Communion Partners initiative expands to provide 'relational fellowship'
Episcopal News Service. June 3, 2008 [060308-03]
Matthew Davies
A group of 13 diocesan bishops working on a modified version of the "episcopal visitors" concept announced May 30 that Archbishop Valentino L. Mokiwa of Tanzania will join archbishops Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi and Drexel Gomez of the West Indies in serving as "Communion Partner Primates."
"I understand Communion Partners to be a voluntary and informal association of bishops and now other clergy who wish to share conversation about relationships across the Anglican Communion," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said June 2. "This body has no official standing, but may fill a useful role in reassuring and encouraging some who wish to expand their relationships within the Communion."
The Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, canon to the Presiding Bishop, reported that Jefferts Schori on May 9 wrote a personal letter to Bishop D. Bruce of MacPherson of Western Louisiana, one of the 13 Communion Partner Bishops, in which she noted her appreciation of the spirit in which the project has proceeded and its apparent good will; however, she also wrote that it is not appropriate for her to give any official sanction to the proposal.
"The Presiding Bishop clearly shared her concerns about this concept with Bishop MacPherson a month ago," Robertson said, reiterating her concern that this concept could develop into another "structure" within the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion.
The revised "Communion Partners" initiative proposes to provide "a visible link to the Anglican Communion" for concerned dioceses and parishes, "to provide fellowship, support and a forum for mutual concerns between bishops," and establish "a partnership to work toward the Anglican covenant and according to Windsor Principles."
The "episcopal visitors" concept was first announced by Jefferts Schori at the September 2007 House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans as a way "to give dioceses the pastoral guidance and care they need while remaining faithful and loyal members of the Episcopal Church," said Robertson.
The Windsor Report, which first proposed the idea of an Anglican covenant, was released in October 2004 with recommendations on how the Communion can maintain the highest degree of unity amid differing viewpoints on biblical interpretation and human sexuality.
"Many within our dioceses and in congregations in other dioceses seek to be assured of their connection to the Anglican Communion," said MacPherson. "Traditionally this has been understood in terms of bishop-to-bishop relationships. Communion Partners fleshes out this connection in a significant and symbolic way."
Saying they are "governed by mutual respect" and "will proceed by invitation and cooperation," the bishops have underscored their commitment to transparency and "the observance of diocesan boundaries within The Episcopal Church." The group has said it will communicate about its work to the Presiding Bishop, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates' Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.
The bishops said that they will only minister in areas where they are invited and noted their encouragement that other bishops, clergy and congregations of The Episcopal Church who share the groups' objectives have expressed the desire to join with them.
Throughout their discussions, the bishops considered a need "to maintain and strengthen our ties with the Anglican Communion; our commitment to the observance of diocesan boundaries within The Episcopal Church; and our exercise of our office as a focus of unity."
"We believe such ties will provide the opportunity for mutual support, accountability and fellowship, and present an important sign of our connectedness in and vision for The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as we move through this time of stress and renewal," they said.
The 13 Communion Partner bishops are: William H. Love, Albany; John W. Howe, Central Florida; James M. Stanton, Dallas; Russell E. Jacobus, Fond Du Lac; Michael G. Smith, North Dakota; Edward S. Little, Northern Indiana; Geralyn Wolf, Rhode Island; Mark J. Lawrence, South Carolina; John C. Bauerschmidt, Tennessee; Don A. Wimberly, Texas; Gary E. Lillibridge, West Texas; James M. Adams, Western Kansas; D. Bruce MacPherson, Western Louisiana.
The full text of the Communion Partners statement is available here.
A group of Communion Partner Rectors issued a statement welcoming and supporting the May 30 bishops' announcement.
"We believe it important that we are a broad partnership, extended across dioceses of various levels of Communion commitment," the 17 rectors said. "We pledge our prayers and support to one another and to the bishops and primates working together to form a clear Communion identity within the Episcopal Church."
The full text of the Communion Partner Rectors statement is available here.