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1) http://www.acicanada.ca/news/102304.html The Windsor Report: a Mixed Blessing 23rd October 2004, Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC) Press Release
2a) http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/39/00/acns3906.cfm http://www.anglican-nig.org/aabc_stmt.htm http://www.anglicancommunionnetwork.org/news/dspnews.cfm?id=92 http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.americananglican.org/News/News.cfm?ID=1229&c=21 http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1578 http://dfms.org/3577_53549_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=undefined http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/article_171.shtml http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/index.php?p=3168 Statement from the Primates gathered at the first African Anglican Bishop's Conference held in Lagos, Nigeria, October 2004
We are gathered at an extraordinary and historic meeting of Anglican Bishops from all over Africa. We do so grateful for the Faith once delivered to the saints and the generosity of those who first brought the good news of Jesus Christ to the African continent.
We have come to celebrate the coming of age of the Church in Africa and we look forward to taking our rightful place in the various councils of the wider church. In that context we have received the Windsor Report prepared at the Primates' request and in preparation for our meeting in February we offer the following preliminary reflections:
o We are very grateful for the hard work of the Commission members and the dedicated servant leadership offered by the Most Reverend Robin Eames. We believe that the Windsor Report offers a way forward that has the potential of being marked with God's grace.
o We believe that the Windsor Report correctly points out that the Episcopal Church USA and the Diocese of New Westminster have pushed the Anglican Communion to the breaking point. The report rightly states that they did not listen to the clear voices of the Communion, rejected the Counsel of the four Instruments of Unity and ignored the plea of the Primates of the Global South in their statements issued on October 16th and November 2nd, 2003.
o We call on the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to take seriously the need for "repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ" (Windsor Report [134]) and move beyond informal expressions of regret for the effect of their actions to a genuine change of heart and mind. Failure to do so would indicate that they have chosen to "walk alone" and follow another religion.
o We note with approval that the Windsor Report calls for a moratorium on the election and consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in same gender union and the use of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions. We urge the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to take this call to heart mindful of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 "We cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions." Failure to do so would indicate that they have chosen to "walk alone."
o The Windsor Report acknowledges the great pain that has been inflicted upon faithful communities that have resisted doctrinal innovations within Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. However, we reject the moral equivalence drawn between those who have initiated the crisis and those of us in the Global South who have responded to cries for help from beleaguered friends. To call on us to "express regret" and reassert our commitment to the Communion is offensive in light of our earlier statements. If the Episcopal Church USA had not willfully "torn the fabric of our communion at its deepest level" our actions would not have been necessary.
o We note with approval the recognition that extraordinary episcopal care is needed for congregations alienated from their diocesan bishops. We remain convinced that the adequacy of that care should be determined by those who receive it, and we are looking for clear evidence that the Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight proposal is effective by this measure.
o We are encouraged by the suggestions offered for restructuring the various instruments of unity to strengthen our common life. We look forward to the day when the voices of the majority of the Anglican Communion are adequately represented in those various instruments.
We are committed to the future life of the Anglican Communion, one that is rooted in truth and charity, and faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2b) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/30/nbish30.xml African hardliners set deadline in gay bishop row By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 30/10/2004) Conservative Anglican Archbishops in Africa have set a February deadline for the liberal American Church to "repent" for consecrating a homosexual bishop.
In a statement issued yesterday, the leaders of most of the continent's 20 provinces challenged liberal bishops to comply with the Windsor report, published 10 days ago to heal rifts over homosexuality.
The African Archbishops did not announce plans to develop a rival Anglican Church, but the threat remained implicit in their statement, which showed that they did not intend to apologise to liberal bishops for illicitly "adopting" conservative parishes in America.
They said that the onus was on the liberals to "move beyond informal expressions of regret for the effect of their actions to a genuine change of heart and mind".
Their statement, issued after a meeting in Lagos, also said that the liberals must halt the blessing of same-sex "marriages" and rule out future consecrations of homosexuals.
Failure to do so, they warned, would indicate that the liberals "have chosen to 'walk alone' and follow another religion".
They rejected calls in the Windsor report to apologise for crossing diocesan boundaries to help conservative parishes.
They said that they rejected the "moral equivalence" drawn by the report between the liberals who had "initiated the crisis" and their efforts to respond to "cries for help from beleaguered friends".
The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, said at a press conference that the liberals had until the next primates' meeting in February to apologise, although the statement mentioned no deadline.
Anglican officials privately acknowledge that the February gathering will represent the real showdown between the factions, which remain deadlocked(...)
2c) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6661897 Africans: Pro-Gay U.S. Church Follows New Religion Fri Oct 29, 2004 11:22 AM ET By Dino Mahtani LAGOS (Reuters) - African bishops representing a majority of the world's Anglicans said on Friday North American sections that embrace homosexuality should be seen as following a different religion.
The statement by top Anglican clerics at a landmark conference in Nigeria to determine their future marked a growing separation between conservatives and liberals in the 70-million strong church.
The bishops told their North American counterparts to repent and ask for forgiveness for approving same-sex marriages and consecrating Gene Robinson, a divorced homosexual and father of two, as a bishop.
"Failure to do so would indicate that they have chosen to 'walk alone' and follow another religion," said the statement issued by the senior clerics from across the continent.
A report earlier this month by senior Anglican clergy urged North American congregations to ban same-sex marriages and the ordination of gay clergy, but stepped back from an outright condemnation of gays in a bid to reconcile the divisions.
But African church leaders said it did not go far enough and accused the North American communions of subverting the faith and imposing a false doctrine.
African bishops want their continent to become the new heartland of Anglicanism and Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola, Africa's top cleric, has said the Church of Nigeria aims to set up branches in the United States.
Church leaders in Africa fear if Anglicanism fails to take a firm stance on homosexuality, its parishioners -- many of whom are traditionalists who cannot stomach the idea of gay bishops -- will desert it for evangelical churches or Islam(...)
2d) http://www.eni.ch/highlights/news.shtml?2004/10 Ecumenical News International Daily News Service 28 October 2004 Nigeria's Catholics and Pentecostals back condemnation of homosexuality ENI-04-0716 By Obed Minchakpu Lagos, Nigeria, 28 October (ENI)--Roman Catholic and Pentecostal churches in Nigeria have given their support to African Anglican bishops who oppose the acceptance of same-sex marriages and the ordination of gay bishops in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
In a message on Thursday to the Africa Anglican Bishops Conference meeting in Lagos, Roman Catholic Archbishop John Onaiyekan said the gathering was taking place "at a significant and critical moment in the history of the Anglican Communion worldwide".
Many African Anglican leaders have condemned a decision by the US Episcopal (Anglican) Church to consecrate an openly gay man as a bishop, raising fears of a permanent split in the 78-million strong worldwide Anglican Communion.
"You should know that all eyes are on you, and all ears are on you. Never compromise this stand against sin in the church, no matter the cost," said Onaiyekan, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria.
He said the acceptance of homosexuality contravened Scripture.
"We are praying for you that the Holy Spirit will guide you as you stand to be counted on the side of righteousness," the Catholic archbishop urged the almost 300 Anglican bishops from throughout Africa who have been meeting in Nigeria's commercial capital since Tuesday.
The gathering is taking place a week after the release of a report by an Anglican Communion commission seeking to find a way of preventing a schism over the decision to consecrate the US bishop.
The Rev. Mike Okonkwo, president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, which groups Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, in his message to the Lagos meeting also praised Anglican bishops who opposed homosexuality.
"We are proud of you on your stand on the issue," he said. "We are encouraged that there are still people standing behind the sacred text."(...)
3A) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1553 IS IT ALL OVER FOR THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION? Commentary By David W. Virtue LONDON (10/20/2004)--The dust is still settling on the Windsor Report. Responses are rolling in thick and fast from around the Anglican Communion. Hope and hopelessness are reported almost in the same breath.
There is glee in some quarters, anger and despair in others(...)
I spoke with the Rev. David Short in London, rector of the largest church in Canada, St. John's, Shaughnessy in Vancouver. He was in his cupcakes about the report's conclusions. He is a good and godly man, one of the best. Bishop Michael Ingham has already screamed that there would be no change of direction for the diocese when the report came out, basically ignoring its findings, and why should he, has nothing to fear from Rowan Williams or his own Canadian archbishop. Short fears the worst for the dozen or so orthodox parishes in his diocese(...)
3b) http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/news/2004/20041023wright.cfm Thoughts on Concerns and Questions about the Windsor Report by Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham and member of the Lambeth Commission (...)They (ECUSA and New Westminster) have been asked to express regret for doing so, and to promise not to do so again. I leave it to semantic pedants whether this means 'repentance' or not, but I have to say that when I tell God and my neighbour that I regret breaking the high call of love and promise not to do so again that looks and feels pretty much like repentance to me. And that, of course, is precisely what the expressions of regret currently coming from Griswold and Robinson are not doing; they regret that some people were upset, much in the same way that when I'm driving lawfully down the road I regret that someone's pet mouse ran out in front of me and was killed; that is, I regret the hurt but am not guilty, and will continue to drive at the same speed down the same road. My sense from this point is that by explicitly not expressing the 'regret', they have been asked to express they are setting a tone, which I hope ECUSA and NW will not adopt but fear they may, which will simply result in us reaching the questions of paragraph 157 sooner rather than later. From that point of view, all that the 'orthodox' will have to do is to hang on and wait and see whether those charged will draw the logical conclusions of their actions (as I said in my article in the Guardian today), i.e. that having ignored the Instruments of Unity they should now withdraw from participating in them.
Because the issue of the Report is about structures of authority, it was and remains important that we also said something about those who have invaded other dioceses. As Josiah Fearon has made clear in an interview, there were plenty of people on the Commission who did not see this as an 'equal' or 'even-handed' question; Josiah's image about someone breaking into a neighbour's house to rescue their children from a fire was used, and though the Commission as a whole didn't sign up to that, there was a lot of sympathy for it(...)(I know, by the way, that there are several different viewpoints about DEPO. The Commission was assured by the one of our members who was in the best position to know, and who we trusted deeply, that though there were a few places where difficulties were being experienced, one in particular, every effort was now being made to put it into practice and that in general this was working well.)(...)
More or less our last chance, says Eames By Paul Handley GOD was at work in the meetings of the Lambeth Commission, its chairman, Dr Eames, believes(...)
"In all honesty, I dare to suggest this is one of the Communion's last opportunities. If it's not grasped, I really do not know where we are going. The report, of itself, is not going to prevent disintegration, but it could help, if people are prepared to take this opportunity(...)
A key element in the Windsor report is the apology it asks for from the American and Canadian church leadership. Dr Eames admitted that the commission resisted using the word "repentance".
"It was the word Africa wanted us to use. In the end we speak about 'regret'." There were two interpretations of this, Dr Eames said: regret for actually electing Gene Robinson, and regret for the consequences in the Communion. "I prefer the second interpretation: we do not have any criticism of any province for going against its legal processes. Gene Robinson was properly elected.
"But when they went ahead with the consecration, they must have known that this was a person who was not acceptable in many parts of the Anglican Communion. By definition, regret for the consequences of an action includes an expression of regret that we started it all(...)
And to conservatives? "I should say that I know some will be disappointed that we haven't gone as far that they would have liked. Expulsion of ECUSA simply didn't arise, because we have no provision for that sort of thing in the Communion. I hope they would note that we accepted again that Lambeth Resolution 1.10 remains the official position on sexuality(...)
4) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=14172&sd=10/25/04 Monday, October 25, 2004 Episcopal leader says he would elect gay bishop again The American Episcopal Church leader whose ordination of an openly gay bishop caused a huge rift in the Anglican Communion said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would likely act the same way if the same situation arose again. But Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, said he regretted the pain caused by the consecration of V. Gene Robinson--who is living openly with a male partner--as bishop of New Hampshire(...)
"There's a distinction between an action that one might feel is integrally right and acknowledging the difficult consequences that might have in other parts of the world," Griswold told British Broadcasting Corp. TV. "And so I deeply regret the pain and upset that our action has caused in other parts of the world, though I think the action itself was arrived at through prayer and through the process by which we elect and confirm bishops."
Asked if he would act the same way if the same situation arose again, Griswold replied, "I think I would attend to the way in which the community makes it decision, and if that were prayerfully done, I think I probably would again preside at an ordination."(...)
5)http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a00376d3-84b2-4d15-8d4e-632f9b437ee3&page=2 Muslim leader 'must quit' Canadian Islamic Congress chief says anti-Israeli remarks 'misunderstood' Michael Friscolanti, National Post
Monday, October 25, 2004 TORONTO - Jewish and Muslim leaders are demanding the president of the Canadian Islamic Congress resign after failing to apologize for saying all adult Israelis are legitimate targets for suicide bombers.
Mohamed Elmasry, president of the influential Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), issued a news release on the weekend insisting his remarks, made on a television program last week, were "regrettable and misunderstood," but he did not outright apologize.
He said he was simply relaying the views of most Palestinians, not his own beliefs. "I sincerely regret that my comments were misunderstood and, as a result, caused offence," said Dr. Elmasry, an Egyptian-born computer engineering professor at the University of Waterloo.
But Jewish groups and at least one fellow Muslim leader dismissed the statement as half-hearted and insincere. "I found it hilarious," said Tarek Fatah, co-founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress. "The honourable thing for Mr. Elmasry to do is to resign his position. But to put a spin on this and deny what he said is embarrassing for all Muslims."(...)
"The only thing that is 'regrettable' about the incident is the pathetic attempt now by the CIC to try and defend the words of Dr. Elmasry," said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group. "The use of the word 'regrettable' is shameful. He was clear in promoting hate and supporting terror."(...)
6) http://www.anglican-nig.org/ The Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has approved the creation of nine new Missionary dioceses.
Approval for the new dioceses was given in Enugu at the just concluded National meeting attended by members of the House of Bishops, the clergy and the laity.
New Mission Strategy
The Missionary Dioceses include Badagry, Ogbomosho, Igala and Zonkwa. Others are Arochukwu/Ohafia, Ikwuano, Isiukwuato, Ogoni and Kubwa.
The Anglican Communion now has a total of 91 dioceses in Nigeria including the newly created. Under the new mission objectives of the Church tagged Mission 1-1-3, Nigerian Anglicans hope to double its more than 17-million population by 2007. The Primate of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola believes the creation of more dioceses is a strategy to enhance church growth and effective administration(...)
7)http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1575 Posted by dvirtue on 2004/10/28 21:12:00 THE WINDSOR REPORT IS BOUND TO FAIL - by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Sydney, Australia (...)With regret, however, I think that it is bound to fail. Why is this so? Given the length and nuances of the Report, my response is provisional. I advance three reasons for further discussion.
In the first place, in my view the Report over-theologises the Anglican Communion(...)
Secondly, the mandate for the Commission apparently underestimated the importance of the presenting issue. The problem of the practice of homosexuality has created such turbulence because of what it represents about authority.
Professor MacCulloch of Oxford has put the matter very neatly indeed in his book Reformation. 'This is an issue of biblical authority. Despite much well-intentioned theological fancy footwork to the contrary, it is difficult to see the Bible as expressing anything else but disapproval of homosexual activity. The only alternatives are to try to cleave to patterns of life and assumptions set out in the Bible, or to say that in this, as in much else the Bible is simply wrong.' (Reformation, Allen Lane, London, 2003, 705)(...)
Thirdly, the emphasis on the Communion as a whole diverted the attention of the Commission from the real needs of the many Christians within provinces who are in urgent need of help(...)
The dissenting Christians of ECUSA and New Westminster are saying: we have reached the limit. We have accepted many things over the years, but here is something we cannot accept even for a moment. It puts us at risk to stay in association with this church while it officially defies the authority of God. Furthermore, many Anglicans from elsewhere agree with them and say that unless they take a stand, they will find themselves out of the will of God.
The protesting parishes in New Westminster have not changed their doctrine or moral teaching. They have not innovated. But now they are to be associated in a diocesan fellowship with those whose teaching is novel, and which virtually all Christians have believed to be contrary to scripture. If God does express his authority through scripture, what would the members of the Commission have done in order to obey God? What was the will of God for a parish, for a person?
For the protesters, to stay in unfettered fellowship with their Diocese is to tarnish their reputation and also to expose their ministry to interference. The next time a parish is vacant the diocese is likely to insist on someone who will support the Diocesan policy. On the other hand, to leave the Diocese is to cast doubt upon their standing as Anglicans, although they have not changed at all. From now on, they are schismatic outcasts of the Communion. Perhaps they will have to join a parallel jurisdiction such as the Anglican Mission in America, which the Report specifically criticizes(...)
Perhaps the authors of the Report have not had to live in a parish under threat. Perhaps we lawyers and theologians and bishops live away from the practical problems. What are you to teach your children when your denominational structure is endorsing as good, what you believe to be fatally bad? The whole business of being at loggerheads with the Diocese on this matter is exhausting and dispiriting.
Some love the sense of conflict and embattlement, but ordinary people do not like living in a state of siege. They leave and find a non-Anglican church to go to. One of the key factors in being able to continue is the support they receive from outside the Diocese. It reminds them that they are not alone and that their position is perfectly valid and biblical. But this activity has been criticised by the Windsor Report(...)
But there will be shame if we simply abandon those in ECUSA or in Canada who have come to the conclusion that God's authority is at stake here and that they can no longer be Anglicans in fellowship with other local Anglicans.
Their desire to remain in fellowship with the rest of the Communion is laudable and we should do all we can to make sure that their conscientious stand for truth does not cost them their identity and their ministries. What they should have had authoritatively, and at once, was the assurance that they were legitimately obeying the Bible and remained authentically Anglican. Now, at the very least they are going to need genuine alternative episcopal oversight and perhaps parallel jurisdictions.
The Windsor Report offers neither. What it does offer is going to take so long to work out that the problem will have been resolved long before they come into place. We have already received more than a hint of the way in which the American church is likely to respond, and likewise the Diocese of New Westminster. My own fear is that the version of peace offered in such turbulence is not going to be enough.
8) http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/aroundtheweb/ http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/041027anglican Anglican report on church unity sparks more conversation, not so much action By Peter T. Chattaway, BC Christian News
THE BLESSING of same-sex unions will continue for now in Vancouver-area churches as local Anglicans consider how to respond to a controversial report commissioned last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury and published October 18.
The Windsor Report, produced by the Lambeth Commission and overseen by Irish Archbishop Robin Eames, criticizes both the Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) for authorizing the blessing of same-sex unions and, in the case of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, for ordaining a sexually active gay man as bishop(...)
New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham said he welcomed the report and would leave it to delegates at the diocesan synod, which meets in May of next year, to decide how to respond to it.
"It's significant that they called for a moratorium and not a reversal on the blessing of same-sex unions, and I have said that I will refer that to the body which made the original decision, which is our diocesan synod," he told CanadianChristianity.com.
"I have not acted unilaterally on these matters. I have acted only at the request of the synod, and I propose to do the same thing now."(...) The Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC) http://www.acicanada/ ,a group of parishes from British Columbia and Saskatchewan whose clergy have formally left the Anglican Church of Canada and are now licensed as missionary priests with the Province of Rwanda, issued a statement which welcomed the report's high view of scripture but took issue with its commitment to the existing boundaries between different Anglican jurisdictions. "We are . . . disappointed at the lack of any vehicle for disciplining those who have departed from the faith and order of orthodox Anglicanism," said the statement. "To equate the necessary actions of those who have had to break with their diocese and seek adequate Episcopal oversight from overseas, with the sin and degradation which caused it, is less than helpful." (...)
9a)http://anglicanjournal.com/130/09/canada08.html Essentials delegation meets primate Retiring bishop plans to provide oversight MARITES N. SISON STAFF WRITER Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that he is not alarmed about the decision by Essentials to form a network and federation which would provide alternative episcopal oversight to disaffected conservative parishes and embrace parishes that have declared impaired communion either with their diocese or the national church. "I don't read any great rush to leave the church or develop a parallel church," said Archbishop Hutchison in an interview after meeting with leaders of Essentials -- Canon Charlie Masters and Peter Mason, the retired bishop of Ontario -- on Sept. 23(...) Bishop Harvey, in an interview, said that the plan to have him minister to disaffected Anglicans would depend on the outcome of the Lambeth Report. "But that doesn't preclude us looking at the situation and having plans in mind and putting it into effect if things go the wrong way," he said. Bishop Harvey, who will retire at the end of the month, said that if his group deems the Lambeth recommendations unfavourable, he is prepared to provide pastoral care to congregations who request it, regardless of whether he has the permission of the diocesan bishop(...)
9b) http://anglicanjournal.com/130/09/canada19.html Harvey will oversee Episcopal parish Small congregation at odds with bishop MARITES N. SISON, STAFF WRITER, Anglican Journal Donald Harvey, who will retire as bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador at the end of this month, has accepted an offer to become an episcopal visitor to a conservative parish in Marlborough, Mass., whose diocesan bishop -- Thomas Shaw -- was among those who voted for the consecration of gay bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire last year(...) The invitation limits Bishop Harvey's role to "pastoral" oversight and "spiritual help" since the parish will remain a part of the diocese of Massachusetts and of the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA). Under canon law, Mr. McKinnon remains under the authority of the diocesan bishop, said Steve Walker, who chaired the search committee(...) Bishop Shaw and other bishops of the diocese agreed to allow the parish to invite an episcopal visitor provided it remain a part of the diocese and of ECUSA. Mr. McKinnon recommended Bishop Harvey, who had ordained him years ago(...) Bishop Harvey said that he accepted the offer because he has sympathy for parishes which "remain loyally Anglican but in conscience are unable to accept their bishop's views." He added: "If it will keep them within the diocese and the (Anglican) Communion, I'm all for it."(...)
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