The dispute in the Anglican Church is now being reported around the world. Triggered by the consecration of a homosexual bishop five years ago. But the real cause goes back several decades, explains Dorothee Hahn, reverend of the Anglican Church, in a this site interview.
The dispute is about how the Anglican Church sees itself as a church and how authority is handled within the church? "This is the main problem," Hahn said. She is chairwoman of the Working Group of Christian Churches Munich.It is premature to speak of a split, Rev says. Hahn. But the fronts are hardened. It will not be easy, but as a Christian she does not give up hope. "God is a living God who is also able to create life out of death". There is no question that it will be difficult, Hahn said.
Diversity as prince There is a need to define how Anglicans see themselves as a church. What needs to be clarified, he said, is what are the basic doctrines that must not be changed and in which doctrines particular churches can have some freedom of practice. The authoritarian forms now being called for by conservative particular churches would not previously have been part of the Anglican Church. The Anglicans have the central concept of comprehensiveness. It implies a willingness to accept certain deviations from doctrine within the church. Not to commit oneself one hundred percent to anything is a central point of the Anglican Church, which must not be disregarded.
Women's ie dominates discussion in England Honorary Primate Williams has also come under prere in England. Round 1.300 Anglican clergy threaten to leave the Church of England if it allows women to be ordained bishops. As British media continued to report Tuesday, clergy want to accept women bishops only on condition that congregations be allowed to choose to leave their diocese to submit to a diocese led by a man. This is according to a letter sent to the archbishops of Canterbury and York. The women's ie is expected to dominate the Church of England's General Synod, which meets Friday through Tuesday in York, northern England. General Synod already removed legal barriers to women's episcopal ordination in 2005. So far, however, there are no women bishops in office. Observers say many clergy may convert to Catholicism in protest. This was already the case in 1992 after the admission of women to the clerical ministry.
Honorary primate urges to reconsider risks The decisions of an international conference of conservative Anglicans in Jerusalem were criticized as problematic by the Anglican honorary primate Rowan Williams. While the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of many positive and encouraging aspects of the Jerusalem Declaration ied there, as the press service of the Anglican Communion reported Monday. But he cautioned that the risks of the proposals should be considered very carefully. They are problematic in many ways. Williams opposed parallel structures for traditionally minded Anglicans, such as the creation of a separate church province in North America and the seven-member Council of Bishops that would serve as the decision-making body of the conservative wing of the church. The council will not be universally accepted, the honorary primate said. In addition, the claim of wanting to act freely across provincial boundaries poses theological and practical difficulties: Theologically, because spiritual offices would be mutually recognized within the communion, and practically, because of the obvious burdens of exercising episcopal responsibilities responsibly across large geographic and cultural boundaries. It is not enough to reject the existing structures of the Anglican world communion, Williams said. If they did not work, they would have to be renewed instead of creating solutions that caused more problems than they solved. This will be one of the most pressing tasks of the Lambeth Conference at the end of July, he said. Above all, confidence in the Anglican identity must be strengthened and deepened. The Lambeth Conference is the highest decision-making body of Anglicans. It takes place only once every ten years. Several bishops of the conservative wing of the church want to stay away from the meeting. They accuse Williams of lack of leadership. The dispute with the liberal wing of the church, which makes a split in the world community increasingly likely, revolves around the ie of professing homosexual bishops, for example. Another breaking point is the ordination of women priests or bishops, which in many or. practiced by some national churches. Williams rejected the amption that the two sides were so far apart that they were promulgating different messages. This is not the case. It is, however, teeming with controversy, misrepresentation and distorted images. This must be countered, he said.