International Lay Consultation Held
Diocesan Press Service. September 3, 1963 [XIII-8]
TORONTO - The need for a more permanent liaison between the laity of the Anglican Communion was recognized at the close of the two-day International Consultation on the Laity, held in the Royal York Hotel, Aug. 23-24.
In the form of a resolution, 50 laymen from five countries - the United States, Canada, England, Australia and South Africa - requested the Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., Executive Officer of the Anglican Communion, to arrange a meeting of appropriate lay representatives -- through the Anglican Communion's 18 Archbishops and Metropolitans -- to consider how liaison between the Church's laity could best be achieved.
Bishop Bayne, who convened the laymen's consultation, stated that he welcomed this measure "with all my heart."
The resolution, first presented for the purpose of organizing a "World Federation of Men's Societies and Kindred Bodies" by a Church of England Men's Society officer, sparked heated debate.
Reaction initially was split between desire for a united front for lay men and fear that such an organization would only result in "a further rejection of women in the Church."
The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon F. D. Coggan, Archbishop of York, cleared away some confusion in delegates' minds on lay man versus women issue. He pointed out that "the church has been guilty in the past of splitting up the family more than it ought to .." and that boundaries between the sexes and between parishes ought to be forgotten.
"We are past the day when boundaries matter very much; we get weary of them," he said.
Archbishop Coggan also suggested that if such a liaison is established between the 18 Churches' laity, the Metropolitans and Archbishops would do well to appoint laymen or women as representatives rather than clergy.
Both he and Bishop Bayne intimated that a closely-knit group of laity working with the clergy could do much to force home the full meaning of the Congress-adopted document on "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ."
The Archbishop of York stated that there are "too many parochial councils concerned with keeping their hands warm" and too many parishioners thinking only of "what there is to kneel on."
For that reason, he said, one of the greatest jobs of the laity "is to help people get their priorities right," and make all Anglicans realize that "there are going to be some jolly uncomfortable moments if we are going to get the document's message across." He added that this "will affect our drink, smoke, and comfort bill."
Bishop Bayne told the laymen that "the kind of Church we now have is completely irrelevant; that is the whole point of the document."
In blunt terms, he said that within the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. the document will mean, among other things, a complete "revision of Christian education to be centered on mission, a review of all our standards of theological education, and a revision of our budgeting procedures."
"We must discover what it means to be found in one covenant and this won't come easily," he said. "This will lift us to a new level of obedience and common life. It is not a comfortable time to be an Anglican; it is not a comfortable time to be a Christian; it is not a comfortable time to be alive, for that matter."
Also during the International Consultation on the Laity, which began immediately after the adjournment of the 11-day Congress, delegates heard the Rt. Rev. Chandler W. Sterling, Bishop of Montana, say that "the witness of the laity has been beaten to death by pancake suppers, promotion campaigns, and used clothing sales" because they have been busy working "for" the Church instead of "as" the Church.
Bishop Sterling stressed that the most important task before the laymen is to be able "to explain the faith and practice of the Church without embarrassment, apology or self-consciousness and with quiet and reasonable conviction."
While agreeing that it is the priest's job to teach the laity the faith, Bishop Sterling defended the clergyman as being "the most unemployed and over-used person in our society."
The clergyman, he said, "has been made too busy turning the crank on a duplicating machine -- the American prayer wheel -- presiding at meetings, and repairing the handle on the big front door. "
The Rev. J. C. Clough, rector of St. John's Anglican Church in Peterborough, Ont., pointed up the need for lay evangelism which he defined as "being missionaries where you are" -- whether in economical, political or social realms.
Mr. Clough stressed "there is no difference between evangelism overseas and domestic mission work; this is simply a difference in locales."
Citing the great lack of clergy to do the work of evangelism, he suggested that lay persons could be more effective in this field than the clergy because they have more contact with the secular world and therefore have a better understanding of its anxieties.
The director of the Canadian Church's Department of Information and Stewardship, the Rev. Canon W. E. Hobbs, charged the delegates with the responsibility of stripping off "the veils of insincerity, shallow concern and phoniness" and letting God seek them out "at the office as well as in the Bible study session, at the business luncheon as well as at the corporate communion breakfast, at the bar as well as at the communion rail."
He also declared that one of the great powers of the world is money and that it should be used properly in "feeding the hungry, giving sight to the blind, teaching the illiterate, and giving comfort to the destitute and the aged."
"Money is not an end in itself," he asserted. "It is an expression of our partnership in the Gospel, an expression of our faith, an expression of our sense of responsibility, and an expression of our concern and love."
Two other international consultations - ecumenicity and liturgics - were held over the weekend. Both meetings were called by Bishop Bayne.
Persons attending these sessions shared with one another the work done by their church in the two areas.