the fact that other primates in the world were asking a moratorium along with public excuses regarding these unions on the part of the two North-American Churches. Throughout the years, Akinola declared, “in spite of repeated warnings, blessings of gay unions continued”. This triggered the crisis. The theological “knot”. “Since 1997 we made great efforts to avoid the crisis – explained the Nigerian archbishop – but to no avail. We have now come to a decisive moment. If we don’t act, we risk millions of people to drift away from the faith revealed by the “Holy Scriptures”. The question is not only “ethical” but also “biblical”, thus, theological. Bishops in South of the world claim that bishops in the Northern hemisphere apparently “reached the conclusion that the Bible has no longer any authority in different realms of human experience, especially those relating to salvation and sexuality”. The future. The “official paper” is therefore very complex. “It defines true Anglicanism”; it takes stock of the debate within the Anglican Communion as relates to Scripture interpretation, pluralism in the Church, and the understanding of the mission. A chapter is devoted to authority inside the Church, the role of the Scripture and its use. It concludes with a reflection on the future path that traditionalist Anglicans intend to follow. The document will be debated by Anglican primates during their Conference in Jerusalem starting June 23rd. According to Arne Fjeldstad, spokesperson of Gafcon, “the debate will be centered on how this movement intends to continue and what kind of relationship should be preserved with the Anglican Communion”. The Jerusalem Conference won’t be attended by official representatives of Cantebury “nor will the majority of bishops living in Jerusalem be attending the Lambeth Conference since – Fjeldstad explained – because of the presence of liberal bishops from Canada and the United States”. The archbishop of Akinola devoted a special thought to the Lambeth Conference: “It’s a shame that this Conference has not been conceived as an opportunity for a serious theological commitment aimed at reconciliation”, he declared. We were told that there will be a time for prayer, friendship and communion. These are all praiseworthy activities. However, this Communion has already been thwarted by the actions undertaken by Canadian and American Churches, which entail serious consequences”, he declared.