Reader Responses to the Lambeth Conference
Episcopal News Service. July 26, 2008 [072608-07]
Reader responses to ELO's coverage of the Lambeth Conference follow.
Lambeth Conference Daily Account: Bishops David Alvarez of Puerto Rico, Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island
Donald Stonefeld, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Just more words in a comfortable environment. Words are not real. Acts are.
Lambeth Digest, Day 5
Richard Gleason, Sterling, Virginia
RIGHT ON, BISHOP ACKERMAN!!!!!!
Ecumenical participants at Lambeth Conference bring shared voices, wisdom
Reese S. Rickards, Fruitland, Maryland
Thank God Archbishop Rowan Williams isn't afraid to allow other Christians into the dialogue at Lambeth. Too bad he's so frightened of Gene Robinson.
Ecumenical participants at Lambeth Conference bring shared voices, wisdom
Ann Fontaine, Lander, Wyoming
What a tragedy that 70 people can participate who aren't Anglicans - but one duly elected and consented and consecrated TEC bishop - Gene Robinson - can't.
Ecumenical participants at Lambeth Conference bring shared voices, wisdom
Richard Gleason, Sterling, Virginia
The ecumenical involvement is great and much needed. But just one small question: Why are non-Anglican taking full part in Lambeth when the bishop of N.H. is excluded? Canon Cameron is wrong--all are not present!
Sudanese primate wants Robinson's resignation
The Rt. Rev. Eustaquio Coronado, Manila, Philippines
I think that when a church leader in high position, like Bishop Robinson, violates a fundamental teaching of the Holy Scripture, it is incumbent upon him to resign. I share the feeling of the Archbishop of Sudan. Otherwise the unity of the Anglican Communion will always be at peril. Doing nothing about it will further erode the respectability of the Anglican communion, in particular, and the worldwide Christendom, in general.
Cardinal to Lambeth: Be proactive, not reactive, in combating 'culture of death'
Carl R. Huebner, Keswick, Virginia
Speaking of Cardinal Ivan Dias who addressed the Lambeth Conference, the Rev. Canon Harold T. Lewis, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says: "Coming from India, a suffering country, a third world country, [I thought] that he'd have had more to say about suffering, the oppressed, but it was a Curial statement. Any cardinal could have given it."
Ironically, the comments by Fr. Lewis illustrate precisely the point Cardinal Dias was making: when each church member (and especially church leaders) decides his/her own individual, personal truth, the church disintegrates into theological Alzheimer’s. It is when a church substitutes social activism for its true evangelical mission that the church’s activity becomes disordered. Thus, it is a compliment to the theological unity and integrity of the Catholic Church that “any cardinal could have given [the speech].”
Social activists and institutions are important but they can be found aplenty in the secular world. It is only the church that can most effectively proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the plain word of Holy Scripture and preserve Christian theology. The Lambeth Conference is (should be) addressing fundamental theological and ecclesial issues, not poverty in India. But when the issue of fundamental Christian truths is raised, apparently Fr. Lewis and others would prefer to change the subject.
Lambeth Reader Responses
John Holland, Richmond, Virginia
I'm very excited about the marvelous coverage Episcopal Life Online is doing with regard to the Lambeth conference. I was concerned to read that the ecumenical representative from the Vatican made statements regarding Alzheimer's disease and Christian tradition. Even though the Anglican Communion should respect the insights of the Holy See, thinly veiled criticism of how we discern the call of the Holy Spirit within the Anglican Communion is offensive. I wonder how did the female bishops deal with this back-handed critique of their vocation and ministry?