Lambeth: bishops divided over opening Eucharist

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=2342

[Religious Intelligence] 22 Jul 2008--The opening Eucharist service of the 2008 Lambeth Conference exemplified everything that is wrong with the Communion and the Conference, with substance given a second place to ceremony, one Global South primate told ReligiousIntelligence.com.

While much was said about transforming the world through social action, nothing was said about personal transformation and renewal of life, the archbishop said following the July 20 ceremony.

The tensions have led to three primates and an undisclosed number of bishops declining to receive the sacraments during the opening Eucharist, highlighting the tensions lurking beneath the surface of the every ten year gathering of the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has turned his considerable intellectual talents and charm upon the gathered bishops at Lambeth, hoping to keep the Communion alive while it sorts out its divisions of doctrine and discord. He has warned bishops not to expect an end to the Anglican wars from this 14th Lambeth Conference, and over a three-day retreat repeatedly sounded the theme of unity.

Dr Williams remains optimistic. “No one appears to have told the bishops here” the Anglican Communion is over, he said on July 21.

However, Archbishop Gregory Venables warned it would take a “miracle” to hold the Communion together. “Humanely speaking there is little hope for even a peaceful separation” between the liberal and evangelical wings of the 80-million member communion of churches, he said.