Bishops Hear Plans For Lambeth '88
Episcopal News Service. October 2, 1986 [86208]
SAN ANTONIO (DPS, Oct.2) -- The House of Bishops kicked off its first weekday session here with preparation: Morning Prayer and meditation by Dr. Kosuke Koyama as preparation for the day, and the rest of the morning in discussions preparatory to the 1988 Lambeth Conference.
Bishop Arthur Walmsley of Connecticut began by outlining the Archbishop of Canterbury's stated hopes for the conference: that it not just be another isolated conference producing a report, but that each of the attending bishops will "bring his diocese with him." He also laid out the four themes around which the 1988 Lambeth Conference will be organized: mission and ministry, dogmatic and pastoral concerns, ecumenical relations and Christianity and the social order.
For the bishops' consideration, Walmsley listed five points about the coming conference. The first was that the methodology for this Lambeth meeting differs from previous ones in that bishops are being invited to engage in discussions before, during, and after the meeting itself. He said a commitment was necessary from the House on how to go about that, noting that one possibility was that of Province VII, which is making Lambeth the theme of its synod. Second, this Lambeth Conference seeks to provide a more effective means of intentional communication. There will be some simultaneous translation in plenary, and bishops will be divided into "home groups" to aid in developing community. A third difference -- one for which those present expressed loud approval -- is that at the 1988 conference, wives will be lodged on site, with their husbands. There will also be some efforts at a common life. Fourth, the organization of this Lambeth Conference is being seen as a means for developing a community which not only comes together, but which stays together in a fresh way as "evidence 'back home' of our unique unity within diversity." He added that the American Church might well have a special opportunity there, especially with regard to the handling of the issue of women's ordination. Lastly, Walmsley spoke of the planning meetings for Lambeth which have or will take place.
One of these pre-Lambeth meetings was held earlier this year in Lima, Peru. It gathered together for the first time the president or vice-presidents of all eight United States' provinces with the bishops of Canada, Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin. Later on in the morning, Bishop William Folwell of the Diocese of Central Florida, one of the participants in the Lima meetings, introduced a report on that event made by himself, Bishop Adrian Caceres of Ecuador, and Bishop Harold Hopkins of North Dakota. Each emphasized different aspects of the meeting.
Folwell outlined five points which came out of the meeting and which basically are similar to the four Lambeth themes. They are: peace and justice, the shape of ministry, ecumenism and the global Anglican role, renewal and evangelism and family life. He stressed that, for the Americans, listening was a major part of their participation in the Lima meeting. He also noted that it was a recommendation of the Lima group that there should be a Latin bishop on the planning committee for Lambeth. This was answered later on by the Presiding Bishop's announcement that Bishop James Ottley of Panama has now been asked to join that planning. Folwell also mentioned simultaneous translation for small groups in addition to plenary as something the Lima group felt to be very important.
Caceres began his presentation by noting "It is interesting to see that we are not first world or third world but Anglican world." He added that the Anglican presence in Latin America is now not one of domination but like missionaries. He said the Episcopal Church is now established in all countries in Latin America and is presented as "a prophetic church with its freedom... its indigenization."
Hopkins spoke of the importance in the discussions of the themes of evangelization and of family life.
Folwell closed by saying that it was the unanimous feeling of the participants at Lima that this first meeting of the Anglican Communion members in the Western Hemisphere ought not to be the last. He also urged that bishops with sabbaticals stop by that portion of the world to see the work of the Church there.
The Rev. Robert Brown, serving the Anglican Consultative Council as a communication consultant, brought greetings from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Rev. Canon Samuel Van Culin of the Council and introduced the videotape prepared by the Council for the bishops entitled "Lambeth 88: The Call". Copies of the tape and study guides were given to the bishops to take home with them, to aid them in the process of "bringing their dioceses with them" to Lambeth, as were the study guides.