A difficult time” “” “

The recently published Windsor Report invites Gene Robinson, the homosexual bishop consecrated last November in the Episcopalian diocese of New Hampshire (USA) and those who participated in his ordination to resign, requests a suspension of gay marriages and urges dioceses favourable to homosexual pastors and bishops to express regret. Irish Primate Robin Eames presented the Windsor Report, 93 pages long, in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on 18 October. It reaffirms the Anglican line enunciated in 1998, according to which “homosexuality is contrary to the Bible” and invites those among the 70 million Anglicans worldwide who don’t agree with this proposition “to obey the official line or leave the Church”. The Commission that drew up the Report, composed by the primates of the 38 Anglican provinces throughout the world, worked for a year in trying to find a solution to the divisions in the Anglican Community on homosexuality. The split between the pro-gay area and the evangelical dioceses contrary to the ordination of Robinson in November last year is deep. In the Third World some primates such as the Nigerian Akinola had already declared they were no longer in communion with the pro-gay provinces. A COMPROMISE THAT DOES NOT SATISFY. The compromise sought by the Windsor Report, drawn up by the “Lambeth Commission”, formed by 19 Anglican primates and set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to find new solutions to the divisions on homosexuality, is beginning to show its first cracks. The Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola has accused in strong terms the liberal wing of the Church of wanting to “subvert the faith” and attacked the Report that aimed at reconciliation. Already in November last year Akinola, who represents 17 million Anglicans in his country, had declared he was no longer in communion with the Episcopalian Church that had ordained Robinson. Now the Anglican Primate judges unsatisfactory a Report drawn up precisely to maintain dissenting voices like his own within the Anglican faith. What particularly riles Akinola is the invitation contained in the Windsor Report to African dioceses not to accept the rebel conservative parishes in America that no longer feel themselves to be in communion with those of their dioceses that ordain gay priests. The Nigerian Primate is also dissatisfied because the Report does not contain a firmer condemnation of homosexual pastors. “Where is the language of rebuke for those who promote sins of sexual nature as sacred and acceptable conduct?” asks Akinola, “The imbalance is astonishing. It is wrong to use the same language for actions of different nature. Instead of a clear appeal for repentance, ‘gentle’ words were offered for those who have shown no remorse for their actions and harsh words of condemnation for those who have held out a hand to help friends in need of pastoral and spiritual care”. NO REPENTANCE? Three days after the publication of the Report there were no signs of repentance, and no intention to resign, by the pro-homosexual Anglican clergy. The Report sought a conciliatory tone that would hold together the Communion of 77 million Anglicans worldwide, by attempting to satisfy both the liberal and pro-gay wing of the Church and the conservative wing. Martin Reynolds, chairman of the Anglican association in favour of gays and lesbians, called the Windsor Report “a document with which we can work”, while the Church Society, the association that represents members of the Church of England who believe that the Bible is incompatible with homosexual acts, called it “a document without teeth, that fails to give any lead on the problem of homosexuality”. “Everyone underlined how important communion is”, declared the Rev. David Phillips, head of the Church Society, “but without saying what needs to be done when people try to destroy it”. Phillips said he was “disappointed” and said he had expected from the Windsor Report a more definite and clearer attitude. REmaining united. In London Eames made a strong appeal for unity, recalling that the Church must find a common way in the name of the Gospel not only within itself but also with the other Christian churches. “Having experienced with suffering the Northern Ireland conflict”, said the Primate, “I fail to understand how a Church built on the Gospel can end up being divided within itself”. According to Gregory Cameron, delegate for ecumenism of the Anglican Communion, “the Windsor Report is also a step forward in dialogue with the Catholic Church”.