Anglican bishops, primates see Episcopal Church at work and prayer
Episcopal News Service -- Anaheim, California. July 13, 2009 [071309-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Some of the Anglican Communion bishops and primates attending General Convention said July 13 that they are learning about the dynamics that influence the decisions that the Episcopal Church makes.
And, they said, different decisions about controversial subjects should not necessarily cause rifts in the worldwide body.
"I will tell my people that this church is directed by clergy and laity, not the bishops, because that's quite different from my context," Diocese of Southern Nyanza Bishop James Ochiel in the Anglican Church of Kenya said during an interview.
Ochiel is one of more than 70 international guests, including 13 communion primates, who have attended some or all of the General Convention, meeting July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.
The presence of many Anglicans at convention is a refutation of Episcopalians' worries that their church has been pushed to the margins of the worldwide body, said Archbishop Mauricio Andrade of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil), who has attended four General Conventions.
Andrade, speaking through a translator, also said that the guests have felt "an acknowledgment" from the Episcopal Church that "we are part of the body of Christ, that we are together in the mission of Christ."
Uruguay Bishop Miguel Tamayo, who is also the interim bishop in Cuba, said, "We feel that you as a church … do the best you can, trying to involve everyone according to your tradition and canons."
Tamayo, who testified at committee hearings dealing with the U.S. embargo of Cuba and an attempt to help retired Cuban clergy, said he will take home with him the memory of the convention's Eucharists.
"They showed me how you can be a real church community, setting apart all differences you can have in different issues you can come together and worship together and praise the Lord together and for me that's great, because that's the church," he said.
Archbishop Martin Barahona, primate of the Anglican Church of Central America (Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America or IARCA) attending convention for the fifth time, said that the convention's theme of Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me "has motivated a spirit of cooperation."
Still the visitors have observed differences of both style and substance.
For Ochiel, the Episcopal Church's open discussion and even disagreement on issues is very different to the Kenyan context. Likening Episcopalians to a family living in the same house, he said, "people agree to battle within the house."
Such debate is eye-opening, he said.
"I think the general impression from Africa is that the Episcopal Church is on one side," Ochiel explained. "That's not what I have learned … they are still battling within."
Without actually seeing how the convention debates issues, Ochiel said that Africans see the Episcopal Church "as decided, we see you as determined to not be part of the communion."
The Kenyan bishop also noted that Episcopalians do not have the sole responsibility for the recent escalation of tensions in the Anglican Communion. "I do realize that our position became [so] strong that the Episcopal Church became so fearful of us that it is like there's no dialogue, there's no talking one-on-one," he said.
To understand "that you have your own dilemmas, your own challenges, where you still don't agree" has been helpful, Ochiel said, adding that such understanding "will not change our mindset because, for us, homosexuality, though we know it exists in society, is not an issue yet."
Kenyans will not understand if the convention agrees to develop rites to bless same-gender unions or open the episcopate to non-celibate gays and lesbians, according to the bishop.
"The only thing we will know and think about would be: these guys are different from us," he said. "That is not to say they are judged by God … but they are different from us, period. But how do we work when we are different? That should be another question; I don't know the answer to that."
Still, Ochiel asked, "why should it be that whatever you do will not enable you and us to remain part of the communion?"
Likewise, Liberian Bishop Jonathan Hart said that in his country "we don't easily discuss homosexuality … it's almost like a taboo."
There are no openly gay people in Liberia or many other parts Africa, he said, adding that he was "sure" that many of the people participating in the interview "have a reservation in dealing and interacting with people who are involved in same-sex relations" and that the church in Liberia has not made it an issue because the issue does not exist in Liberian society.
"However we have to be concerned with it because we interact with the Episcopal Church," Hart said, noting that "we are Anglicans and we do realize that we are people with diverse views."
The Episcopal Church of Liberia was founded by the U.S.-based Episcopal Church in 1836 and remained one of its dioceses until 1980, when it became part of the Anglican Province of West Africa. The Episcopal Church recently renewed a covenant partnership, which pledges each entity to mutual ministry and interdependence and calls for financial subsidies for a certain amount of time.
Tamayo said that the Cuban church has agreed not to ordain homosexual people or bless same-gender relationships, "but it is going to respect other churches in doing whatever they think is appropriate in their church by their own way of doing things.
"We recognize that you do that through General Convention so that is not a real issue in Cuba because we are more interested in other issues like justice, poverty, HIV, that we think are bigger problems in humankind than these other sexuality issues," he added.
Barahona, speaking through a translator, said he must deal carefully with his bishops because "this is a very sensitive subject, not so much because of the church but rather for the community in general."
The Roman Catholic Church dominates a society that has a "great level of prejudice and stereotyping," the archbishop said.
As the bishop of the Diocese of El Salvador, Barahona noted that "we have worked greatly in the community so that people might understand that we are all children of God and therefore we must respect creation and we must provide opportunities for everyone."
In El Salvador, which Barahona said has "a bit of a more open environment," the leader of a 5,000 member organization of gays and lesbians in San Salvador attends a diocesan church and "everyone who is gay or lesbian, they know that they have a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church," he said.
News that the Episcopal Church had agreed to admit non-celibate gays and lesbians to the episcopate or develop rites for same-gender blessings would be "very good news," in El Salvador, according to the archbishop.
Andrade of Brazil said that in response to continued calls for Anglicans to listen to the stories of gays and lesbians, his province has held three nationwide conversations in which "we discussed that we have to recognize that all people, whether they are gay, lesbian or heterosexual, all belong to the body of Christ."
If Episcopalians decide to bless same-gender unions and reverse convention's 2006 request that bishops and standing committees refuse to allow partnered gays and lesbians to become bishops, Andrade said it would "have some implications in some parts and with some people of Brazil."
The Brazilian Diocese of Recife has experienced division on human sex after the nationwide conversations.
However, Andrade said, "in the Church of Brazil we have stayed on track, clear in our vision that the church of Christ is for everyone, that we want a united church for the mission of everyone."
International guests attending General Convention were invited by the Episcopal Church's Partnerships Center, the Presiding Bishop, the Church Pension Group, Trinity Church Wall Street in New York and the Chicago Consultation (a group that supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Christians in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.)
Of the more than 70 international guests, six were invited by House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson.
Guests also are invited directly by dioceses in the Episcopal Church, many of which share companion relationships with other dioceses throughout the Anglican Communion.
Daily breakfast briefings for the international guests in Anaheim addressed different topics about General Convention and the Episcopal Church.
The Rev Canon Bruce W. Woodcock, manager of international relations for the Church Pension Group, said there has been a concerted effort to educate the visitors about General Convention so that they could "better understand who we are" as a church.