Traditionalist Bishops Call on Canterbury for Pastoral Care
Episcopal News Service. July 30, 1992 [92160]
About 50 traditionalist bishops representing 13 provinces in the Anglican Communion gathered for the second International Bishops' Conference on Faith and Order in London and called on the archbishop of Canterbury to take the initiative in providing "pastoral care" for traditionalists.
The June 11-12 meeting ended with a Service of Witness and Festival of Faith that drew an estimated 8,000 brought together largely in their opposition to the ordination of women. In his sermon, Archbishop Donald Robinson of Sydney (Australia) said that was not the only issue -- the deeper issue that draws traditionalists together is "to protect the character of our church, whose visible authenticity depends on its adherence to apostolic faith and order, and on the preaching of the pure word of God within it."
The service was sponsored by Cost of Conscience, Women Against the Ordination of Women, and the Association for the Apostolic Ministry and was held shortly before the Church of England's General Synod met to consider legislation on the ordination of women.
In the letter delivered to the archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace following the service, the bishops asked for "a commission with equitable representation of views to study and recommend canonical provision for pastoral care within and between the provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion."
The letter argued that "historically the Anglican Communion has preserved unity by being obliged to live for a time with the fact of disagreement and now of impaired communion." In some cases, "radical solutions for pastoral reasons have proved acceptable," and now may be such a time. As the "personal focus of unity of the Anglican Communion," the archbishop of Canterbury should take the initiative in "determining some of the canonical principles upon which solutions can be found."
"At the heart of our statement is the feeling that the archbishop of Canterbury should be a father in God who doesn't take sides -- on women as priests or any other issue," said Bishop Peter Hatendi of Harare (Zimbabwe) in a press conference after the meeting. "The statement calls on him to be a referee instead of taking sides."
The bishops will meet next April in Dallas and agreed to establish a permanent office at Faith House in London, under the auspices of the Association for Apostolic Ministry.