A Statement Regarding the Primates Meeting in Tanzania

Shortly before any news regarding the content of the primates meeting being held in Tanzania came out, I was on BBC Radio 4 opposite the Rt. Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester in the Church of England, regarding the possible outcomes of the meeting. The brief statements I made were based entirely on Christian hope. Here are the central outcomes of the meeting thus far, which are strongly encouraging:

• The panel report on the Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Report as embodied in resolutions at the 2006 General Convention in Columbus said that we had in substance made adequate responses to the Windsor Report recommendations in most areas (noting that there is work to be done in the area of blessings of same-sex relationships).

Let me make two observations about this: First, the panel avoided what I call Windsor literalism; that is, the demand to adhere to the actual wording of the Report. Rather, the panel assessed the content of our responses, an intelligent way to analyze our response to a complex document.

Second, there will be, I think, immediate assertions that Resolution B033 of the 2006 General Convention has been proven to have been necessary, given the positive assessment of the panel at the primates meeting. B033 amounted to a moratorium, in the Episcopal Church, on the nomination, election, and consents to elections of partnered gay and lesbian people. On the contrary, it seems that, given the panel’s ability to analyze content and not merely check off if certain litmus test language has been used, alternatives to B033 might well have been acceptable.

• The overwhelming majority of primates showed their willingness to be in communion with our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Shori. As I said on the BBC interview, such willingness, in the context of a world where women are greatly discriminated against, bearing the brunt of the AIDS pandemic, being denied equal access to education, being paid consistently less than men, etc., demonstrates the reality of Christ’s reconciling, healing presence in the Church.

What we see in the primates meeting in Tanzania is Christ drawing all things, all people to himself. Relationship is being brought foreword, replacing division and isolation – this is the dynamic of Christ’s healing of the world.

Finally, let me say that despite the distortions being put forward about the theology held in the Episcopal Church, and, less importantly, about the level of discord in the Episcopal Church, at this time our church is clearly standing on a threshold, a place of tremendous energy for the new. We are committing, under Bonnie Anderson and Katharine Jefferts Shori’s leadership, to the relief of global suffering. It is my belief that we shall do so in concert with a global communion, becoming what we are called to be, the Body of Christ.