Lambeth absentees press on as letters wait to be sent out

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=62817

[Church Times] 5 Sep 2008--A month after the Lambeth Conference, the 230 or so absent Anglican bishops have not yet been contacted in order to “build bridges” with them. In the mean time, their leaders have stated that they have heard nothing from Lambeth to give them pause as they seek to form a new North American province.

The Archbishop of Canterbury and Canon Kenneth Kearon, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, committed themselves at the Lambeth Conference to ensur­ing that the absent bishops were kept fully informed of what had taken place, and of the process expected to lead to the Anglican Covenant.

All the Primates have been sent copies of Dr Williams’s post-Con­ference reflections; but on Wednes­day the promised “bridge-building” letters had still not been sent out. “I know it is being worked on in the office, and it is in process. But the letters have not physically gone out to everyone absent yet,” a source in the Anglican Communion Office said.

The press officer, Canon Jim Rosen­thal, confirmed later in the day that they would be sent out at the end of the week.

Dr Williams and Canon Kearon have both been on leave.