Updated Friday evening
text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s first Keynote Address (delivered Friday evening)
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches issued this press release earlier today: Orthodox Bishops to offer their own ‘Lambeth Resolution’ re- affirming Lambeth 1.10 & will not receive holy communion alongside gay-partnered bishops. It starts:
ORTHODOX bishops at the Lambeth Conference – representing 75% of the Anglican Communion – announced today (29JUL) that they will be tabling their own ‘Lambeth Resolution (Call)’. They will invite fellow bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, to re-affirm Lambeth Resolution 1.10 as the Anglican Communion’s ‘official teaching’ on marriage and sexuality.
The bishops also want the Communion to impose sanctions on Provinces which ordain bishops in same-sex relations, and conduct same sex weddings – something which has led to schism in the Church. They have also revealed that at the two Conference’ Eucharists at Canterbury Cathedral, orthodox bishops will not receive Holy Communion alongside gay-partnered bishops, and those who endorse same-sex unions in the Church’s faith and order. They shall remain seated.
There is a Church Times report: Lambeth 2022: Global South Bishops press for re-affirmation of Resolution 1.10.
There is a Live Stream Programme. It starts with a keynote address by The Archbishop of Canterbury at 1945 today (Friday 29 July).
Anglican Communion News Service Anglican Bishops from around the world gather for the 15th Lambeth Conference
Church Times Lambeth Conference is here at last
Bishops join LGBTI+ march through Canterbury campus as Lambeth Conference begins
The Living Church University of Kent Welcomes Gay Bishops to Lambeth
Bishops Divided on Revised Lambeth Calls
The Guardian Divisions in Anglican church on show as Lambeth conference opens
Episcopal News Service With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it stand across the Anglican Communion?
Giles Fraser UnHerd Why is the Church obsessed with gay sex?
Andrew Goddard Psephizo Lambeth ‘Calls’, Lambeth I.10, and the nature of the Anglican Communion
Lambeth ‘Calls’, Lambeth I.10, and the nature of the Anglican Communion (2): the future
St Chrysostom’s Church, Manchester UK Polygamy, Reincarnation, Traditional African Religions and…Lambeth
Religion Media Centre ‘It may be time to pull the plug’ on the Lambeth Conference
report of an interview with Diarmaid MacCulloch
(re-post as Andrew’s articles posted here) Andrew Goddard today critiques both the original version of the ‘Call’ and the revised version. His analysis in intelligent and quite acute, although I don’t share his views. I think he correctly identifies why those who want a more conservative and authoritative enforcement of doctrine on all Provinces will feel concerned at the shift: “The refusal to make any attempt to reaffirm Lambeth I.10 or to follow through on the logic of Windsor, the covenant and the 2016 statement means that if accepted the call effectively embeds within the Instruments the conviction that each province determines… Read more »
So I spoke to a senior bishop from Tanzania today and I asked him if he had got the email. He said ‘Yes, but who was Global South to ask him to boycott?’ He said all the Tanzanian Bishops had taken Communion (well perhaps one with friends in the American Conservative Networks might not have) but they had not come all this way to play silly games. Andrew writes coherently, but he has not got a clue. He has not lived in a non-western province, he does not speak in African languages with Africans. I have spoken in Kiswahili with… Read more »
Thanks, Phil, important and heartening.
What I hear here is that some African churches are aligned with one group of first world churches and this is a Bad Thing; whereas other African churches are aligned with a different group of first world churches and this is a Good Thing. Why not just say that you personally happen to agree with some of them and disagree with others? That’s what it comes down to.
Actually no. This evening I have spoken with a DRC Bishop and A South Sudanese bishop concerned about peace building in their war torn countries- so called Global South says nothing to them as women are raped as acts of war. They are subject to local rivalries made toxic by guns and the intervention of corrupt political leaders. They come here to find partnership in a gospel of peace. It means they don’t know why they need to choose a side in the way you say. They are here to break down dividing walls not to decide which side of… Read more »
“When Alice Mogwe speaks next week – a leading advocate for human dignity who is genuinely Global South…” Right on! Some here at TA may remember coverage of her here at TA on December3, 2021. (link from TA archives). Thanks for your comments. They are quite enlightening.
https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/why-botswana-is-different/
I can only read “genuinely” in “genuinely Global South” as having the highly idiosyncratic meaning “agreeing with me” in this context. It seems unlikely that in the normal meaning of the word, anyone would dispute that, say, Archbishops Ndukuba of Nigeria, Mbanda of Rwanda and Mugalu of Uganda are “genuinely” from the Global South, whatever one may think of their opinions.
What a merry band of brothers and sisters. What an example to set
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/5-august/news/uk/lambeth-2022-global-south-bishops-press-for-re-affirmation-of-resolution-110
But some bishops did set an example.
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/29-july/news/uk/bishops-join-lgbtiplus-march-through-canterbury-campus-as-lambeth-conference-begins
I wonder if any English bishops joined their ranks.
Not Joshua 2 Lambeth Conference Puerile Version (LCPV) Joshua son of a nun sent two same-sex partners secretly from Shiton’em as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the University of Kent, especially the Lambeth Conference.’ So the two set off and entered the room of a Conference sex-worker called Rahab, and lodged there. 2 The Archbishop of Canterbury was told, ‘Some same-sex partners have come here tonight.’ 3 Then King Justin was wroth and sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the same-sex partners who have come into you, for they have come only to spoil the Conference.’ 4 But Rahab took the two same-sex partners and hid… Read more »
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her room was on the outer side of the university wall. 16 She said to them, ‘Go towards the hill country at Chartham Downs, so that the GAVISCON® pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days, until the GAVISCON® pursuers have returned; then afterwards you may go on your way.’ 17 The men said to her, ‘We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear to you 18 if we invade the Lambeth Conference and you do not tie this scarlet cord in the window… Read more »
Let me just say that I doubt I’m the only reader to find parodies of the Bible to be offensive.
Agreed, it was a bit laboured, not sure I felt concerned, but don’t really like Bible parodies either. I was more curious to know whether David really is a bishop or not. Rather like I don’t know if you’re Unreliable or not!
Just to be clear and transparent, I use my actual name 🙂
I prefer that as well for similar reasons. However, I’m sure the risk factor may be in the calculation for some folks. If I were female, or a person of colour, or in a same sex partnership, if I were in any of those circumstances in the C of E, I might think differently. I’m not. Perhaps some people are in jobs and their employer would frown upon some of their views. One is left to speculate about motive; but assigning motivation is a perilous undertaking. Some of the anonymous comments here are very interesting and erudite. Others seem a… Read more »
Agreed. At minimum, I think contributors should disclose their identities to at least one of the moderators. Maybe they do. That’s for the very fine people running this site to decide.
The identity of this commenter is known to the moderators: he is indeed an Anglican bishop whose Christian name is “David”.
Oh dear. I find it remarkable that an Anglican bishop should find it amusing to parody the Bible, and that having done so he would feel it consistent with his pastoral duty to publish it where it would offend readers. Perhaps he actively wants to damage the way his fellow Christians think about sacred things.
I wonder what, if anything, a bishop today would feel it wrong to parody? The Green Party manifesto, perhaps?
I confess to being surprised that people are surprised at a bible parody. I’d have thought it the kind of thing that people have been doing for a long time. One may or may not find it funny, that’s a different thing.
I did not say I was surprised by it — and I’m not, I expect that sort of thing in this day and age. I said I was offended by it, and that I thought parodying the Bible was blasphemous, by which I mean, spiritually damaging by making it harder for people to have the sort of thoughts they wish to have when, for example, engaging in worship. What does surprise me is that the person who is at best careless of whether they inflict spiritual damage on other Christians tuns out to be an Anglican bishop. Am I naive… Read more »
Thanks for the Diarmaid MacCulloch interview. Crisp concise analysis as usual. Giles Fraser is obviously learned; but a tad intense. He reminds me of Canadian drama–overacting with a didactic story line. I am going to keep our bishops in prayer throughout this barn dance. However, I’m not following the dailies very much. I will read the post mortems when its over.
MacCulloch’s always worth listening to, and here’s no exception. I’m glad he feels able to attend his local church (although after how he’s been treated, the CoE doesn’t deserve him).
It is beginning to feel like one more turn on the carousel. And it’s still not going anywhere.
Pretty much. Reminds me of the Joni Mitchel song, The Circle Game:
And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look
Behind, from where we came
And go round and round and round, in the circle game
My thoughts exactly: Oh, God, here we go again!
Not to mention, those who most strongly advocate “enforcing” Lambeth 1.10 seem mainly interested in sections b. and e. and the first clause of d. and totally ignore the second sentence of c. (the first sentence can be read in a condescending, patronizing light) and the rest of d.
How do you enforce an advisory resolution, when the Anglican Communion has no global policing authority? The Archbishop of Canterbury is not a pope.
Indeed!
Skipping the Eucharist because Donatism is orthodox? Hm. At this point, could someone explain to me why they think that equal marriage has to be “central” to Anglican life? And could someone explain to them that that genie is not going back in the bottle?
Things Jesus probably cares about: Climate emergency with its impact on Creation and God’s Creatures. War (Blessed are the peacemakers). Disease (Heal the sick). The hungry, the migrant… Divorce (because it left women vulnerable to poverty and abuse). Greed (the money changer bit). Why aren’t those things “central?”
If anything demonstrates the schismatic tendency of GAFCON Bishops who are NOT at Lambeth, it is this statement by a spokesperson from the GLOBAL SOUTH who IS at the conference, giving further evidence of a G.S. departure from the ‘Unity in Diversity’ ethic of the renewed Anglican Communion: “They have also revealed that at the two Conference’ Eucharists at Canterbury Cathedral, orthodox bishops will not receive Holy Communion alongside gay-partnered bishops, and those who endorse same-sex unions in the Church’s faith and order. They shall remain seated.” To refuse to join together with others at the EUCHARIST, is a sure… Read more »
Today (July 29th) on the Canadian Calendar ( and elsewhere no doubt) is the commemoration of William Wilberforce. His life story of perseverance may provide solace to the advocates of justice within the churches for sexual minorities.
Unusually for Giles he doesn’t answer his title’s question ‘Why is the church obsessed with gay sex?’ The biblical fundamentalists take to the barricades over gay sex and not the remarriage of divorcees because their hermeneutical pre understanding is one of disgust about anal sex and an assumption that all gay men are promiscuous. This is of course absurd not least because countless surveys of human sexual behaviour demonstrate that a goodly number of heterosexual couples are not without experience of anal sex. Is it indelicate of me to mention that lesbians are the least likely group to engage in… Read more »
Fr Dean, I find myself in the rather surprising position of agreeing with every word of your comment!
If someone questioned a bit all of those self-acclaimed “orthodox” bishops on matters pertaining to faith and doctrine, I wonder how many would fall into categories such as Nestorianism (diprosopism), Arianism, monophysism, polytheism, and Zwinglianism.
On the other hand, if there is a Eucharistic breach, that is – theologically speaking – precisely the end of the Communion.
A good question. But it cuts both ways. Do those regarding themselves as progressive also regard themselves as orthodox, I wonder? If they do, then the same comment applies to them (or similar: I would add Marcionism, Pelagianism, henotheism, pantheism and paganism to the list). If not, one wonders what they think about the concept of orthodoxy? Does it exist at all in today’s Communion? Is it merely a label with no practical value? Or if of practical value, what is its application?
Just noted on the website of the Global South Fellowship of Evangelical Anglicans: “GSFA leaders are keen to stress that they have no intention of being a ‘breakaway group’ from the Anglican Communion. The Fellowship sees itself, and seeks to be part of, the ‘holy remnant’ that God has preserved in the Anglican Communion. The four-fold objectives of GSFA bishops attending Lambeth are: the unity of the orthodox, biblical faithfulness, non-separatist – but a holy remnant, and a commitment to world mission.” One may wonder: Is this a preamble for a practical overturning of the A.C.C.? If so, it must be… Read more »
Surely the “orthodox” bishops are forcing the break-up of the communion. If they cannot participate in the Eucharist with the rest of us it is time we stood up for what we believe is right even if it does lead to separation.
I am puzzled by Andrew Goddard’s view that the Global South Fellowship’s view emphasises interdependence and mutual accountability, when many leaders blatantly disregard dozens of Lambeth Conference and Anglican Consultative Council resolutions without bothering with explanations. Their campaign seems far more focused on achieving mastery for those in their own faction, while overriding the fruits of shared thinking, insights from listening to diverse voices in their own provinces and love of the Bible which values scholarship and deep reflection. Their notion of their own inerrancy goes further than papal infallibility – but this is not the Anglican way.
Name five? But more seriously, when I see posts like this, I ask the authors to challenge themselves with the question “How would I write this about people I agree with?” If you’re completely satisfied in your own mind, after careful consideration, that people who agree with your position have not done the same or similar, then all well and good. But if you think they have, it would be as well to acknowledge that.
I think the liberal side simply agrees that the AC/Lambeth/ABC have no authority; the provinces are independent. So we don’t have to go through the exercise of determining which “resolutions” were “followed” or not. Those of us with more democratic models of governance aren’t even positioned to “comply” with orders from on high. But if an archbishop/primate wants to demand compliance on 1.10, then it’s pretty natural to question whether that province is in compliance with other resolutions. In the cases of countries where the church supports “jail/kill the gays” laws, they are very far out of compliance, for one… Read more »
If provinces are independent (which isn’t the same as being democratic, of course) and regard themselves as free to ignore Lambeth resolutions, then that’s a complete answer. But then there’s no need to worry about whether other provinces adhere to them or not: their views of the status of the resolutions, and their adherence or otherwise, have nothing to say to you. I appreciate that it is rhetorically pointed to charge them with inconsistency, but why bother if their position cannot affect you? After all, they’re as independent of you as you are of them. It still comes down to… Read more »
It’s entirely reasonable to attend a conference for mutual encouragement, fellowship, and learning, without any reference to resolutions (which, as we keep saying, are not binding on individual provinces, as the Anglican Communion has no constitution!). Indeed, quite a few bishops thought that was the kind of Lambeth Conference they were going to, which is why the ‘calls’ came as such a surprise to them.
That may be so. But the original comment was to the effect that “Global South Fellowship’s view emphasises interdependence and mutual accountability, when many leaders blatantly disregard dozens of Lambeth Conference and Anglican Consultative Council resolutions”. So this little discussion is precisely about those resolutions and adherence to them.
Why, indeed?
And I’m tired of the excuse that “Islam will attract more converts unless we agree with jailing/killing the homosexuals.”
Heaven, if it exists, isn’t a parliamentary democracy with God as Presider. God isn’t counting which side has the most “voters”. Anglicanism stands or falls on its own merits, per (Rabbi?) Gamaliel, Acts 5:38 and 5:39.
By that standard, many religions qualify, but that’s another subject for another day.
Fascinating report from ENS With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it stand across the Anglican Communion? that draws pen portaits of provinces that are judged sufficiently progressive for the writer to take time over, but the ones judged conservative don’t get equal time.
The list of countries that criminalize being LGBTQ was pretty damning…
The anti-LGBTQ primates have sucked all of the air out of the room for decades, they don’t need any more space. It isn’t as if we haven’t lived with the arguments for decades.
Readers may wish to note this list of names: https://lambeth22resourcegroup.com/pressreleases/socialmedia The Resource Group comprises: Bishop Henry Scriven, Bishop Keith Sinclair (National Director of the Church of England Evangelical Council), Canon Charles Raven (Director, Relay Trust), PR Consultant Paul Eddy, and Bishop Rennis Ponniah and Revd William Wok of the GSFA Executive Secretariat. And elsewhere on the same site a slightly different list: https://lambeth22resourcegroup.com/contact All press enquiries please to Paul Eddy… The Resource Group Together with Paul, above, the following people make up the GSFA Resource Team, serving the GSFA delegates attending the Lambeth Conference: Bishop Henry Scriven Canon Charles Raven… Read more »
Charles Raven left the Church of England quite spectacularly two decades ago.
He appears in my 2016 edition of Crockfords!
He still appears in the online version of Crockford’s, as of today: Canon Charles Frank RAVEN Hon Can All Ss Cathl Nairobi Keny[a] Contact xxxxxxx Kidlington OX5 1AW Mobile: xxxxx E-mail: xxxxx Biography Born: 1958 Ordained Deacon: 1988 Ordained Priest: 1989 Education Magdalen College Oxford BA 1980 Magdalen College Oxford MA 1986 St John’s College Durham BA 1987 ACIB 1984 Ordination Training Cranmer Hall Durham 1985 Ministry Curate, HECKMONDWIKE (All Souls) (St James) Wakefield 1988-1992 Team Vicar, KIDDERMINSTER (St John the Baptist) (Holy Innocents) Worcester 1992-2002 Abp’s Officer for Angl Communion Affairs Kenya 2012-2016 Permission to Officiate Durham 2013-2019 Membership… Read more »
Surely Charles Raven, included in the list of people attending Lambeth, was an exile from the Church of England years ago. Up until that time he was a well-known ‘Global South Warrior’ – whose agenda he seems to be supporting now at the Conference. Among the list of people shown below, one wonders how many live in countries where Gays are marginalised or put to death for who they are? GSFA delegates attending the Lambeth Conference: Bishop Henry Scriven Canon Charles Raven Bishop Keith Sinclair Bishop Rennis Ponniah There are many Anglican Church exiles amongst the new ‘Confessing Anglicans’ (foster-children… Read more »
An interesting question. What does loyalty to the A.C.C. look like? How would you test it or measure it? Would you regard yourself as loyal to it?
Let’s judge that quality of loyalty to the ‘Unity in Diversity‘ spirit of the Anglican Communion, by how many of the bishops vote against the G.S. suggestion of resurrecting the now discredited, and pastorally outdated Resolution called Lambeth 1:10. (Its current supporters may call themselves ‘Traditionalists’ – a class of people that Pope Francis, en route from Canada, has just re-named ‘Backwardists’).
A fascinating conversation between Roger Bolton and Diarmaid MacCulloch. I agree that it may be time to pull the plug on the Lambeth Conference – in fact I think that time may have come after the disastrous 98 edition, referred to as being ‘like a Nuremberg rally’ by one participant. ++Rowan tried to give it new life with a different process in 08, with only moderate success but ++Justin’s attempts to salvage the concept have proved a total failure, already having done more harm than any possible good that may come out of it. Incompetent and devious indeed! I’d be… Read more »