The Anglican Communion

Vicar's letter
Ever since the consecration of the new Bishop of New Hampshire last Autumn there has been a certain uproar in the Anglican Communion, that world wide fellowship of churches that look to the Church of England as their founder, directly or indirectly. In response to this, the Archbishop of Canterbury set up a Commission under the chairmanship of Robin Eames the Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland with 16 members drawn from around the world to help resolve the difficulties many were having.

There are two views of the Anglican Communion. The traditional one is that it is purely a fellowship of independent churches. Yes they have a common heritage but they are each free to order their affairs as they see fit. This is indeed the legal position. Others believe that some members behave in a way that is beyond acceptance and should be cut off from the fellowship. The Episcopal Church in the United States did indeed behave in a way contrary to a resolution passed at the last Lambeth Conference in consecrating gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

The commission under Robin Eames has just issued a report known as the Windsor Report (they had two meetings at St George’s House in Windsor Castle). This report believes it is no longer appropriate to allow any member church of the Anglican Communion to act in any way it sees fit. It proposes a covenant or agreement as to how disputed matters should be resolved in the future. It asks all members to accept this new covenant under which they will not undertake significant innovations without the consent of a representative body of the Anglican Communion. It proposes that the Archbishop of Canterbury advised by a small group of church leaders from around the world should decide whether a matter is significant or not.

I consider that this is a good way of proceeding. Over the next year there will be discussions in the various national churches about this proposal which will then go before a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council next summer. I am apprehensive that on the one hand, the churches of Canada and the USA will accept no limits to their freedom of action while several churches in Africa, Asia and South America will not accept a situation with no such limits. It is, I believe, only as all the member churches accept that for the good of the whole communion they have to surrender something important to them, that the present tensions will be satisfactorily resolved.

In the meantime, I believe we must all pray that the different churches in the Anglican Communion can find a way of living with good relationships with each other, for if the churches cannot do this, what hope is there for our divided world.

Christopher Morgan - Jones

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