Rowan Williams gave a Presidential Address. For an html copy of the full text it is necessary to go to ENS who have kindly reformatted it here.
The official press release about it is here.
ACNS has however the full text of the Sermon given by the Right Reverend Duleep de Chickera, the Bishop of Colombo at the opening service in Canterbury Cathedral.
The Order of Service is available as a PDF here.
BBC News showed the pomp and pageantry of the Commonwealth at Prayer inside the cathedral, contrasting starkly with a sole bishop attending a makeshift alternative outside.
The inclusive message of the sermon inside ought to be followed through with a last-minute invitation. The Archbishop of York is good at symbolic gestures. That’s what his crozier is for…
Rowan Cantuar: “We cannot ignore the fact that what is seen to be a new doctrine and policy about same-sex relations, one that is not the same as that of the vast majority at the last Lambeth Conference, is causing pain and perplexity.” No, but you seem to be ignoring the fact that that “new doctrine and policy about same-sex relations” came about because SOME in the AC refused to ignore the “pain and perplexity” of their LGBT members! (including Wm. Stringfellow, whom Rowan quoted further down, w/o acknowledging the inconvenient truth about the sexuality of theologian he was citing)… Read more »
To the sermon by the Right Reverend Duleep de Chickera, the Bishop of Colombo: AMEN! 🙂
The closing hymn was “O for a thousand tongues” – to LYNGHAM! This is a very good sign.
Will there be video available?
What a wimp, a man without balls. The greatest priority is whether or not men are in conversation with each other? No, the greatest priority is whether or not humanity exists as a sentient species at this level of manifestation, with the resources to support this and future generations. There are those who pray for the global mass slayer and suffering of their enemies. They have forgotten that God is merciful and even the extinction of a species would happen in “an instant”, not some long drawn out suffering with selfish priests throwing accusations at every house but their own.… Read more »
Here is a wonderful paragraph: “Second, connected with this, decisions are most effective when they are really ‘owned’ by the greatest possible number of people involved; when they reflect a discussion in which everyone is confident that they haven’t been manipulated, bullied or ignored. Even if the decision doesn’t come out exactly where they wanted, they can still be confident that they haven’t been sidelined or silenced. So what would it take to have an outcome from an event like this that the overwhelming majority felt they had shaped for themselves?” A Church in which people do not feel they… Read more »
Wow an affirmation of big tent church life and the holiness of social justice from Colombo – surely we have hope together. Thanks Bishop DdC. Yes I think Canterbury wants to do right by all, or at least by as many as possible, including the queer folks and the conservative believers who so fear and dislike having to rub shoulders with the queer folks in daily life, let alone having to cope and work through the competencies those queer folks show in daily life. Giving the queer folks their ethical, social, and theological due is still quite difficult because acknowledging… Read more »
Dear ‘Spirit’,
I would just like to register that your continual comments are a great source of sustenance.
I am by birth a ‘black Protestant’,