Commentary on the 2016 Primates’ Meeting flooded blogs, social networks, and feeds this weekend as leaders from around the Anglican Communion shared their thoughts on the gathering — and the Primates’ vote to curtail the Episcopal Church’s decision-making rights within the Anglican Communion for three years.
Bishops, priests, and bloggers expressed a spectrum of opinions and interpretations regarding the decision. However, most praised the language of walking together, declaring hope that the Anglican Communion will continue to be an instrument for change and mission in the world.
THE LIVING CHURCH has gathered a sampling of these responses.
The Very Rev. Andrew McGowan, Dean of Berkeley Divinity School and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School
First, it has to be said that the gathering of Primates has stretched the limits of any authority they have, in “requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee.” The Primates do not actually have control over the membership of such bodies, which typically relate to the more broadly-constituted Anglican Consultative Council.
While global Anglican leaders who are not part of the Primates meeting will not be pleased by the presumption involved in this statement, and there will almost certainly be some fallout about it behind closed doors, nevertheless the Primates’ views will be taken seriously, and interpreted as though they had spoken with proper authority (urging, calling on, etc.) rather than with an apparent prelatical lack of self-awareness. In other words, the ACC and national groups who actually make appointments to the committees referred to will almost certainly adhere to the principle that has been outlined.
The Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee
Let me repeat my own words following another Primates’ Meeting in early 2007. “We need ways in which the Communion can hold together in spite of difference, and pursue a common life. Those ways will come through consideration of the church, “that wonderful and sacred mystery” (BCP, 291). I’m sure that the church referred to in this prayer is a worldwide phenomenon with its roots firmly planted in the earliest times, growing and reaching out to the future. A Communion in which there is no way to reach a common mind about the extent of difference will not be able to grow together, or even hold together. Insisting that our present differences are not enough to divide us will not convince others who believe differently. Instruments are needed by which we can engage each other and hold each other accountable, and not simply be churches that are talking past each other.”
I reaffirm my commitment to the Diocese of Tennessee, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion of which the Episcopal Church remains a part. I encourage myself and every member of our diocese to be humble and generous as we engage the work that lies before us.
The Rt. Rev. Matthew Gunter, Bishop of Fond du Lac
We belong to one another. But, we have been reminded again this week that such belonging can be difficult. Perhaps the most significant and encouraging line in the communique is this one,
“Over the past week the unanimous decision of the Primates was to walk together, however painful this is, and despite our differences, as a deep expression of our unity in the body of Christ.”
To be a member of the Church is to be bound to all other members by the enduring bond of baptism. Because we are bound to one another, we walk together. Because we sometime disagree with one another or act in ways that hurt one another, that can be a painful thing. It is the pain of love. To be in in real communion is difficult. It requires dying and rising. It requires patience, perseverance, and endurance. It requires the power of the Holy Spirit. And, as Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of the Province of Southern Africa said at the press conference at the close of the meeting, “The Holy Spirit is not done with us.”
The Rev. Canon Mark Harris, Priest in the Diocese of Delaware and Blogger
I believe the will of the ABC, and even of those Primates who strongly oppose what The Episcopal Church has done, is guided by the same forces that guide us all. We are all children of God and subject to the push that God gives to our callings. But good will is not enough here.
The first element of transparency is missing here: These are sanctions, not consequences, not unless people of will, good or otherwise, have already adopted the Anglican Covenant and its logic. So either the Primates are exercising power to sanction, or they are operating with the Anglican Covenant rules of engagement, or…both.
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies
The people most likely to suffer from this news are faithful LGBTI Anglicans and their allies, especially in Africa. I count many of them as my friends and colleagues, and today I am especially praying that this new message of exclusion does not fuel more hatred and homophobia and make them even more vulnerable to violence and discrimination than they already are. In their communiqué, the primates: “condemned homophobic prejudice and violence” and “reaffirmed their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people.” I was heartened to read these words, but mindful that I have read a similar statement from a previous primates meeting. I hope that this time, the primates mean what they have said.
Please join me in renewing our commitment to General Convention Resolution A051 which calls us to use resources developed by African Anglicans working to curb anti-gay and anti-transgender violence and discrimination; to build relationships with and learn from African Anglican scholars whose biblical interpretations affirm the dignity and humanity of LGBTI people; and “to pray for the safety of our LGBTI sisters and brothers, their families and communities, and for the scholars and activists who tirelessly work on their behalf.”
The Rev. Dr. Peter Carrell, Diocese of Christchurch, New Zealand
Only a little bit of dust has settled after yesterday’s storm through Anglicanland, following what turns out to be a partial release, “Addendum A,” of the ultimate communique of the Primates 2016 meeting/gathering. Part of that dust settling is a comment I read – somewhere – that, in the end, a sober reflection concludes, TEC has been sanctioned for being out of step in doctrinal innovation, not for pioneering new gospel obligations or implementing justice for the hitherto marginalized LGBT community and so forth.
The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, Professor of Theological History, Wycliffe College
To reaffirm communion as vigorously as the Primates did, simply by clearly articulating their ongoing commitments to its Anglican form, is therefore not a “mere” symbolic gesture. It is an act of generative hope.
What will come of it is another matter. The Episcopal Church’s leaders have already made statements that thumb their nose at the whole idea that communion involves basic commonality in “fundamental” truth. Their commitment to the justice of gay inclusion stands opposed to the notion, stated by the Primates, that “the traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union”, and that the American church’s “change in their Canon on marriage represent[s] a fundamental departure from the faith”. It is hard to see how these two views will ever be reconciled. The initial term of the Episcopal Church’s demotion is for three years, presumably to allow the Americans’ General Convention a chance to respond. But that response is unlikely to narrow the gap in commitments.
The Rt. Rev. Gregory Brewer, Bishop of Central Florida
Clearly, there are far reaching consequences to the Primates’ decision that have yet to be played out. The message coming out of this communiqué was that each branch of the Communion cannot choose to exist on its own terms and disregard the impact it may have on the rest of the Communion. We are interrelated and global. Much of the conversation around our divisions reflected a growing sense of a new balance of power between various branches of the Communion. This is a good thing. There have been times when the new landscape of post-colonial Anglicanism has been treated with disdain by the West. Sometimes the public comments by Western bishops about bishops in the Global South has been condescending and, occasionally, racist. The Global South does not need to “catch up” with our Western cultural values. Instead, we need to find ways to learn from each other and together seek the mind of Christ who transcends and judges all of our cultures.
The Rt. Rev. George Sumner, Bishop of Dallas
Someone called me today and asked ‘Are we still part of the Anglican Communion?’ Constitutionally, we define this in Dallas as communion with the see of Canterbury, and by this measure the answer is an unequivocal ‘Yes.’ However the decision of this past week is, while not surprising, saddening and disquieting. The wound in our communion is real. At ground level, closer to home, I believe we are still welcome as brothers and sisters to most of our fellow Anglican Churches, especially since we are a diocese which shares the teaching of the tradition and of the Communion (we see this e.g. in the recent statement of the Church of the Sudan).
We have not come to the last chapter of this story! It is undoubtedly clear that God has an important role for dioceses like ours. I will keep you updated- you for your part need to be praying for our global fellowship.
The Rt. Rev. Daniel Martins, Bishop of Springfield
Many Episcopalian leaders are voicing a resolve to persist even more fervently in what they articulate as a gospel-driven struggle for justice. Many are expressing pride that the Episcopal Church is in a position to exercise prophetic leadership and bear costly witness to the rest of the Anglican world on behalf of gay and lesbian Christians not only in the U.S. but in those very countries represented by the GAFCON primates. My own wish for my own church at this time would be for the grace of humility. I do not expect my friends and colleagues to suddenly abandon their commitment to prophetic justice, even as I do not intend to abandon my commitment to the authority of scripture and the received teaching of the Church. But I do believe that we all might need to hold our views a little more loosely and charitably than we do. Humility is an elusive aspiration, in that precisely in the moment we believe ourselves to have attained it, we have failed to do so. Yet, it is not, in its difficulty, any less worthy of our efforts.”
The Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, Bishop of Pittsburgh
Let us hear in this statement of the primates, not a repudiation of our part in the Church, but rather Christ’s own call to a deeper love and deliberate action to nurture our sisters and brothers around the globe. The churches represented by the majority of the primates are beset by challenges we can scarcely imagine. They include “the poorest of the poor” who endured years of colonial oppression, and post-colonial condescension, from the various powers of the North. Many face daily violence, aggressive incursions from radical forms of Islam, and the suffering endemic to war and poverty. Since 2007, Betsy and I have been deeply involved in ministries of development and evangelism in East Africa, under the auspices of Pilgrim Africa. I know many in this diocese have similar commitments in the global south. I urge us all to redouble our efforts in strengthening our global partnerships in whatever way we can, and to hold in prayer all bishops and their people, that we may live together in the unity of the Cross.
