From Columbus: Global Guests Help Listening Process, Griswold Says
Episcopal News Service. June 16, 2006 [061606-4-A]
Matthew Davies
The international guests of General Convention who attended a reception at the Hyatt Capitol Hotel, June 16, are a reminder that "our realities are part of a larger Anglican story," said Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.
More than 50 international guests of Convention attended the reception.
"The fact that so many people from different parts of the Anglican Communion are here is a wonderful reminder that we are part of a global community," he said. "You are an integral part of this Convention and help the deputies and the bishops remind themselves constantly that our decisions have ramifications well beyond our borders."
Noting the theme of convention, "Come and Grow," Griswold said he hoped that, out of this Convention, "there would be a renewed sense of being in league with brothers and sisters across the world, dealing with poverty, disease, civil war, and all the other things that undermine human dignity."
Asked why the Episcopal Church invites international guests into its midst, Griswold said it is because of "our desire to be in conversation with people from other parts of the world, but also their willingness to enter into that conversation. This is a very concrete manifestation of what we're calling the Listening Process."