Plenty of people who are far smarter than I are trying to figure out what the primates of the Anglican Communion said in their communiqué issued at the conclusion of the meeting in Portugal [TLC, April 16]. To take it a step further, there's lots of head scratching over what the primates intended.

Most of the document seems to be a simple, honest accounting for the primates' time. They tell us about their week in Oporto, their experiences and challenges, and the issues they faced. Their messages on such matters as the authority of scripture, international debt and evangelism are encouraging. It gets a bit murky when the primates mention "the deep problems arising from conflicting teaching and practice in relation to sexual ethics" in the various provinces of the Anglican Communion.

In some respects, the primates' document appears to be aimed directly at the Episcopal Church. It notes the Lambeth Conference resolution on sexuality and mentions "it has caused very great concern in many parts of the Communion that Lambeth Resolution I.10 which was overwhelmingly adopted by bishops at Lambeth '98 has been rejected by some dioceses of our church." Even I can figure out that the "some dioceses" referred to are in the American church. At last count, more than half the 100 domestic dioceses in the Episcopal Church had either adopted legislation rejecting the Lambeth resolution or have ignored it.

For those who have forgotten, Resolution I.10 upholds the church's traditional teaching on marriage, rejects homosexual practice as "incompatible with scripture," states it cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same-sex unions or ordaining those involved in same-gender unions, and calls for listening to the experiences of homosexual persons.

It would have been easy for the primates to make a more declarative statement. They write of the importance of unity of the Anglican Communion and state that repudiation of the Lambeth resolution by dioceses which support such blessings and ordinations "have come to threaten the unity of the Communion in a profound way." But the document also states that "only a formal and public repudiation" of the (Chicago-)Lambeth Quadrilateral (BCP, pp. 876-878) would place a diocese or a province outside the Anglican Communion. In other words, these ordinations and blessings aren't enough to get a diocese, or a national church, thrown out of the Anglican Communion. At least not yet. Keeping that in mind, remember that the Lambeth Conference is not binding. And the primates' meeting is only consultative, so any action taken by this group would be no more than advisory.

So I'm left with questions. Do the 50 or so U.S. bishops who reject the Lambeth resolution care about the unity of the Anglican Communion? Does the ordination of a non-celibate homosexual person in, say, the Diocese of Rochester constitute a violation of the Lambeth Quadrilateral? If the primates issue a stronger statement in 2001 will anyone care? Isn't it curious that the primates didn't take any disciplinary action against those who were involved in the Singapore consecrations [TLC, Feb. 13, 20]?

I'll make a prediction, and remember this is from someone whose brackets in the NCAA tournament were trashed on the opening weekend. The primates' communiqué will have absolutely no effect on the American church. Some dioceses will treat the communiqué as they did the Lambeth resolution and will adopt resolutions repudiating it. General Convention might even do it for them. Bishops will continue to ordain non-celibate homosexual persons and priests will continue to bless same-sex relationships. The primates will gather again next year and issue a message with stronger language reprimanding naughty dioceses in the Episcopal Church. And what will happen? Absolutely nothing.

David Kalvelage, executive editor