The 38 primates of the Anglican Communion returned home March 29 following a week of meetings in closed sessions in Oporto, Portugal. Before they left, the archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators issued a communiqué which reported on their activities. During their time in Portugal, the primates discussed some of the most potentially divisive issues facing the Anglican Communion.

Although the meeting could not result in any binding decisions, the primates did consider issues important to the Episcopal Church - the ordination of non-celibate homosexual persons, blessing of same-sex unions, and the Singapore consecrations [TLC, Feb. 13, 20]. They also discussed world debt, ecumenical matters and other issues of church governance.

The meeting was held in a Roman Catholic retreat center and included daily Eucharist, Bible study and Evensong.

"Many of the primates came here burdened," said the Most Rev. Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh (Ireland), "and we have been refreshed by our time together."

Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold of the Episcopal Church didn't sound as positive.

"It is troubling that sexuality took a disproportionate amount of time, given the more drastic concerns of poverty, world debt and genocide," Bishop Griswold said. He added that he saw a "profound sense of healing and deepened communion in the wake of the 1998 Lambeth Conference."

In a prepared statement at the close of the meetings, the primates said two issues emerged during the meeting as points of particular convergence.

"First, primates reporting from around the world on their work and their hopes unanimously underlined the priority of evangelism for their provinces, together with a deep sense of their responsibility to and for the whole social environment in which they find themselves. All agreed in giving priority not simply to the proclamation of the gospel in words but to the 'holistic evangelism' that looks to transform the whole person.

"Second, in a session on the use and authority of the Bible, there was an equally unanimous witness to the unique role of Holy Scripture in realizing such a transformation, and a shared acknowledgement of Scripture's decisive authority in the life of our Communion."

In that context the primates approached problems arising from conflicting teaching and practice in relation to sexual ethics in different provinces of the communion. They considered that "For some ... homosexuality is part of the brokenness of human life which needs to be healed by the power of the Gospel ... So, the differing views expressed or implied in the practice of other provinces are experienced as actively hurtful to and undermining of mission.

"For others, even if they share a traditional interpretation of biblical ethics, this should not be identified as the question on which the church's integrity depends. In their situations mission would be held back in a context where the church is seen to be too concerned with sexual matters at the expense of other crucial issues."

Closing a list of expectations of one another, the primates said, "We expect honesty and challenge from each other. But we also look for humility, self-examination and a willingness to preserve those bonds of communion that reflect the unity we share."

In one of its more definitive statements, the meeting said that "(one) province's adoption of certain policies may result in severely impaired communion with some other provinces or dioceses ... We believe that the unity of the Communion as a whole still rests on the Lambeth Quadrilateral: the Holy Scriptures as the rule and standard of faith; the creeds of the undivided Church; the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself and the historic episcopate. Only a formal and public repudiation of this would place a diocese or province outside the Anglican Communion."

Speaking of the rejection of Lambeth Resolution I.10 in many dioceses, the primates said, "Such clear and public repudiation of those sections of the Resolution ... have come to threaten the unity of the Communion in a profound way. We strongly urge such dioceses to weigh the effects of their actions, and to listen to the expressions of pain, anger and perplexity from other parts of the Communion. We urge all bishops to recognize that further public actions of the kind mentioned above strain the reality of mutual accountability in a global communion, where what may seem obvious and appropriate in one context may be harmful and unacceptable in another." The primates reiterated the need for "us all to listen to the experience of homosexuals in the church," and urged "a careful, patient and pastoral process must be encouraged."

Addressing the consecrations in Singapore the primates said, "... such action taken without appropriate consultation poses serious questions for the life of the Communion." They also endorsed Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey's letter [TLC, March 12] as a "clear and decisive response." They said "a rapprochement and reconciliation concerning any regularizing of the status of the bishops consecrated in Singapore must include discussion between the primates of the three provinces involved." Further, they said, "It is our firm hope that in future no steps damaging to our mutual trust will be taken."

Archbishop Carey noted that the primates will begin to meet annually and called the gatherings "key to the continuing process of formation for the primates as one of the 'instruments of unity' of the Communion."

(Anglican Communion News Service contributed to this article.)