Lambeth Palace Clarifies Comment on 'Network' Within Episcopal Church
Episcopal News Service. September 25, 2004 [092504-1]
Lambeth Palace has again clarified the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on a network "intending to remain within ECUSA's structures" rather than competing with the Episcopal Church for recognition as the U.S. province of the Anglican Communion.
The statement clarifies recent press reports, including a September 25 article in Rupert Murdoch's Times of London.
The full text of Lambeth Palace's statement follows:
ACNS 3888 | ENGLAND | 24 SEPTEMBER 2004
Statement from Lambeth Palace on the 'network' stories
"The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, has had a wide range of meetings and conversations with many groups and individuals on all sides in relation to the current concerns in the Anglican Communion. These meetings remain private and confidential.
"Amongst those with whom the archbishop met last autumn were those dissenting from the impending consecration of Gene Robinson; those involved wished to discuss the shape that might be taken by groups dissenting from the decision of General Convention but remaining within the structures of ECUSA.
"The term 'network' was suggested as offering one appropriate model to provide support for those dissenting from the resolution but intending to remain within ECUSA's structures. The Archbishop felt that this might prove a suitable working concept, but no proposals as to its potential form, structure or outworking were advanced.
"In relation to the discussion of the term 'confessing church'; this concept indicated, in accordance with traditional Protestant usage - that the dissent was understood to be on a matter of conscience that, for the dissenter, touched on the integrity of the church itself. No narrower example or more specific comparison, for instance to the church in Germany in the 1930s, was intended."