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Lambeth ends on optimistic note
By Allan Reeder, Market-Place
August 6, 2008

The Lambeth Bishops' Conference has come to an end, not with a string of contentious decisions but with the public release of a shared story of "honest discussions".

More than 600 Anglican bishops began winging their way home across the globe after the once-a-decade international gathering ended with a Closing Eucharist 3 August.

"I feel (the Conference) worked out very much as I had hoped and prayed," Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told reporters at a final press conference just before the service.

"The Anglican Communion needed to know how deep the commitment was .. to staying together," he said. "I think we've got a bit of an answer to that."

The conference format initially faced criticism for not allowing formal debate and decision-making on the difficult dilemmas threatening the international fabric of the Anglican Communion.

However, for Rowan Williams the small-group format known as 'indaba' which characterised the conference has generated signs of an ongoing commitment to deal with the church's problems.

This year's Lambeth Conference "hasn't evaded the difficult questions, even if it hasn't answered them in the way some people would have liked," he said. "The conference has never been an executive body that can simply make those sorts of quick-fix decisions."

"I've actually been surprised by how much energy there's been growing in the indaba groups to continue the process of encounter."

It's likely the 2008 conference will finish in the 'red'.

While financial specialists are assessing at the scale of the loss, the Archbishop of Canterbury has publicly acknowledged organisers "are looking at various routes to meet what looks like a shortfall."

"We knew this would be difficult," he said.

Breaking new ground, instead of a series of motions and decisions, a 44-page 'Reflections' document,  compiled as a summary of the small-group discussion was released at the end of the conference.

Perth's Archbishop Roger Herft chaired the document's writing committee, describing it as the story of "our lived experience and the open and honest discussions we have had together."

"This document is not the primary outcome of this conference," Roger Herft wrote in its introduction. "Written words can never adequately describe the life-changing nature of our time together We have gained a deeper appreciation of the worldwide Anglican Communion and of our common calling as disciples of Christ."

However, alongside balanced and nuanced arguments about a range of topics, under the sexuality heading the 'Reflections' document indicates a general agreement was reached among the bishops calling for a series of 'moratoria' or open-ended bans on:

** the ordinations of people living in a same-gender union to the episcopate;

** the blessing of same-sex unions; and

** cross-border incursions by bishops.

The document concedes the moratoria "will be difficult to uphold" and that "there are questions to be clarified in relation to how long the moratoria are intended to serve."

A timetable has been set down to pick up the threads of the conference.

A meeting of Anglican Primates has been called early next year, followed by the next scheduled meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in the middle of the year.

Archbishop Williams said he is also planning to write a 'pastoral letter' to the Anglican Communion and also to the bishops who boycotted the Lambeth Conference, asking them "how far (did the Conference) go to meeting concerns, how far does this provide a basis for co-operation?"

There were mixed views too on calls for an Anglican covenant.

"Even where people may not want to sign up to formal agreements nonetheless they have felt that the exchanges they have had have been nourishing, valuable and," Archbishop Williams said, "we want the indaba to continue."