Lambeth Palace press release (also on Bishopthorpe site)
Archbishops recall commitment to pastoral care and friendship for all, regardless of sexual orientation
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have today written to all Primates of the Anglican Communion, and to the Presidents of Nigeria and Uganda, recalling the commitment made by the Primates of the Anglican Communion to the pastoral support and care of everyone worldwide, regardless of sexual orientation.
In their letter, the Archbishops recalled the words of the communiqué issued in 2005 after a meeting of Primates from across the Communion in Dromantine.
The text of the joint letter is as follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
In recent days, questions have been asked about the Church of England’s attitude to new legislation in several countries that penalises people with same-sex attraction. In answer to these questions, we have recalled the common mind of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Dromantine Communiqué of 2005.
The Communiqué said;
‘….we wish to make it quite clear that in our discussion and assessment of moral appropriateness of specific human behaviours, we continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support and care of homosexual people.
The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us. We assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by Him and deserving the best we can give – pastoral care and friendship.’
We hope that the pastoral care and friendship that the Communiqué described is accepted and acted upon in the name of the Lord Jesus.
We call upon the leaders of churches in such places to demonstrate the love of Christ and the affirmation of which the Dromantine communiqué speaks.
Yours in Christ
+Justin Cantuar +Sentamu Eboracensis
Thank you, Archbishops. This is a hugely appreciated communique.
Probably the best we can expect, and it’s not bad.
Thank you Archbishops.
We have discussed this Dromantine Anathema and its place in the development of an Anglican polity several times here on TA. It would be churlish not to welcome this letter. But let us be frank, it is hardly brimming with the deep sense of contrition one would expect from penitents who have so recently confessed to their failures. Perhaps it’s brevity will make it more powerful………. The responses (if any) will be fascinating. I can imagine the likes of Martyn Minns will be sharpening their pencil and calling Canterbury to account for the failure to discipline TEC ….. This anathema… Read more »
Cripes, what a carefully worded almost-an-admonition! The archbishops cannot manage a single syllable of actual censure. It is worded so carefully that one might get the impression that people of same-sex orientation are to be offered NO MORE than ‘pastoral care and friendship.’
It’s not remotely commensurate with the scale of the injustice and oppressiveness of the legislation. Still, it is an indication that our weak, spineless ‘leaders’ whom it is quite impossible to respect do respond to pressure.
Well thank goodness for that!
Thank you, at last.
Too little, too late. Jesus wept.
I can feel a chorus of “We have a Gospel to proclaim” coming on. At last, the putative Leader of our beloved Anglican Communion Primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury – together with his fellow Primate, the Archbishop of York – has spoken out; against the institutional homophobia of the GAFCON enclave. In doing this, the Archbishops have clearly enunciated their common opposition to the nasty goings on in the GAFCON Provinces of the Communion that have given Anglicans a bad name. This will no doubt set the cat among the pigeons in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda (and a few other… Read more »
I am profoundly glad and relieved of this statement. The silence was very distressing and disturbing.
… at last, something from Canterbury and York. It is of course mealy and heavily nuanced but it’s a start.
Now, where is something similar from ‘Archbishop’ Robert Duncan of the ACNA.
About time, better than nothing I suppose, but by not much.
It sure as hell isn’t my language, and it probably won’t make any difference in Nigeria and Uganda, but it might be exactly what’s needed to stop the idea that it’s a good thing for Anglican Bishops to sponsor anti-gay legislation from spreading further. Won’t be enough to make the phrase ‘Church of England’ being synonymous with homophobic bigotry in this country, though. I think it would be very useful for Jefferts Schori to speak, but not to African bishops where as a smart white woman she was already a DefCon 1 threat to masculine security even before David Virtue… Read more »
As Stephen Morgan says, not a syllable of actual censure. Welby and Sentamu can’t even bring themselves to say “LGBT” or “gay people,” preferring the evangelical code-speak, “same sex attraction.”
This mealymouthed tokenism is worse than saying nothing. Sad to say, it’s exactly what I expected and predicted.
But, easy as it is to condemn them and their empty words, these pathetic men accurately represent what the Church of England has become. They’re just a symptom.
” I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.” BUT the archbishops courageously stood up and firmly said that we should all be nice to each other, even LGBT’s.
I’d call it weak tea, but that’d be excessive praise.
Tepid. Still, tepid water can save skin from frostbite. Maybe – despite their intentions, I’m sure – it will actually help some gay folks, somewhere.
Come on grumpy guts, it’s a good start, and the archbishop is in Africa as this is published. I say God shine a light on him.
No, Lorenzo, I can’t agree.
It’s a late start, a far-too-delayed start.
A start is about all I can give it. It’s not a good start. It’s about five years too late to be a good start.
I am grateful that the Archbishops have spoken out and given reassurance to gay people in Nigeria that the way they are being treated is against Christian principles. We must now continue our fight for a repeal of the law by lobbying our MPs and the government.
There is a painful sense in which this letter talks about gay (“SSA”) people as if they were alcoholics or drug addicts, who cannot be affirmed in their harmful lifestyle but only supported and respected in their efforts to change. GAFCON bishops believe they *are* being friendly, supportive and loving towards gay people by making their intimate relationships illegal. After all, we do not love the drug-abuser by making their drugs legal and respectable. Instead we offer support to those trying to kick their habit. GAFCON clearly see homosexuality in the same light. I doubt they would see themselves as… Read more »
The statement may be weak tea, but it is more than former Archbishop Williams ever did.
Within the overcautious diplomatic language, the message and its intended target are clear to anyone who has paid attention to this issue and to events in Nigeria.
The problem, as I see it, with the reference to the Dromantine communiqué is the context in which it was written – a time of intense focus on one minister’s personal life and ‘recommendations on the future life of the Anglican Communion in the light of developments in Anglican life in North America.’ Just prior to the part of the communiqué cited by the archbishops is the following statement: ‘Many primates have been deeply alarmed that the standard of Christian teaching on matters of human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which should command respect as the position… Read more »
Exactly, Tess, it’s so vague it can be read any which way. That is, I believe, the point.
This isn’t a “start,” it’s a continuance, and it’s hollow. It has all the moral and rhetorical force of going up to a white power march and saying, “Careful now.”
I think the intention is reasonably clear. To quote a headline from the Monitor in Uganda, ‘Canterbury and York Archbishops criticise Uganda anti-gay laws’ (http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-Canterbury-and-York–Archbishops-criticise/-/688334/2166842/-/63srxh/-/index.html) and other journalists have understood the statement in similar ways.
FD Blanchard: I have no time for Rowan Williams, the Neville Chamberlain of Anglicanism, but in the interests of fairness, I have to say that he did condemn the Uganda bill in 2009, in terms a lot stronger than this:-
“Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades. Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible — it seeks to turn pastors into informers.”
Until our leaders are willing to *celebrate* gay and lesbian sexual relationships, and not just tolerate them, I will listen to Jefferts Schori.
I’m pleased *something* has been said, but the context in which it’s been spoken is still all kinds of wrong.
You know, a person could almost get the impression that these gentlemen disapprove of something.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has described the recent signing of the Anti-Gay Bill into law by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a right step in the right direction for the protection of the dignity of the human person and commended the president for the courageous act, in spite of pressures from some international communities. The conference made this remark in a letter of congratulations sent to the president on behalf of the Bishops and all Catholic faithful in the country by the President of the Conference, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos. Archbishop Kaigama noted that the action… Read more »