Anglicans Preparing Advent Peace Project
Episcopal News Service. May 16, 1985 [85107]
John Martin, ACC Communication
LONDON (DPS, May 16) - Anglicans throughout the world will have an opportunity to share in a communion-wide study program on peace and justice during advent, 1986.
The decision to undertake the study program is the main outcome of a meeting of the Inter-Anglican Peace and Justice Advisory Group held here on May 7 and 8. The group, which is organized by the Anglican Consultative Council, brought together representatives of ten Anglican churches from most of the major regions of the world.
Through the study program, Anglicans will be invited to explore options for the future of the global community. The focus of the study will the "The Rights and Responsibilities of Nations: the Relationship of Power to Peace and Justice."
There will be several major themes including: Christian citizenship, sovereignty, peacemaking, human rights and responsibilities, economic realities, relationships and responsibilities.
The Primates of the Anglican Communion have taken a lead in promoting Anglican awareness and study on the themes of peace and justice. At their meeting in Washington in 1981, they spoke out on the issue of war in a nuclear age. Peace was again one of their themes when they met in Limuru, Kenya, in 1983.
The sixth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council received a major report "Peace and Peacemaking," asked Anglican churches to "consider placing the issue of peace with justice as a top priority in their mission and ministry" and endorsed the development of an Inter-Anglican Justice and Peace network. To date, 24 of the 27 member churches of the Anglican Communion have nominated a network representative and many have developed substantial peace and justice programs.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has identified peace and justice as a major theme for the Lambeth Conference in 1988. In 1968 the Lambeth Conference re-affirmed the declaration of the 1930 Conference that "war as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible to the teaching and example of our lord Jesus Christ." In 1978 it condemned "the subjection, intimidation and manipulation of people by the use of violence or threat of violence" and called on Christian people everywhere to "take with utmost seriousness the question which the teaching of Jesus places against violence in human relationships and the use of armed force by those who follow him."
The Anglican Communion has also been involved ecumenically. In 1983 more than a dozen Anglicans attended the Christian World Conference on Life and Peace held in Uppsala. An Anglican, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Kirk, has recently been appointed to the board of the Stockholm based Christian Life and Peace Institute established at the suggestion of the world conference.
The Rt. Hon David Bleakley, secretary-general of the Irish Council of Churches, commented: "We are embroiled in an 'age of confusion' -- a time when we are at the end of an era. Or more hopefully, in Samuel Beckett's phrase, that we are 'between a death and a difficult birth.'" This summed up the response of the whole Inter-Anglican group to the situation reports presented from around the world during the two day meeting as well as expressing their hopes in planning the study program.
The study will be prepared by a five member editorial group led by the Rev. Richard Randerson from the Church of the Province of New Zealand with other members drawn from Australia, Scotland, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe.
Those present at the London meeting: The Rev. Raymond Williamson, (Australia); The Rt. Rev. Peter Hatendi, (Central Africa); The Rev. John Gladwin, (England); The Rt. Hon. David Bleakley, (Ireland); The Rev. Dr. Na'im Ateek, (Jerusalem and the Middle East); The Rt. Rev. Michael Hare Duke, (Scotland); The Rt. Rev. Swithin Fernando (Sri Lanka); The Rev. Charles Cesaretti, (U.S., convenor) and the Rev. Alun Evans, (Wales).