Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Anglican report on homosexual ordination slates both sides
The Archbishop of Canterbury has called on the Anglican church to unite, after a report warned that the row over ordaining gay priests could split the church in two. Dr Rowan Williams called on pro and anti factions to join together to renew and re-energise the Anglican Communion worldwide, following the publication of the Lambeth Commission’s Windsor Report. The archbishop conceded however that there was no simple solution to the crisis.
The report, published today, called on those in the US Episcopal Church who took part in a "deeply offensive" consecration of a gay bishop to apologise for their actions or withdraw from the Anglican Communion. The commission, headed by the Irish primate Robin Eames, also proposed in its 121-page report that the 38 national churches that constitute the communion should sign a resolution which called for the reassessment of the churches' "care for and attitude towards persons of homosexual orientation".
The commission is dealing with a deep split among Anglican national churches caused by the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire last November and the decision of the western Canadian diocese of New Westminster to bless gay relationships. In consecrating Bishop Robinson, the report said, the Episcopal bishops “caused deep offence to many faithful Anglican Christians."
The report also invited the Episcopal Church to call a moratorium on promoting any other person living in a same-gender union to the bishopric "until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges."
The Archbishop of Canterbury has called on the Anglican church to unite, after a report warned that the row over ordaining gay priests could split the church in two. Dr Rowan Williams called on pro and anti factions to join together to renew and re-energise the Anglican Communion worldwide, following the publication of the Lambeth Commission’s Windsor Report. The archbishop conceded however that there was no simple solution to the crisis.
The report, published today, called on those in the US Episcopal Church who took part in a "deeply offensive" consecration of a gay bishop to apologise for their actions or withdraw from the Anglican Communion. The commission, headed by the Irish primate Robin Eames, also proposed in its 121-page report that the 38 national churches that constitute the communion should sign a resolution which called for the reassessment of the churches' "care for and attitude towards persons of homosexual orientation".
The commission is dealing with a deep split among Anglican national churches caused by the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire last November and the decision of the western Canadian diocese of New Westminster to bless gay relationships. In consecrating Bishop Robinson, the report said, the Episcopal bishops “caused deep offence to many faithful Anglican Christians."
The report also invited the Episcopal Church to call a moratorium on promoting any other person living in a same-gender union to the bishopric "until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges."
