PB Responds to Lambeth Boycott

Five Anglican Primates, according to ENS, four from Africa and one from South America, have publicized their intentions to boycott the 2008 Lambeth Conference in a letter responding to a group of English bishops who had urged them to attend the once-a-decade gathering.

Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Henry Orombi of Uganda, and Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone -- who make up five of the 38 Anglican Primates -- told the 21 English bishops that they would not attend Lambeth in protest to the invitations extended by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Episcopal Church's bishops. Akinola, Kolini and Orombi had all previously announced that they intended to boycott the conference.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is saddened by the primates' decision not to attend Lambeth and responds,

"The gathering will be diminished by their absence, and I imagine that they themselves will miss a gift they might have otherwise received," the Presiding Bishop said. "None of us is called to 'feel at home' except in the full and immediate presence of God. It is our searching, especially with those we find most 'other,' that is likely to lead us into the fuller experience of the body of Christ. Fear of the other is an invitation to seek the face of God, not a threat to be avoided."

Diocese of VA, 'Generous and Faithful'

In a seven page report, a commission in the Diocese of VA formed “to discern a possible ‘emerging consensus’ regarding the permitting of ‘local options’ for the blessing of same-sex unions,” came to the following conclusion:

Part II: Recommendation as to Finding a Way Forward We, the members of the R-5 Commission, being mindful of our membership in the Anglican Communion, recommend that the 213th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia, building on the process of continued listening and discernment of a possible “emerging consensus” with regard to the permitting of “local option” for the blessing of same-gender unions, appoint a new commission to identify the practical steps necessary to provide for the pastoral care and spiritual support of same-gender couples in committed monogamous relationships.

We specifically recommend that:

1) An appointed Commission compile and make available theological, catechetical, and liturgical resources within the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion for the pastoral care and spiritual support of same-gender couples in committed relationships; and Report of the R-5 Commission to the 213th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia

2) The Commission design and execute four town hall meetings, in order to share resources for education and to establish a better sense of an “emerging consensus” pertaining to “local option” for the blessing of same-gender unions ; and

3) The Commission be tasked to make a report of its findings and work to the 214th Annual Council, in time for further action to be taken in anticipation of the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2009. This recommendation seeks to provide an ongoing commitment to discern ways of being generous and faithful in our common pastoral call, even as we acknowledge that we are not of one mind in this Diocese on the permissibility of “local option” in the blessing of samegender unions.

To view the complete Report click this link and scroll down to 'Reports: R-5 Commission Report