'Time Out' Proposed at Lambeth Conference

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/7/28/time-out-proposed-at-lambeth-conference

[The Living Church] 29 Jul 2008--Private blessings of same-sex unions would continue under a preliminary proposal submitted to the Lambeth Conference Monday by the Windsor Continuation Group. A few hours later, the first draft of the conference’s final reflections paper was distributed. It calls for support of those “who are isolated in their diocese by initiatives such as that by GAFCON (the Global Anglican Fellowship Conference).”

The document from the Windsor Continuation Group was the third to be distributed during the 20-day conference which began July 16 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. As currently configured, the report calls for all to agree to a “time out,” with the one exception being the proposal for the formation of a plan under which dioceses and parishes which already have broken with their province would be held in trust until they were reconciled.

“The proliferation of ad hoc episcopal and archiepiscopal ministries cannot be maintained within a global Communion,” the report states. “Such a scheme might draw on models derived from religious life (the relationship of religious orders to the wider Church), family life (the way in which the extended family can care for children in dysfunctional nuclear families) or the law (where escrow accounts can be created to hold monies in trust for their rightful owner on completion of certain undertakings.) Ways of halting litigation must be explored, and perhaps the escrow concept could even be extended to have some applicability here.”