[Episcopal Cafe] 22 Jul 2008--Williams addressed my concern obliquely in response to a question about sexual morality. He said he viewed as immoral “any relationship which is outside of a public covenant of mutual support and love in the presence of God.” There seemed to be room in that formulation for gay marriage, even after Williams offered further nuance: “I don’t believe that sex outside of marriage is as God purposes it.” But then Williams added that as far as same-sex marriage was concerned, he stood behind previous Lambeth Conference resolutions on the issue “as archbishop.” I took him to mean that he was speaking as an office holder, rather than an individual.
Williams also gave a detailed explanation of his reasoning for inviting bishops who participated in Robinson’s consecration, but not Robinson himself. He mentioned that some consecrators had retired, and that others (I can only think of one off the top of my head) said they regretted their participation, before getting to the heart of his answer. The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops “corporately” had “requested forgiveness,” he said. He had put that response to the Communion, and the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council and “more than 50 percent” of the provinces had said that it was “probably all right.”
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