Lambeth Conference commences in Canterbury amid high expectations
Episcopal News Service, Canterbury. July 16, 2008 [071608-04]
Episcopal News Service staff
An image gallery of the bishops' arrivals is available here.
Bishops converging on the University of Kent campus said they had mission and relationship on their minds as the every-decade Lambeth Conference, themed "Equipping Bishops for Mission," got underway July 16.
"My diocese is very mission-minded and the Anglican Communion is a network of people who do mission together. This is a chance to plug into that network," said Bishop Dan Edwards of Nevada.
Edwards is among about 650 bishops, plus their spouses and guests from the 38 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion, converging in Canterbury, a pastoral English countryside town of 43,000 located 55 miles east of London, and the setting for Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."
Bishops seek relationships, resources
One of Edwards' parishes, St. Stephen's in Reno, "has been studying the Millennium Development Goals and wants to take on a project of supporting a school for girls in Africa but they don't have a particular school in mind," he said. "I'm here looking for that school."
Bishop Koomandi Beri Yesuvaraprasad of the Church of South India said he was delighted to be at the Lambeth Conference and was hoping to connect with someone about communications.
"I come from a very rural diocese, and there is no communication center, no computers. They are very worried and there is little way to get information to them."
Bishop Bob Evens of Crediton in the Church of England, said he is hoping to discover more about the challenges of his episcopal colleagues. "Already this morning, I met bishops from Pakistan, Ethiopia and Europe and we have enjoyed each other's company and learned about challenges facing the church. That's just this morning. I want to meet many others. I want to learn to be a better bishop."
Among those reportedly attending were bishops from Rwanda, Kenya and Nigeria -- three of the four provinces that announced intentions to boycott the gathering over disagreements concerning the ordination of women and gays. It was not immediately known if anyone from the Anglican Church of Uganda, the fourth "boycotting" diocese, was participating, said the Rev. Canon James M. Rosenthal, communications director for the Anglican Communion Office.
He said registration was continuing throughout the day and an official tally of conference registrants, including spouses and visitors, would be available July 17.
Ten Kenyan Anglican bishops reportedly traveled to England on the eve of the conference to discuss collaboration programs with partner dioceses, according to an Ecumenical News International (ECI) reporter based in Nairobi.
Bishop Gideon Ireri of Mbeere said, "We are going to meet our partners and discuss our relationship in the light of the recent developments," according to the ECI report.
Anglican Communion officials confirmed that Bishop Cyril Okorocha of Owerri is the only Nigerian bishop expected to attend the conference. The primate of his province, Archbishop Peter Akinola, previously stated that his bishops would boycott the gathering.
It was also reported that deposed Bishop John-David Schofield, who attempted to remove the Diocese of San Joaquin from the Episcopal Church last December and to realign with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, declined an invitation. Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone had initially said he would boycott the conference, but has since changed his mind.
New structure emphasizes interaction
The 2008 gathering will include fewer plenary sessions than previous gatherings, opting instead for smaller study groups where the bishops can interact on a more personal level.
The conference will begin with three retreat days July 17-19 in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral "in which we can spend time together in quiet and begin to direct our minds towards the central issues of faith," Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said.
The retreat will be followed by an official opening Eucharist July 20 at Canterbury Cathedral.
The main conference days, which begin on July 21, are split into four sections: group Bible study, expanded meetings called "Indaba" groups, self-selecting groups and optional "fringe" events. Each Bible study groups will include about eight bishops and will be followed by expanded groups of about 40 bishops. For the self-selecting groups, the bishops may choose between various workshops, seminars or discussions that will focus on a particular conference topic. Fringe events will provide an opportunity for entertainment and fellowship through film screenings, theater productions, dinners and discussions.
Indaba is a Zulu word meaning purposeful discussion "and is both a process and method of engagement, and offers a way of listening to one another concerning challenges that face the Anglican Communion," a recent Anglican Communion Office news release said.
The themes of the Lambeth Conference include gender violence, human sexuality issues, environmental concerns, the Anglican covenant, Anglican identity, ecumenical and interfaith relations, and mission and evangelism.
Archbishop Ellison Pogo, primate of the Church of Melanesia, said the conference's design group, which he chairs, aimed to change the spirit of the Lambeth Conference. Citing the contentious nature of the 1988 and 1998 gatherings, Pogo said planners wanted to give bishops the chance to listen to each other's stories and to discuss the issues of the world and the church from that perspective.
"We shouldn't be running away from each other," he said, adding that the diversity of the Anglican Communion represented by the bishops gathering in Canterbury should be the "drawing card" that brings them together.
"We must see that there is dignity in difference," Pogo said.
Bishop Tilewa Johnson of Gambia, who is attending his second Lambeth Conference, said he thought the different format was good. "It is good to have different processes -- it's a good use of our creativity and varied gifts."
Pogo and his colleagues on the design group heard from bishops during their planning time that they "didn't really feel as if they were taking anything back" home from previous conferences. Thus, the design group felt this conference had to recognize that "bishops are the main resources" in their dioceses and ought to leave the Lambeth gathering better equipped for mission.
The design group has tried to steer the conference away from its past reliance on resolutions, which Pogo said rarely had any post-conference follow-through. Instead, he said, some people can use a given resolution "as a tool -- as a weapon -- when it suits them but Lambeth shouldn't be used that way."
Bishops face challenges, look for partnerships
Archbishop Mauricio de Andrade, primate of Brazil, agreed, saying he is eager to "share the challenges of the church in Brazil, the poverty, the social issues, and celebrate our unity in the body of Christ."
Diocese of Utah Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish, one of 17 women bishops expected to attend the conference, said she came filled with the hope she found while getting to know people in the Church of England's Diocese of Leicester, where she was welcomed as part of the July 10-15 pre-Lambeth Conference Hospitality Initiative, and at the Transfiguring Episcope conference, a gathering of high-ranking Anglican women held July 10 in Oxford.
"We will be who we are and enjoy each other," she said.
Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine, who also attended the conference in Oxford, said she hopes the bishops at Lambeth will "honor the process set forth by the design group and explore what it means to be a follower of Christ."
Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles said he hopes participants at the conference "will enter into relationship.
"This is an opportunity to support the Archbishop of Canterbury in an attempt to maintain civility and order in the church," Bruno said. "We are independent provinces but it's important to have the Archbishop as the head of the international church." He cited the church's history and vitality and added that: "It's about relationship. We have memory, intellect and reason as an undergirding. If we use wisdom and courage we can transform this world…bring about renewal."
Bishop Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo in Mozambique said he had high hopes for the conference. "I hope when we leave here God will be still smiling as he thinks of the Anglican Communion," he said. "We will all be excited to take good news to our congregations, families and dioceses."
Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy, based in Peoria, Illinois, said he hopes that "we will remember all of the past Lambeth resolutions and will abide by them. I hope the Episcopal Church will recognize it is not a Protestant American denomination but a province in a worldwide Communion, that is the Anglican Communion and it cannot function in an independent fashion."
He also said he hoped for "an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has been placed in the awkward position of trying to hold together a Communion that often times has been very disobedient."
Commenting on the design process for this Lambeth Conference, Ackerman said, "If this is what the Holy Spirit has dictated should happen then I will be obedient to it. But, if it has been designed by human beings, it makes me nervous."
Support from home dioceses buoys conference
Bishop Edwards of Nevada said that although his diocese has some concerns about the precise shape an Anglican covenant would take, they are "hopeful about Lambeth."
He said that people in his diocese will be doing the bishop's study program and praying the prayer Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori recommended to them "and they are prepared to participate virtually" in the bishops Walk of Witness in London to highlight the United Nations Millennium Development Goals -- eight promises made by world leaders to halve global poverty by 2015.
The bishops will walk through the heart of London, including Parliament Square, and will also commit to putting more pressure on their respective governments to ensure that funding promises are met and the right policies put in place to make a difference to local communities across the world. The event will culminate in a rally in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, the London home and office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN), the Office of Government Relations (OGR), and Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR) are sponsoring a "Virtual March for the MDGs" to coincide with the Walk of Witness.
Instead of walking through the streets of London, participants can send emails to the inboxes of U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, D.C. "asking our leaders to share our commitment to the MDGs and making poverty history," according to a recent news release. [Further information is available here].
Edwards said that members of his diocese "are all here with me. Their minds and hearts are open to strengthening our relationships with other Anglicans around the world but are cautious about a covenant that would create a more legalistic kind of relationship," he said.
Covenant proposal will be major topic
The Anglican covenant, which is currently being developed as a proposed set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion, will be discussed in the final days of the Lambeth Conference.
Jerry Lamb, who recently completed his first 100 days as the Diocese of San Joaquin's provisional bishop, said he hopes that the bishops "could put aside some of the rhetoric and really can meet with each other and have some conversation over the issues that bring us together." Lamb said those conversations can form the relationships that will enable them to discuss the issues "that seem to pull us apart."
Bishop Jon Parkes, who became a bishop about a year ago and is the dean of the Diocese of Brisbane in Australia, said he looks forward to "meeting the whole diversity of the Anglican Communion."
Parkes said he hopes that the divisive issues that "hover around" the conference don't impact the gathering in a negative way and that the bishops will be able to spend time discussing concerns such as a rising sense of secularism in many parts of the world, the challenges faced by the church as rural populations decline in some countries while urban areas grow, and the practical and theological implications of environmental concerns.
Diocese of Ohio Bishop Mark Hollingsworth echoed that sentiment.
"My greatest hope is that all of us will give ourselves to this format and really allow the spirit to build our relationships at a level far deeper than that at which the power of evil is trying to distract us with cultural and political issues," he said.
Unity was on the mind of Bishop Peter Amidi from the Diocese of Lainya in Sudan, and Bishop Orlando Guerrero of Venezuela. Guerrero said he hopes that "all the bishops can come together and be united."
"My people expect when we return to Venezuela, that we will bring news of hope," Guerrero said.
Amidi noted that many people all over the Anglican Communion are praying "that we will come out [of the conference] as a united church of God" and said that hope is grounded in Jesus "on whom we are building." He added that Anglicanism's approach to church community and God is the common factor that can bind together bishops who come from such diverse contexts.
Archbishop William Brown Turei, primate of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, agreed. "Let's get on with the work of God," he said.
Bishop Philip Baji of the Diocese of Tanga, Tanzania, said he hopes bishops "will encourage each other and I hope at the end that the Anglican Church will still be strong. I hate division. I hope people can come together, talk, share experiences and maintain the unity of the church. I want to meet old friends, renew friendships, laugh at our foibles."
The Rt. Rev. John Simalenga, who was elected just one week ago as bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Tanganyika in Tanzania, said: "I am very excited about meeting my colleagues from the Anglican Communion throughout the world. I have come here to listen on the theme of the challenge of our mission in today's world. We come from different countries, backgrounds, theological backgrounds, and I hope we become more enriched with the themes we are discussing."
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada referred to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' desire that the conference equip bishops for mission and leadership. "I hope we will grow in our relationships with one another and be renewed as a communion. I hope we will focus on mission, which is the theme of this conference, and the nature of leadership and mission. I hope we have a constructive conversation."
Bishop Pierre Whalon, of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe said he recently attended the Anglican Francophone Network meeting July 1-4 in Aylesford, England. Some of the bishops there were "shocked," he said, by some current challenges by conservative bishops' current challenges to Williams' authority. Whalon reaffirmed his commitment to the archbishop. "Our communion passes through Canterbury. We are in it whether we like it or not," he said.