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4a) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2126 DROMANTINE: PRESS CONFERENCE By David W. Virtue (...) (My own careful reading of the communiqué suggests that Dr. Carnley's style (Australian Archbishop) is found throughout the document. Its style hardly seems to be that of an African or Asian Primate. It does not ostensibly reflect a biblical worldview. The only biblical references are in the final paragraph, No.22) It is my opinion that had the committee been composed exclusively of African and Asian Primates the communiqué would have been suitably and poignantly filled with biblical citations and allusions.)(...)
Finally, but certainly not least, African Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda spoke quietly, yet firmly, and in a gracious way of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury during the conference. He personally thanked him for his honest and fair chairmanship.
"I was touched by his allowing us to be open with each other, and to speak from our hearts. We are very committed to seeing God at work in our communion."
Later, in answer to a question about the crossing of diocesan boundaries by overseas bishops, he said if a particular parish has an issue with his bishop he could use a neighboring bishop and in telephone conversations try and resolve it. Orombi said he would retain the USA parishes he already had as he was convinced that there was not adequate Episcopal oversight available in the US. We were all committed unanimously to that. He accepted the conclusions of the communiqué but that situation envisaged therein is not yet anywhere near available and in place, therefore he would hang onto the parishes which he has till this future adequate relationship is made available.
(The Archbishop of Canterbury did not offer an explanation of how he was handling this in relationship to the situation in the Province of Brazil where their archbishop is trying to unseat the Bishop of the Diocese of Recife, the Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavilvcanti.)(...)
4b) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2124 IRISH NOTES Continued NEWRY, Northern Ireland 2/25/2005 By David W. Virtue
It's over. This gathering of 35 Primates, with its extraordinary agenda, meeting at the Dromantine Center to weigh the implications of the Windsor Report, drew to a close with a press conference at the retreat itself early Friday afternoon(...)
Significantly missing at the press conference was US Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, the bishop on the hot seat, who had left the center for personal reasons the previous night.
VirtueOnline learned today from reputable sources that Griswold and Rowan Williams had an altercation the night before, after the communiqué had been released. He accused Williams of being an ineffective leader of the communion.
It is generally assumed that Griswold left angry that Williams was not supportive of the Episcopal Church's newly developed doctrine of sexuality. The ECUSA believes it has something to share with the world prophetically about the nature and purpose of sexuality - a view that God has not apparently endorsed at this time, since the majority of the Primates remain against it(...)
I was given an opportunity to ask a question - a rare event as I was denied the opportunity in London at the unveiling of the Windsor Report in St. Paul's cathedral. I asked what cover and protection the Primates would continue to offer orthodox parishes caught in revisionist ECUSA dioceses.
Archbishop Williams referred me to the communiqué which said he is going to ensure that proper and adequate pastoral care is extended to such parishes. (Par. 15) "In order to protect groups in dispute with their bishop or dioceses in dispute with their provinces Dr. Williams would appoint a panel of reference to supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions."
Archbishop Gomez later emphasized that he believed that this provision would be more than adequate to meet American needs.
Later in answer to a related question the Archbishop of Uganda stated that overseas primates would continue to provide pastoral care to the parishes currently under their oversight, but that they would not take on any new ones IF this projected provision worked well.
This was met by some skepticism by me. Over the course of the last few years this problem has escalated to the point that several orthodox parishes are in litigation with revisionist bishops, and I see no reason to think that this will suddenly diminish or disappear.
A case in point is this week's announcement by Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison that he would pursue legal action to take back three parishes in his diocese that have left the Episcopal Church USA.
Later in the press conference I began to ask a question but Archbishop Eames cut me off(...)
4c) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2125 KOINONIA BUT NO COMMUNION Primates stress Fellowship but not Common Eucharist COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue
NEWRY, Northern Ireland (2/25/2005)--The Eucharist, the one loaf and common cup of Christianity, has been the sacramental expression of unity from the parish through the dioceses to the provincial and on to international gatherings like the Lambeth Conference and the Primates meeting.
There has never been an occasion, of which we know, where the Common Eucharist was not central to the worship of the gathered community. It has been celebrated in the context of every major meeting of Anglican leaders (...)
5a) http://www.churchsociety.org/press/pr_2005-02_primates.htm Church Society, UK Primates - a step in the right direction.
5b) http://seven.com.au/news/topstories/164908 (Seven.com.au - Australia) http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/89-02252005-455458.html (phillyburbs.com - Philadelphia,PA,USA) http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=531842 Archbishop: Anglicans Could Face Division Anglican Spiritual Leader Says Homosexuality Rift Won't Be Resolved Until Someone Admits Error By ROBERT BARR Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
NEWRY, Northern Ireland Feb 25, 2005 - The rift over homosexuality that threatens to split the 77 million-member Anglican Communion cannot be resolved without someone admitting they're wrong, the church's spiritual leader warned Friday a day after leaders asked the U.S. and Canadian churches to withdraw temporarily from a key council(...)
5c) http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1425363,00.html Lesbian and gay Anglicans deny schism David Crouch, Guardian Newspaper UK Friday February 25, 2005
6a) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/108/56.0.html Conservative Anglicans Elated and Cautious Withdrawal request welcomed, but some wish statement had been stronger. By George Conger in Newry, Northern Ireland posted 02/25/2005 04:45 p.m.
6b) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4298553.stm Last Updated: Friday, 25 February, 2005, 20:11 GMT Lasting split looms for Anglicans Anglicans are making space for their members, Williams said The spiritual head of the Anglican Church has warned that sharp divisions over the ordination of gay clergy in North America could become permanent.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams spoke after the Church's US and Canadian branches were asked to leave a key Church council for three years.
"Any lasting solution will require people somewhere along the line to say, 'Yes, we were wrong'," he said(...)
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Jane Little, says there appears to be little hope for reconciliation and it looks like the world's third-largest Christian body is heading for a permanent split.
'Undermined' Anglican Church primates, or leaders, from all over the world spent a week debating the gay issue when they met in Newry, Northern Ireland.
The North American branches have been asked to leave from the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) until 2008(...)
7a) http://anglicanjournal.com/extra/news.html?newsItem=2005-02-25_mns.news Church sanctions could have been worse: primate MARITES N. SISON STAFF WRITER Feb. 25, 2005 - Withdrawing the members of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) from the Anglican Consultative Council is "part of a pain that needs to be endured" and it prevented what could have been a precipitous split this week within the Anglican Communion, said the Canadian church's primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison. "I thought it was going to be much worse," Archbishop Hutchison told Anglican Journal, adding that some primates were seeking the total expulsion of both churches from the Anglican Communion during their four-day closed meeting held in Northern Ireland this week. Archbishop Hutchison is expected to bring back this request to "voluntarily withdraw" the Canadian church from the Council. Archdeacon Paul Feheley, principal secretary to the primate, said that the matter would be raised before the Council of General Synod (CoGS), the governing body that guides the church in the three-year period between General Synods. The Anglican Communion, composed of 38 provinces representing 70 million Anglicans worldwide, has been threatened by schism after primates - mostly coming from Africa, Asia and South America - were enraged by ECUSA's decision to consecrate a non-celibate gay bishop and by the Vancouver-based diocese of New Westminster's approval of blessing same-sex unions(...) One Canadian who will be asked to withdraw from the Council, however, reacted strongly to the decision, which primates issued in a communiqué released late Feb. 24, a day ahead of schedule. Sue Moxley, suffragan bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and the Canadian church's episcopal delegate to the Council expressed disappointment that the Canadians were being asked to quit the international body, albeit temporarily. "My whole thing is: as long as we can stay at the table, we can talk. If we're not there, how can we go forward?" she asked. Bishop Moxley questioned why the primates chose to exclude the North Americans from the Council. "They (the primates) didn't decide that Andrew (Hutchison) and Frank (Griswold, presiding bishop of ECUSA) couldn't be at the next primates' meeting," she noted. "It seems that they don't want anybody other than primates making decisions." She said that the Anglican Consultative Council is the only place in the Anglican Communion where laity, clergy and bishops all have a voice. (One of Anglicanism's "four instruments of unity," the Council came into being in 1969 and is comprised of laity, clergy and bishops from across the Communion. It provides consultation and guidance on policy issues, such as world mission and ecumenism, for the Anglican Communion. The Council has about 120 members.) (...) Archbishop Hutchison said the meeting, although it ended "with reconciliation," had been a "difficult" one. He confirmed that "a dozen or so" primates had refused to attend eucharist because of his and Bishop Griswold's presence there. Asked whether the Canadian church would continue to contribute financially to the council during a time when its membership has been suspended, Archdeacon Feheley said the funding would continue "as a moral principle." But General Secretary Jim Boyles said that CoGS will consider that issue at its regular spring meeting in May. "CoGS approved the budget and it's up to them to decide on it," he said. The Anglican Church of Canada's 2005 budget provides for a $105,000 contribution to the Anglican Consultative Council, plus $7,000 to support travel for Canadian members(...)ECUSA, meanwhile, contributes $600,000 US to the Anglican Communion office(...)
INTEGRITY CANADA Excerpt from MEDIA RELEASE 24 February 2005 Moratorium on Same-Sex Unions (...)While acknowledging that many Anglicans in the worldwide Communion disagree with us, Integrity Canada reaffirms, unequivocally, our belief that God is leading the Canadian church to embrace its gay and lesbian members and support committed same-sex relationships. The Anglican Church of Canada formally affirmed "the integrity and sanctity of committed, adult, same-sex relationships" just last year.
Steve Schuh, president of Integrity Vancouver, explains: "In asking gay Anglicans to accept a voluntary moratorium on same-sex blessings, the primates are asking us to violate our conscience. But now that we're out of the ecclesiastical closet, we won't deny the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives again. It would be impossible for us to stop thanking God for blessing our relationships."
7c) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2005feb/2501.htm Soulforce Responds to Statement by Anglican Communion (...)"This is also a auspicious moment in time for the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to perform acts of ecclesial disobedience in the face of injustice by going against any moratorium requested by the Anglican Communion, and continue to perform holy unions and consecrate bishops without regard to one's sexual orientation or who they love(...)
Primates' Communique 2005 Reconciliation Task Force February 25, 2005 Diocese of New Westminster (...)The survey revealed that Synod's decision to make provision for the blessing of same sex unions has caused acute distress for a relatively small number of Anglicans within our diocese. The Task Force acknowledges with compassion and concern the depth of genuine feeling experienced by these members of the Church(...)
8a) http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/index.php?p=5089 2/26/2005 Thoughts from Richard Kew Filed under:* General- kendall @ 8:10 am
Dear Friends, (...) After scanning the news, responding statements, and early spin on the Primates' Communique, there is a deep sense of sadness that the Communion in which I have served my whole adult life has found it necessary to ask the province in which I have ministered for nearly three decades to temporarily withdraw because of its heterodoxy. While this request is a serious response to a far from trivial matter, and is entirely appropriate, it is difficult to watch something that has been good being torn asunder by persistent and determined unfaithfulness of a phalanx, among whom are numbered friends and colleagues.
Yet there is also a sense of gratitude that the combined leadership of the worldwide Anglican family, after great patience and sensitivity, was prepared to do the hard but right thing. A line had been crossed and a tipping point had been reached that could not be ignored. While I feel a small morsel of vindication as a mainstream Anglican, there is certainly no joy or satisfaction that this had to be done, just deep sadness about the damage done by a determined attempt to draw these churches further down an error-strewn road(...)
(The Age, Australia) Saturday 26th February 2005 "Diplomacy disguises beginning of the end"
"Time has finally run out for the Anglican Church in its decades-long debate over homosexuality. Yesterday's announcement that the liberal US and Canadian churches had chosen to withdraw from the worldwide church marks the first formal steps to schism.
On the surface, in a brilliant feat of diplomacy, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams bought three more years to try to resolve the impasse by making the withdrawal voluntary by both countries until the world's Anglican bishops next meet in 2008.
But privately, senior Anglicans yesterday admitted that neither the liberal Western churches nor the conservative majority from developing countries would change their positions, and that a wider rupture was vastly more likely than repaired unity(...)
8c) http://www.anglicancommunioninstitute.org/articles/initialreflectionsrevised2.htm ON READING THE PRIMATES' COMMUNIQUE (...)It is perhaps significant, however, that there is no reaffirmation of the frequently stated respect for boundaries in the last two Primates' letters (from Brazil and Lambeth) and that the commitment is neither to encourage nor initiate interventions but not necessarily to refrain totally from them if they are requested(...)
8d) http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=14141 The Standard Newspaper, Kenya, Africa Church bans union of gay couples By Samwel Rambaya, Feb 26th Saturday 2005 The Anglican Church has finally rescued itself from the grips of the influential gay-embracing liberal affiliates of Canada and America.
In what came as a major victory for Kenya's backed quest, the church resolved to uphold its canonical law that bans wedding of gay couples and ordination of gay clergy(...)
8e) http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/25/church_and_gays/ The Guardian UK Newspaper Schism over sexuality A worldwide Anglican body asks member churches in the U.S. and Canada to temporarily withdraw because of their more liberal stances on gays and same-sex marriage. By Stephen Bates Feb. 25, 2005 | The worldwide Anglican communion was heading for an unprecedented schism Thursday night as its member churches in the United States and Canada were asked to withdraw from intercommunal gatherings following a rift over homosexuality(...)
8f) http://news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=28652 Pro-gay churches told to leave Anglican council for now Posted 05:05pm (Mla time) Feb 25, 2005 By Lachlan Carmichael Agence France-Presse, INQ7 Interactive, Inc., Philippines, Asia LONDON -- The international Anglican Communion is asking the US and Canadian churches to withdraw temporarily from its councils to consider their liberal stand toward homosexuality which has caused a sharp divide(...)
But the Telegraph said the Americans, and possibly the Canadians, may never regain their full status within the Anglican communion, resulting in a formal schism.
8g) http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4178599 Church Warned over Stance on Homosexuality By Helen William, PA, The Scotsman Newspaper, Scotland, UK The worldwide Anglican church will be torn apart if it does not rethink its position on gays, campaigners claimed today.
The warning came after a four-day meeting in Northern Ireland in which the Church appeared to edge closer to a formal split(...)
8h) http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1667853,00.html Gay rift in church widens News24, South Africa - 25 Feb 2005 London - Anglican leaders struggling to resolve explosive differences over homosexuality have asked the US Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to temporarily withdraw from a key council of their global communion because of the election of a gay bishop in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions there and in Canada(...)
8i) http://www.gaynz.com/news/default.asp?dismode=article&artid=2237 Sunday, February 27, 2005 New Zealand Vercoe at gay Anglican crisis meeting
The man who dreams of "a world without gays", Archbishop Vercoe, is representing New Zealand at an Anglican Church crisis meeting in Ireland to determine the fate of gay clergy.
The meeting has ended in division, with the Episcopal Church in America and the Anglican Church of Canada being voluntarily thrown out of the Anglican Consultative Council until 2008 until they reconsider their decision to accept openly gay clergy.
New Zealand's Anglican Church will fall into line(...)
8j) http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.asp?id=48028&c=w Firm stance on gay bishops Anglican Church in NZ intends to hold firm on recommendations to ban gay bishops, following meeting in Ireland 27 February 2005, NZ City, New Zealand
The New Zealand Anglican Church intends to hold firm on recommendations to ban gay bishops.
New Zealand Anglicans are watching closely as their church divides worldwide over the ordination of gay bishops.
A primate crisis meeting in Northern Ireland has ended with the Episcopal Church in America and the Anglican Church of Canada being asked to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council(...)
8k) http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=129378 World: Church split over gays widens Keralanext, India: Feb 26th 2005 Saturday [World News]: NEWRY, Northern Ireland, The worldwide Anglican Church is heading further down the road towards possible schism after U.S. and Canadian clerics were asked to withdraw from a key council in a deepening row over gay bishops.
In what was widely seen as a victory for traditionalists in the 77 million-strong church, the pro-gay North American liberals were asked by their fellow Anglican leaders on Friday to bow out for at least three years from one of its leading bodies(...)
8l) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week826/news.html Anglican Primates Meeting February 25, 2005 Episode no. 826 BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: The leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, representing 77 million people, have formally rebuked the U.S. Episcopal Church for consecrating a gay bishop and both the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Anglican Church of Canada for blessing same-sex unions(...)
Reverend Canon DAVID C. ANDERSON (President, American Anglican Council): The fact [is] that they're forced to withdraw, asked to withdraw, and are now in a diminished role, but given time to repent. So the decision is truly theirs. They have to walk with the Communion or walk apart(...)
To watch this PBS story by video, click on http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week826/news.html#
8m) http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-02/25/article04.shtml Islam Online, UK Anglican Church Asks US, Canada to Bow Out The US Episcopal Church ordained openly gay Gene Robinson as a bishop. LONDON , February 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Anglican Church has asked its US and Canadian branches to withdraw from a consultative council because of their stance on homosexuality, raising fears the worldwide 77 million-strong church faces a deep schism(...)
National News, Dehavilland News, UK Anglicans head for schism 25/02/2005 The first split in the Anglican church for 450 years could be on the cards after a row over the appointment of gay bishops.
After a four-day meeting in Northern Ireland, Anglican leaders issued an ultimatum to American and Canadian churches following the controversial ordination of openly homosexual bishops.
Anglicans in North America have been asked to voluntarily withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the liaison body that governs the church, until 2008(...)
8o) http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_050225newry.shtml US and Canadians kicked off Anglican body in gay row -25/02/05 Ekklesia News, UK The Anglican primates meeting in Newry, near Belfast, has taken the unprecedented step of excluding the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) from the Anglican Consultative Council, a key worldwide liaison body, in the run-up to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops(...)
9) http://www.ireland.anglican.org/pressreleases/index.php?p=351 26/02/2005 Irish Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) members comment on recent devlopments in the Anglican Communion (Irish ACC members personal reflection..)
As the two elected members of the Anglican Consultative Council for the Church of Ireland, we wish to raise concerns about the request made by the Primates' meeting to the Episcopal Church (USA) and Anglican Church of Canada to withdraw their members from the ACC until the next Lambeth Conference (2008).
The ACC is truly the most representative of the Anglican Instruments of Unity - the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates and the Lambeth bishops are all in episcopal orders. For the ACC, a genuinely synodical international gathering, to have its membership and atmosphere adjusted essentially at the behest of the Primates' meeting would severely damage the balance of dispersed authority within Anglicanism. There is a real danger that the crisis of to-day will give way to the centralised curialisation of to-morrow.
As indicated in their press release the Primates themselves clearly found that discussing issues such as tsunami relief and the AIDS crisis renewed the fellowship of those otherwise inclined to disagree. If the Anglican Church of Canada and Episcopal Church (USA) representatives on the ACC are only admitted to the Nottingham meeting in June to express their views on one issue, their churches will be precluded from participating in other important discussions which could both enhance fellowship and create perspective. What better way both to cement division and to compromise the independence of the ACC?
We are more than aware of the gravity of the present situation and the sensitive language in which the Primates have couched their suggestion. While it seems to us that it is the ACC itself (or at least its Standing Committee), rather than the Primates, which should - if appropriate - seek the withdrawal of particular members, we do not see the value in this decision at whatever level it is made. The Primates meeting also requested that the Anglican church of Canada and Episcopal Church (USA) "respond ….. to the questions specifically addressed to them …. as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion" - do we expect them to do this while not in conversation and fellowship with the rest of the Anglican Communion, in particular through the meeting of its most synodical body the ACC? Moreover, at the last ACC meeting (Hong Kong, 2002), the Canadian Church more than fully explained the canonical background to events in New Westminster.
We know that within the Church of Ireland which we represent at the ACC there are - as in Anglicanism generally - many shades of opinion concerning sexuality and same-sex relationships. Our concerns here, however, are essentially ecclesiological. The Windsor Report, for all its wisdom, is in danger of becoming a Trojan horse. For the moment, the supremely important thing is that members of the dysfunctional Anglican family somehow keep talking and listening and in so doing learn to make more charitable judgements concerning one another's motives if not deeds.
Given that the Primates' meeting took place in Ireland we feel it is especially important that our personal, courteous misgivings concerning some of its conclusions are heard, not least by our diverse global ACC colleagues.
Michael BURROWS Kate TURNER
For further information contact
The Very Revd Michael Burrows The Deanery Dean Street Cork Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)21 4964742
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