Executive Council Sends Greetings to Primates Meeting
Episcopal News Service. February 9, 2001 [2001-33]
Jan Nunley
(ENS) Members of the Executive Council, meeting in Parsippany, New Jersey February 5-8, have sent carefully worded greetings to the primates of the Anglican Communion, scheduled to gather at Kanuga Episcopal Conference Center in North Carolina March 2-9, 2001.
The six-paragraph statement emphasizes the "vital response to the gospel" and "renewed commitment ...to the church's mission" in the Episcopal Church, while acknowledging the "strains and the seeds of division" within the Episcopal Church and among provinces in the Anglican Communion.
"We know from our experience as members of Executive Council, as we embrace divergent perspectives and opinions among us, that seeking the mind of Christ in the midst of difficult and divisive questions--while painful--can be an opportunity for us all to learn from one another, preserve the unity of the body, and have our understanding deepened," the statement says. "Our baptism, along with the Eucharist we share day by day at our Council meetings, reminds us that we are members one of another and are therefore called to speak in candor but without rancor, manifesting double portions of love and patience. Our common life as Council reflects our awareness that we act not simply on our own but on behalf of our church as it seeks to be faithful to the gospel in its own context."
The document reflects concern that speculation and unsubstantiated reports, disseminated widely on the Internet, may have distorted the impression that some primates have of the overall state of the Episcopal Church. Similar concerns were expressed in Presiding Bishop Griswold's Christmas letter to the bishops of the Episcopal Church.
In other actions, the Executive Council voted to:
* Send a questionnaire to each diocese concerning its personnel policies and manual, if any. The information will be used to report back to General Convention on resolution D015, Justice in the Church Workplace;
* Make AIDS in developing countries a priority issue and engage partner churches in the Anglican Communion on the issue;
* Adopt the statement of an ecumenical delegation to the Holy Land in December as expressing the mind of the Episcopal Church; and
* Direct church investors to consider withdrawing from investments in the Sudanese oil industry in protest of Sudan's ongoing human rights violations.
Text of greeting from Executive Council to the Primates Meeting
We greet you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
As members of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church we give thanks for the vital response to the gospel all around us in our Province of the Anglican Communion, and for the renewed commitment we see everywhere to the church's mission. As our catechism reminds us "the mission of the church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." We commend our congregations and dioceses for their faithfulness, and for their ever-deepening understanding that we are limbs and members of Christ's risen body called to live the costly mystery of communion.
At the same time we are aware of strains and the seeds of division that exist both within our own church and in other parts of our Communion. As our Primate has reminded us, "For any member of the body to cut themselves off and say, 'I have no need of you,' is a cause of grief and sadness. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer and therefore must pray and work always for the Spirit to reconcile and consecrate us in the truth...[W]e must keep before us the fact that unity is not our creation. It is God's gift...It is possible that in our struggles...God is at work seeking to draw us all more deeply into communion in Christ and one another in ways yet to be revealed." It is therefore with confidence and hope that we engage the demanding tasks before us.
We know from our experience as members of Executive Council, as we embrace divergent perspectives and opinions among us, that seeking the mind of Christ in the midst of difficult and divisive questions--while painful--can be an opportunity for us all to learn from one another, preserve the unity of the body, and have our understanding deepened.
Our baptism, along with the Eucharist we share day by day at our Council meetings, reminds us that we are members one of another and are therefore called to speak in candor but without rancor, manifesting double portions of love and patience. Our common life as Council reflects our awareness that we act not simply on our own but on behalf of our church as it seeks to be faithful to the gospel in its own context.
We, gathered as Executive Council meeting in Parsippany, NJ, on behalf of our church, send our warmest greeting and our loving welcome to the Primates of the Anglican Communion. As you gather in our province at Kanuga, know of our prayers for you and the work you will do together. May your time among us be an occasion of rest and renewal. And may you feel surrounded and supported by the Episcopal Church.
We seek the prayers of all persons of good will as we strive to be faithful to Christ in the work we have been entrusted to do. As well, we pray for our congregations and dioceses and other Provinces who are part of that fellowship of prayer, witness and service we know and love as the Anglican Communion.