In London, Joint Standing Committee members attend St. Paul's Cathedral Eucharist
Episcopal News Service, London. March 2, 2008 [030208-02]
Matthew Davies
Members of the Primates/Anglican Consultative Council Joint Standing Committee attended Sung Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on March 2, the midway point of their meeting which is being held behind closed doors at the Anglican Communion Office.
Meeting through March 4, a large portion of the committee's time is being devoted to Lambeth Conference planning, the Windsor Process and budgetary discussions, said the Rev. Canon James M. Rosenthal, director of communications for the Anglican Communion.
The committee, which includes Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, will also meet with the Windsor Continuation Group, whose formation was announced February 12 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. That group has been charged with addressing outstanding questions arising from the Windsor Report and reviewing the various formal responses received from provinces and instruments of the Anglican Communion.
Committee members and staff from the Anglican Communion Office were welcomed for worship March 2 by the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Rt. Rev. Graeme Paul Knowles, and its precentor, the Rev. Canon Lucy Winkett.
The Rev. Vanessa Baron, chaplain of St. Paul's Girls' School, delivered the sermon based on the reading from John's gospel about Jesus' miracle of healing a man who was born blind.
The setting, sung by the world renowned choir of Men and Boys, was Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera, an antiphonal mass by the late Renaissance Flemish composer Orlando di Lasso. The service opened with a processional sung Litany by 17th century English composer Henry Loosemore.
Following the Eucharist, committee members were hosted for lunch in the Deanery.
Jefferts Schori said she was "struck by the timeless beauty of St. Paul's, the excellent sermon preached by the Rev. Vanessa Baron, and the warm hospitality we experienced, both in the worship service and at the Deanery. It was both a joy and very helpful to have the opportunity for wide-ranging conversation with a number of the staff of the cathedral. I am most grateful to the Rt. Rev. Graeme Paul Knowles and his wife, Susan, for their gracious hospitality."
The current Cathedral -- the fourth to occupy this site -- was designed by the court architect Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. "Its architectural and artistic importance reflect the determination of the five monarchs who oversaw its building that London’s leading church should be as beautiful and imposing as their private palaces," the Cathedral website notes.
During the afternoon, Jefferts Schori visited several other parishes in the Diocese of London. At All Hallows by the Tower, the Presiding Bishop acknowleded the church's "remarkable educational program," and the museum in the crypt, "with materials dating back to Roman pavement and every layer of social occupation since." All Souls Church in Langham Place was preparing for an evening worship service, "with a praise band practicing 'Give Me That Old Time Religion,'" she said. All Saints Margaret Street is recognized for its "distinguished Anglo-Catholic tradition," Jefferts Schori said, "and incense-redolent nave adorned with the finest and most up to date craft of the latter 1800s."
Visiting St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square for Sunday evening worship, the Presiding Bishop heard Ann Duncan, head of the World Bank's London office, speak about the "need to recast prosperity from wealth accumulation to caring for creation, and urging us to reclaim our Celtic spiritual rootedness in creation."
On Friday, February 29, St. Andrew's Chapel at the Anglican Communion Office in Westbourne Park, London, was designated a "Cross of Nails Centre" by the dean of Coventry, the Very Rev. John Irvine, in the presence of the Joint Standing Committee members.
The committee, which meets annually, is the interim body that oversees the day-to-day operations of the Anglican Communion Office and the programs and ministries of the four Instruments of Communion: the Lambeth Conference; the Anglican Consultative Council; the Primates' Meeting; and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In 2007, the committee scheduled an additional meeting for September in New Orleans after the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops in March 2007 expressed "an urgent need for us to meet face to face with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the members of the Primates' Standing Committee."
Following that meeting, the Joint Standing Committee issued a report saying the Episcopal Church had "clarified all outstanding questions" relating to its response to the requests of the Windsor Report, and questions on which the Anglican Primates had sought clarifications.
The Primates Standing Committee includes Archbishop Rowan Williams of England (chair), Archbishop Philip Aspinall of Australia, President Bishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the United States, and Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales.
The ACC Standing Committee includes Bishop John Paterson of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (chair), Professor George Koshy of South India (vice chair), Philippa Amable of West Africa, Jolly Babirukamu of Uganda, Robert Fordham of Australia, Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe of Ceylon, Canon Elizabeth Paver of England, Bishop James Tengatenga of Central Africa, and Nomfundo Walaza of Southern Africa.
Illangasinghe, Orombi, and Walaza were unable to attend the meeting.
The Joint Standing Committee is served by staff of the Anglican Communion Office, including the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general; the Rev. Canon Gregory Cameron, deputy secretary general; the Rev. Canon James M. Rosenthal, director of communications; and Deirdre Martin, executive assistant.