Primates' Statement on the Report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate
Episcopal News Service. May 11, 1989 [89093]
The Primates of the Anglican Communion, meeting in Larnaca, Cyprus, warmly receive the report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate. They wish to express their enthusiastic gratitude to its members and chairman (the Most Rev. Robert Eames, Archbishop of Armagh) for the way in which they have tried to discover the language and context in which Anglicans can continue to live together, while recognizing that there will be limits to the degree of divergence that can coexist within the Communion. They recognize that the Primates' meeting does not include women and that women may view matters from a different perspective.
The Primates welcome the faithfulness of the report to the mandate given it by the Lambeth Conference, 1988. In particular:
- That each province respect the decision and attitudes of other provinces in the ordination or consecration of women to the episcopate, without such respect necessarily indicating acceptance of the principles involved, maintaining the highest possible degree of communion with the provinces that differ.
- That bishops exercise courtesy and maintain communications with bishops who may differ and with any woman bishop, ensuring an open dialogue in the Church to whatever extent communion is impaire
The Primates reaffirm these convictions.
The Primates find the description of the historical imperfections of ecclesial communion particularly helpful as the actual context in which the Church has, nevertheless, continued to find ways of maintaining the highest degree of communion possible in the face of doctrinal disagreement and diversity of practice. They welcome this dynamic understanding of the communion of the People of God on pilgrimage through history (paragraphs 18-21).
The Primates are also particularly appreciative of the commission's analysis of the process of discernment and reception, together with its understanding of the authority of synods and dissent (paragraphs 28-32). It is recognized that some Anglicans will have difficulty with the language of "provisionality" in relation to decisions of Anglican Provinces in favor of the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. But they believe the commission is right to point to the wider ecumenical context -- in which some of our major ecumenical partners do ordain women and some do not -- as indicative of the provisionality of all ministries and all decision-making structures in a divided Christianity (cf. paragraphs 21 and 33).
The Primates endorse the reciprocal emphasis of the report. On the one hand, opponents should show respect and courtesy for those women whom the Church has ordained by prayer and the laying on of hands, even if they are not in conscience certain of their ordination. On the other hand, supporters of women's ordination must show their courtesy and respect for opponents by making it possible for them to continue to live within the Church as Anglicans. There is need to reflect deeply upon what is happening in the Church, and to stand back and let the Holy Spirit work, by making room for each other.
In considering the guidelines, the Primates particularly wish to endorse and emphasize the judgment of the commission that parallel jurisdictions would jeopardize the role of the bishop as a symbol of unity (paragraph 57, cf. 38-40). They note that the proposal for Episcopal Visitors, commended by the commission (paragraphs 41-42 and 57), has been criticized by both those in favor and against the ordination of women within the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. in the form in which it was passed by the General Convention 1988. However, such a proposal should be flexible, as there is believed to be support for its development that would meet some of the objections that have been raised on either side. The Primates encourage the exploration of such a proposal in provinces where there is need for such a scheme.
We strongly emphasize, with the commission, that persons confirmed by a woman bishop should not be excluded from Holy Communion (paragraph 62).
The Primates do not believe that the collegial participation of male bishops in the ordinations performed by a woman bishop is a practical or theologically appropriate way of achieving the recognition of those ordained by her (cf. paragraph 63). It would have the effect of questioning the validity of her own consecration and be demeaning to the woman concerned. But the Primates also acknowledge that some Anglicans will feel unable to recognize the validity of ordinations presided over by a woman bishop. They also recognize that some provinces are not yet able to give such ordinations canonical recognition.
The Primates recognize the very special difficulties faced by the Archbishop of Canterbury as a focus of communion for the Anglican Communion while there is division over the matter of the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. It is understandable that there is expectation that the Archbishop of Canterbury should conform as much as possible to the tradition of the province he is visiting, even to the extent of being above his own province. Nevertheless, a bishop must be rooted in the particular Church he represents. Nor can any bishop act in a way that would threaten the unity of his own Church. Moreover, provinces other than the Church of England which do not yet ordain women to the priesthood or episcopate also look to the Archbishop of Canterbury as a focus of unity, and he will have to consider their position alongside those that do so ordain, as well as the canonical position of his own province (cf. paragraphs 73-76).
For the future, the Primates invite the Archbishop of Canterbury to renew the Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate. They recommend that it should continue to monitor developments within the Anglican Communion and ecumenically in the recognition that the situation continues to change and develop both within and between provinces. Where the Archbishop of Canterbury is asked for pastoral counsel from within a province in which there is serious disagreement, he may wish, after consulting the Primate concerned, to invite the commission to use its good offices to foster unity. They invite the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider extending the membership of the commission with special reference to the non-Western world and to gender.
The Primates warmly commend the Report as a whole to the provinces for study and discussion and (with the exception of collegial ordination) endorse the guidelines as a means for furthering "the highest possible degree of communion" in the spirit of the Lambeth Conference of 1988.