After a three-day retreat, Anglican bishops from around the world gathered in Canterbury, England, began crisis talks on the future of their church at the Lambeth Conference. The two-week working session kicked off Sunday with a solemn service in Canterbury Cathedral. Church community currently rocked by dispute over ordination of women and homosexuals as bishops.
"The ies are to be addressed openly and constructively," the Lambeth Conference media officer, Australian Archbishop Phillip Aspinall. The goal is to define and narrow down the various areas of conflict in small working groups. Particularly critical ies, such as human sexuality, will be discussed, especially toward the end of the conference, he said. Basically, "the chances of avoiding conflict are rather minimal" given 650 participants, Aspinall said. "Historical responsibility" Representatives of non-Anglican churches also took part in the service. Numerous high dignitaries of the worldwide ecumenism also sent greetings, some of which contained critical elements. The Vatican, for example, indirectly opposed the ordination of women and homosexuals in a letter.Relations between the Catholic and Anglican churches are currently marked by "serious challenges," Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said. The Vatican, however, stressed that it wants to maintain the dialogue and the goal of unifying the churches.Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II. wrote that participants in the Lambeth conference had a "historic responsibility". The decisions of the world conference would have consequences for all of Christendom and for the relationship between the churches themselves. World Council of Churches called on Anglicans to stand united. A strong communion can exist even without perfect agreement, explained Secretary General Samuel Kobia.
Escape to Rome? Vatican plays special role in Anglican Church dispute. Numerous clergy of the Anglican Church of England have threatened to convert to Catholicism. The Anglicans' flight to Rome is a "delicate matter" for the Vatican, which does not want to jeopardize the unity of the Anglican Church, theologian Keith Pecklers of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome is quoted as saying. In a sign of solidarity with the honorary primate of the Anglican Communion of the World, Rowan Williams, Pope Benedict XVI. sent a delegation to Canterbury. It includes both the Vatican's "ecumenism minister" Cardinal Walter Kasper and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster as head of the Catholics in England and Wales. The Vatican does not want to "poach" believers, The Guardian quotes a Vatican source as saying. However, it is not believed that individual converts will be rejected.
Boycott of 250 bishops The Anglican Church is the third largest Christian church after the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Among the controversies is the decision of the English General Synod of 7. July to allow women to hold episcopal offices in the future. The ordination of homosexual U.S. Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 is also controversial.The Lambeth conference, held only every ten years, is therefore boycotted by some 250 conservative bishops from Africa and elsewhere.