Statement from Lambeth Palace

Archbishop's statement at the conclusion of deliberations on the Windsor Report and the Anglican Communion at the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America

Wednesday 21st June 2006

“I am grateful to the Bishops and Deputies of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (USA) for the exceptional seriousness with which they have responded to the request of the Primates of the Anglican Communion that they should address the recommendations of the Windsor Report relating to the tensions arising from the decisions associated with the 74th General Convention in 2003.

“ There is much to appreciate in the hard and devoted work done by General Convention, and before that, by the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, in crafting the resolutions. This and the actions taken today show how strong is their concern to seek reconciliation and conversation with the rest of the Communion.

“ It is not yet clear how far the resolutions passed this week and today represent the adoption by the Episcopal Church of all the proposals set out in the Windsor Report. The wider Communion will therefore need to reflect carefully on the significance of what has been decided before we respond more fully.

Joint Session Passes Resolution Calling for Moratorium on Gay Bishops

This morning Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold called a special joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.

He said to them:

When I became your PB I called us to conversation. I pointed out the word "conversation" and "conversion" come from the same root. By conversion I did not mean one point of view capitulating to another, rather in seeing Christ in one another. Not a change of mind but a change of heart. As part of our response to the WR we have passed A159. We have also passed 166 supporting a process of covenant development. However, unless there is a clear perception on the part of our AC brothers and sisters that they have been taken seriously, there will be no conversation and the bonds of affection will be further strained. We will not see Christ in each other. For our voices to be heard there must be a clear sense that the voices of the Communion have been heard. Conversation works. There have been occasions in the primates meetings when I have had to receive before I could give. Humility is not easy. It does require at times restraint so that something larger can happen, when stepping backwards can in reality be a step forward.

Some of us believe restraint means denigrating our gay bretheren. Others believe that no restraint will compromise our ties with the world. Both sides want clarity and both therefore strangely vote together.

But relinquishment means taking steps together to allow for future conversations. I want our 26th presiding bishop to have an opportunity to be at the table and participate in AC conversatons.

What we yearn for has not been reflected in what we have done thus far. WE must act in concert with one another. AS your presiding bishiop and chief pastor I ask you to consider the following resolution:

Closing Homily from Presiding Bishop-Elect Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori preached the homily at the Closing Eucharist June 21 at General Convention in Columbus, Ohio.The text of Jefferts Schori's homily follows:

Homily preached the General Convention's Closing Eucharist Wednesday, June 21, 2006 The Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Grow in All Things into Christ

Lections for the Reign of Christ

Colossians 1:11-20

Canticle 18

John 18:33-37

This last Sunday morning I woke very early, while it was still dark. I wanted to go for a run, but I had to wait until there was enough light to see. When the dawn finally began, I ventured out. It was warm, and still, and very quiet, and the clouds were just beginning to show tinges of pink. I ran by the back of the Hyatt just as two workers were coming out one of the service doors. They were startled, I'm afraid, but I nodded at them, and they responded. I went west over the freeway, and encountered a man I'd seen here in the Convention Center. Neither of us stopped, but we did say a quiet good morning. Then I found a lovely green park, and started around it. There was a man with a reflective vest, standing in the street by some orange cones, as though he were waiting for a run or a parade to begin. I said good morning, and he responded in kind. Around the corner I came to a bleary-eyed fellow with several bags who looked like he'd just risen from sleeping rough. I said good morning to him too, but I must admit I went past him in the street instead of on the sidewalk. Then I met a rabbit hopping across the sidewalk, and though we didn't use words, one of us eyed the other with more than a bit of wariness. Around another corner, a woman was delivering Sunday papers from her car. She was wary too, and didn't get out of her car with the next paper until I was a long way past her.

Back over the freeway, and a block later, two guys seemingly on their early way to work. We nodded at each other.

As I returned to my hotel, I reflected on all those meetings. There was some degree of wariness in most of them. There were small glimpses of a reconciled world in our willingness to greet each other. But the unrealized possibility of a real relationship — whether in response of wariness, or caution, or fear — meant that we still had a very long way to go.

Can we dream of a world where all creatures, human and not, can meet each other in a stance that is not tinged with fear?

Grande Finale

If the old adage "May you live in interesting times" holds any appeal for you, General Convention 2006 is right up your alley. Despite predictions that "nothing would happen" and the despite the glacial progress on legislation in the House of Deputies we have not only given the Anglican Communion its first female primate, we have come to clarity that:

* we are committed to our interdependence as members of the Anglican

Communion (passing resolutions affirming interdependence, regretting the impact of the actions of General Convention 2003 on some members of the communion and committing to participate in exploring the creation of an Anglican Covenant)

and

* we are committed to the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the life

and work of the church, refusing to pass a resolution that included moratoria on consecration of gay/lesbian bishops and same sex blessings.

Here's one analysis from Kendall Harmon's titusonenine

<http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/>: The strategy of leaders of the Anglican church at Columbus had been to engineer the moderate middle ground to be Windsor-compliant, marginalising the radical liberals and the orthodox, for the sake of unity. This strategy failed. In the end, the key resolutions were too liberal for the conservatives or too conservative for the liberals.I think Kendall is probably right. I also think the strategists mis-read the "moderate middle" — both in Deputies and Bishops — who are just not willing to turn the clock back on inclusion or to make gay and lesbian people bear the burden for our participation in the Anglican Communion.