Clarity needed before next ACC — Archbishop Chew

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=60933

[Church Times] It would be unwise to dismiss the Sudanese statement and the comment that followed it as solely an African voice.

Archbishop Deng’s suggestion that 500 of the bishops had been present at a meeting of provinces of the Global South on Monday was described by someone who had been there as a huge over-estimate: the number was around 150. But his claim that 17 provinces agreed with the statement was thought extremely likely to be accurate by the Archbishop of South-East Asia, the Most Revd John Chew.

Archbishop Chew has been secretary to the Global South Anglicans since 2003, and is widely respected for the serious theological input that the group has had into matters such as the Covenant and the Anglican catechism that it published two weeks ago.

As a land of ancient civilisations, Asia probably had a longer and wider perspective than Africa, and, because of its presence alongside the other major world religions, did not speak in isolation or in absolute terms, the Archbishop suggested. “We might be saying the same thing, but, because of our context, we say and see it in a different way.

“Sudan came out with the statement for reasons of their own, and felt they had to say something. It was important for them to make that statement, and we appreciate them for that. I don’t think you will find any of the Global South provinces disagreeing with what they say. The way they put it will be coming from Sudan, but the essence — yes.”

Archbishop Chew had not studied the statement, but there was nothing new in it, he suggested: it repeated Windsor and was consistent with the Primates’ statement from Dromantine. “They are not calling for anything new, which would have been unfair. They are saying that if we do not take up what we have committed [ourselves to] seriously, then even in the eyes of the secular world, our credibility is reduced.”