A Statement by the Primates of the Anglican Communion

The Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Moderators of the United Churches, meeting together at Lambeth Palace on the 15th and 16th October, 2003, wish to express our gratitude to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for calling us together in response to recent events in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and the Episcopal Church (USA), and welcoming us into his home so that we might take counsel together, and to seek to discern, in an atmosphere of common prayer and worship, the will and guidance of the Holy Spirit for the common life of the thirty-eight provinces which constitute our Communion.

At a time of tension, we have struggled at great cost with the issues before us, but have also been renewed and strengthened in our Communion with one another through our worship and study of the Bible. This has led us into a deeper commitment to work together, and we affirm our pride in the Anglican inheritance of faith and order and our firm desire to remain part of a Communion, where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us in proclaiming Good News to the world.
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Posted: October 16, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=79
Categories: ACNS, Communiqué • In this article: Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 16 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=79
Catégorie : ACNS, Communiqué • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement at the final press conference of the Primates’ Meeting

Good evening everyone. Thank you very much for joining us. I hope you’ve had a chance, at least, to glance at the statement which has been produced by our meeting which has, in fact, been unanimously agreed by the meeting of the primates. And I’d like to offer a few words of introduction to this before we turn to questions.

It has been a very remarkable couple of days in the life of the Anglican Communion and it has certainly been anything but easy. It has not been without pain. But it has been honest and open and I hope that we have grown in some real shared understanding as a result. And I do want to take this opportunity of paying tribute to my colleagues in the Communion for all the dedication and the energy and steadfastness in Christian service that they show generally and that they have shown in these two demanding days.
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Posted: October 16, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9322
Categories: ACNS • In this article: Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 16 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9322
Catégorie : ACNS • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

What happened at the Primates Meeting? A guide for our ecumenical partners

As you will know, the Primates of the Anglican Communion met together at Lambeth Palace on 15 and 16 October in response to recent developments within the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. These developments included the election of a priest in a committed same sex relationship as a bishop, and the authorisation by one diocese in Canada of a public Rite of Blessing for Same Sex Unions. In their Statement at the end of the meeting, the Primates said four main things – (a) they committed themselves to working together in the Communion as far as possible, (b) they reaffirmed the teaching of the Anglican Communion on sexual ethics, (c) they acknowledged that recent developments will damage the Communion, and (d) they established a commission to take matters further.
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Posted: October 17, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9284
Categories: Opinion • In this article: Anglican Communion, Gregory Cameron, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 17 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9284
Catégorie : Opinion • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, Gregory Cameron, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

Statement from the Primates of Nigeria, Southeast Asia, and Rwanda

It is with great gratitude to God and appreciation to the people of the Anglican Communion and other churches that we greet you in the name of Jesus Christ.

As we met this week at Lambeth we experienced the power of the Holy Spirit moving among us. We are so grateful to God for hearing the prayers and cries of his praying people to preserve both the truth and the unity of the Anglican Communion. We urge continued prayer that the whole Anglican Communion may continue by God’s power to witness to the transforming love of Jesus for all people.
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Posted: October 17, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9327
Categories: ACNS • In this article: Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 17 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9327
Catégorie : ACNS • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

Press statements from Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Archbishop Drexel Gomez

At the final press conference at the end of the Primates’ Meeting yesterday, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, gave the following statement:

“I’d certainly like to underscore the Archbishop’s point about it being a difficult but truthful meeting. I think one thing that became very clear early on is that we seek to embody and proclaim the Gospel in very different contexts and what may, in fact, be good news to a majority in one province may, in fact, be bad news somewhere else in the world. And here I think particularly of my own province, the United States in which a majority, though not the whole province, has wrestled with the whole question of homosexuality for at least the last 30 years and come to a sense that men and women whose affections are ordered to members of the same sex are faithful members of the church; are people with whom we share ministry; are people we in many instances ordain, which of course has led to the confirmation of the election of the Bishop Elect of New Hampshire, which has caused such a division and certainly been one of the major focuses of our meeting here. But I do think what binds us together is deeper than some of the things that divide us and certainly the whole question of human sexuality; more particularly homosexuality; is far from settled and as we continue to struggle together I think it’s also important, as the Archbishop said, that we keep our focus on the mission we share because there is so much in the world that cries out for our attention beyond issues of human sexuality.
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Posted: October 17, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9350
Categories: ACNS, Communiqué • In this article: Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 17 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9350
Catégorie : ACNS, Communiqué • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

Statement from the Diocese of New Hampshire

he Bishop and Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire met today in response to the London meeting of the Primates from the 38 autonomous Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion for prayer, bible study and discussion. We acknowledge and affirm the wisdom of the Primates of the Anglican Communion in their statement. We echo their affirmation that “what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us in proclaiming Good News to the world.”

We commend their resolve to follow the 1998 Lambeth resolution calling for the Church to “listen to the experience of homosexual persons, and … to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.”
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Posted: October 17, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9325
Categories: ACNS • In this article: Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 17 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9325
Catégorie : ACNS • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

For the Primates of the Anglican Communion from Bishop Griswold

I returned home from our meeting at Lambeth grateful for the spirit of candor in which we shared our thoughts and feelings. I thank God for the opportunity to come together in Christ’s name and for the strong bonds and mutual affection that exist between us. I pray that our common commitment to mission and God’s ongoing work of reconciliation will continue to bind us together in Christ in the days and years ahead. I remind myself that the church is not our possession but the risen body of Christ of which each one of us is a limb and member in virtue of our baptism.

As I tried to make plain in the course of our meeting, we in the Episcopal Church have been dealing openly with the place of homosexual persons in the life of our church for at least thirty years. Though the question still remains unresolved, the presence among us of deeply faithful men and women whose lives reveal the fruit of the Spirit, and whose primary affections are ordered to persons of the same sex, has brought us to this difficult, and very public, moment. I recognize that while many in our church give thanks for where we have come, many others are deeply pained and distressed. I further recognize how our decisions have also affected you and I hope you know how profoundly I regret the pain our Province’s action has caused many of you.
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Posted: October 24, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9265
Categories: ACNS, Communiqué • In this article: Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting Transmis : 24 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9265
Catégorie : ACNS, Communiqué • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, human sexuality, Primates Meeting

Anglican Communion – Commission announced

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced the makeup and the terms of reference for a Commission to look at life in the Anglican Communion in the light of recent events. It is to be made up of members appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and will be chaired by the Most Revd Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh.

The Commission, which is expected to begin its work early in the New Year, was formed as a result of a request from the recent Primates meeting at Lambeth Palace to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It will take particular account of the decision to authorise a service for use in connection with same sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and the expected Consecration of the Revd Canon V Gene Robinson as Bishop Co-adjutor of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church (USA) on Sunday, November 2nd.
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Posted: October 28, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9335
Categories: ACNS, Communiqué • In this article: Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Lambeth Commission Transmis : 28 octobre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9335
Catégorie : ACNS, Communiqué • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, human sexuality, Lambeth Commission

Al Azhar Agreement enhanced by Cambridge visit

The visit to Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge, England by Shaykh Fawzy El-Zafzaf, President of the Committee for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Faiths of Al Azhar, the renowned Islamic university and Centre in Cairo, Egypt, marks a significant new development in the building of relations between the Anglican Communion and Al Azhar.

As part of the agreement signed by Archbishop Carey, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and Shaykh Tantawy, the Grand Shaykh of Al Azhar in January 2002, the two parties committed themselves not only to regular ‘dialogue’ meetings, but also to find other ways in which they might learn more about the faith of each other. It was agreed to seek to establish reciprocal study visits in which staff and students of Al Azhar would spend time at Anglican theological institutions, and Anglican theologians and theological students would similarly visit Al Azhar. Shaykh Fawzy’s visit to Ridley Hall, 5-11 October 2003, during which he was accompanied by Bishop Mouneer Anis, the Anglican Bishop of Egypt and North Africa will, it is hoped, prove to be the first of a number of such exchanges.
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Posted: November 4, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9331
Categories: ACNS • In this article: Al-Azhar, Anglican Communion, interfaith Transmis : 4 novembre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9331
Catégorie : ACNS • Dans cet article : Al-Azhar, Anglican Communion, interfaith

Communiqué of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission

The meeting of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission, which was to have taken place at Walsingham from Tuesday 28 October to Sunday 2 November 2003, has been postponed at the suggestion of the Heads of the Coptic Orthodox Church (His Holiness Pope Shenouda III), the Syrian Orthodox Church (His Holiness Patriarch Zakka I) and the Armenian Orthodox Church, Catholicosate of Cilicia (His Holiness Catholicos Aram I), who met in Antelias, Lebanon, on 17 and 18 October 2003.

The present time is clearly a moment of uncertainty in the life of the Anglican Communion, with the consecration of a homosexual person in a committed, same-sex relationship as a Bishop within the Episcopal Church (USA). The developments facing the Communion were addressed in the Statement of the Primates of the Anglican Communion who met together with the Moderators of the United Churches at Lambeth Palace, London, on 15 and 16 October, to consider their reactions and the way forward for the Communion. In the light of that meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury has set up a Commission which will look at the future structures of the Communion in the light of decisions taken in the Episcopal Church (USA) and in the Anglican Church of Canada.
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Posted: November 17, 2003 • Permanent link: ecu.net/?p=9333
Categories: ACNS, Communiqué • In this article: Anglican Communion, dialogue, human sexuality, Oriental Orthodox Transmis : 17 novembre 2003 • Lien permanente : ecu.net/?p=9333
Catégorie : ACNS, Communiqué • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, dialogue, human sexuality, Oriental Orthodox