Joint Standing Committee discusses Lambeth Conference, Windsor Process
Episcopal News Service, London. March 5, 2008 [030508-01]
Matthew Davies
The Lambeth Conference and issues relating to the Windsor Process were the primary concerns addressed at the February 29-March 4 meeting of the Primates/Anglican Consultative Council Joint Standing Committee which was held in private at the London-based Anglican Communion Office.
While much of the conversation focused on process and the respective roles of the Joint Standing Committee, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected to the Primates Standing Committee in February 2007, said it had been "enlightening, not only to get to know people and to build some relationships, but to hear more about the different contexts in which people function and the ongoing frustration with how much time we spend talking about conflict rather than mission."
The committee registered its appreciation for the work of the Lambeth Conference Design Group, but noted that particular details of the meeting are still being worked out and that fundraising is a continuing need for the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion's bishops. More than 800 bishops have been invited to attend the July 16-August 3 conference in Canterbury. A separate conference for the bishops' spouses will run concurrently.
The committee acknowledged that five primates have said their bishops will not be attending the Lambeth Conference, "but recognized that some bishops from those provinces are expected to attend," Jefferts Schori said. "The hope is that more will certainly decide to attend."
The bishops are invited to Lambeth on an individual basis and not on behalf of or through their primates, Sue Parks, Lambeth Conference manager, told ENS.
Jefferts Schori said the Joint Standing Committee occasionally acknowledged differences of language and understanding language. "We functioned in English but that does not mean we are still speaking the same language," she said. "It's not just American and British English, but also its usage around the Communion, and I wonder if that might not be a source of difficulty in our conversation, certainly in some of the responses the Joint Standing Committee has had to address from particular provinces around the Communion."
Those conversations about understanding language are particularly relevant to interpreting the Windsor Report, the Presiding Bishop said, especially since "there has been an assumption that in some parts of the Communion it means x and the faithful interpretation in other parts of the Communion that it means y or z."
The committee met briefly with the Windsor Continuation Group, whose formation was announced February 12 by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. That group, which was addressed by Williams on March 4 and is meeting through March 7, has been charged with tackling outstanding questions arising from the Windsor Report and reviewing the various formal responses received from provinces and instruments of the Anglican Communion.
On March 2, committee members attended Sung Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and were hosted for lunch by the Rt. Rev. Graeme Paul Knowles, Cathedral dean, and his wife, Susan.
During that afternoon, Jefferts Schori visited several other parishes in the Diocese of London. At All Hallows by the Tower, the Presiding Bishop acknowledged 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.
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.