Anglican Bishops Address Issues of Sexuality and International Debt at Dallas Meeting
Episcopal News Service. October 17, 1997 [97-1973]
(ENS) Emerging from a closed meeting in Dallas, a group of 50 Anglican bishops and archbishops from 16 nations issued a strong statement September 24 that drew direct links between the issues of international debt and sexual morality, both likely topics at next summer's Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.
The Dallas Statement said that "unbridled economic individualism" has led "both to the break-up of families and the escalation of international debt."
And it drew a direct tie between "concern for the social good of nations" by relieving the debt and promoting "strong healthy families through faithful monogamous heterosexual relationships."
The bishops, most of them from Africa, expressed gratitude for the statement by the Second Anglican Encounter in the South, which met at Kuala Lumpur last February, and its assertion that "the integrity of our common witness is called into question because of new teaching and lapses in discipline relating to human sexuality occurring in parts of the North."
Drawing on scripture's "consistent teaching" about marriage and the family, the bishops said, "We share in the affirmation that the biblical sexual norm is clear" and that "the church has no authority to set aside clear biblical teaching by ordaining non-celibate homosexuals or authorizing the blessing of same sex relationships."
Drawing a distinction between homosexuality as an orientation and the "gay" agenda as a socio-political identity, the statement concluded, "It is not acceptable for a pro-gay agenda to be smuggled into the church's program or foisted upon our people -- and we will not permit it."
Citing the theological components of a "shared and coherent orthodox Anglican framework," the bishops identified issues that require "further reflection at this time in our communion." They included "the centrality of the authority of the scriptures in our understand and interpretation of the world" and "the ministry of the obedient Christian community" in its "bearing witness to the power and adequacy of this understanding and interpretation of the world."
The four-day "Anglican Life and Witness Conference," followed by visits to parishes in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, was jointly sponsored by the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and the Ekklesia Society, a member of the American Anglican Council that stresses biblical orthodoxy. It was hosted and financially supported by the Diocese of Dallas.
The bishops called on the Lambeth Conference to make the meeting of primates of member churches "a place of appeal for those Anglican bodies who are oppressed, marginalized, or denied faithful episcopal oversight by their own bishops. In such situations," they argued, "a way must be found to provide pastoral support, oversight and formal ecclesiastical relationships for faithful people."
"Those who choose beliefs and practices outside the boundaries of the historic faith must understand they are separating themselves from communion, and leading others astray," the statement concluded. And it warned that the "reality of broken fellowship can extend to individuals, congregations or even whole dioceses and provinces."
In an article describing the conference, the Rev. Vinay Samuel, executive director of the Oxford Centre, said that the dozen Episcopal Church bishops who attended "spoke in terms of near despair at their inability to influence the course of events" in the American church. He said that they received a surprise when "younger bishops from Africa declared that they were not prepared to wait until the Lambeth Conference and subsequent committees to sort out the issue of homosexuality" because their witness was being "gravely damaged by some of the public pronouncements concerning sexuality and the church from some North American Episcopalians."
While Samuel and Archbishop David Gitari of Kenya, the other chair of the conference, were surprised at the bluntness of the statement they agreed that the bishops had every right to express their strong convictions. "This is a theological statement, not a political one," Samuel said in an interview. While admitting that some may seek to use the statement to support their own agenda, for the bishops that possibility was "farthest from their minds."
Samuel said that the Kuala Lumpur statement was a "clear warning" that parts of the Anglican Communion are seeking "dialogue before action, as a way of mutual responsibility" while the Dallas Statement was a "plea" to churches in the North to stop making decisions that breed disunity. Both statements share "a common spirit saying that we are going in the wrong direction," Samuel said. "One of the key intentions of the Dallas conference is to enable the church in the South and all those committed to orthodox Christian faith to contribute to the shaping of the theological direction of the communion...."
During a stop in New York following the conference, two Kenyan bishops repeated the fear and frustration that was expressed in the Dallas Statement.
"It is bad biblical exegesis to accept homosexuality," said Bishop Peter Njenga of the Diocese of Mt. Kenya South. "The church is being squeezed into a secular mode."
He and Bishop Stephen Kewasis of Kitale agreed that the Lambeth Conference could be messy because of the frustration that is building in many parts of the Anglican Communion. And they said that the decision by the archbishop of Canterbury to establish a commission to deal with sexuality is nothing but "a clever way to avoid the issues." Like the Eames Commission, which dealt with maintaining communion while some provinces were consecrating women to the episcopate, "it will end up dealing with a reality and won't provide a fair dialogue. We will go home with a heavy heart. It is a question of orthodoxy."
They also expressed a fear that the "overwhelming" presence of American bishops would make any open dialogue more difficult.
For Bishop Anand Chandu Lal of the Church in North India, seeking a definition of what is orthodox can unleash destructive forces in the church. His diocese in Amritsar has been embroiled for 15 years in a struggle with a group of dissenters, tied to the continuing churches in America. "They took trust, as well as properties and money," he said. "We have suffered a great deal of agony and pain over this issue of orthodoxy."
Although he came late to the Dallas conference, he noted when he arrived that "people seemed to be very angry." Initially excited by the opportunity to join in a pre-Lambeth discussion of the issues, and impressed by the materials he received from the Oxford Centre, he said that he now feels "betrayed" by the decision to criticize a partner church in the Anglican Communion on its own turf. He said that he would "categorically disown" the statement.
The Rev. Bill Atwood, general secretary of the Ekklesia Society, expressed nothing but enthusiasm for the Dallas meeting and especially the visit by the bishops to 10 local settings for worship and conversation. "They helped give the Anglican Communion a human face," he said in an interview.
Atwood has spent several years establishing links with bishops and dioceses around the world and said that he has returned very encouraged by the "heart, life and vitality" of the churches. He said that he was "humbled and convicted by the clarity and commitment" they expressed. The archbishop of Sudan, for example, told an audience that he wanted to "help you rediscover the fire that you sent to us."
For Atwood the Dallas Statement represents a majority opinion in the Anglican Communion because, in his observation, most of the churches "share a common worldview in line with the historic, biblical faith." Unlike previous Lambeth Conferences, where the voice of Third World bishops was muted, he is convinced that the bishops of the South will have a significant impact on next summer's meeting.