Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lambeth 2008 - a retrospect

http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2008/11/11/lambeth-2008-a-retrospect/

[Anglican Mainstream] 12 Nov 2008--How will Anglican History view the 2008 Lambeth Conference? Too early to tell, but Rowan Williams stamped his personality and will clearly on every aspect of it.

He gave five addresses at the opening retreat. He gave a welcoming address, three presidential addresses, closing the conference with one in which he articulated an agenda for the future. He chaired all the public plenary addresses by visiting guests and their question sessions. He preached at the closing service. He has been criticized for not taking a clear lead in the past – was this a response?

He did not wish the conference to engage in plenary debates with resolutions and votes. In their place were ‘indabas’, extended discussions among groups of 40 bishops, which produced over 40 pages and 137 paragraphs of reflections. Indabas are apparently scheduled for the Primates’ Meeting in February 2009.

In issuing the invitations to the conference in July 2007, before the TEC had formally responded to the Dar-es-Salaam communiqué or the primates had had a chance to review the TEC response, Rowan Williams has been acting alone, without the primates’ meeting. The direct result was that 230 bishops did not attend, explaining: “How can we explain to our church members that while we and they are formally out of communion with the Episcopal Church, we at the same time live with them at the Lambeth Conference as though nothing had happened? This would be hypocrisy.”

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