Emergency Episcopal-Anglican Talks Bring No Consensus on Homosexuality
Episcopal and Anglican leaders have failed to reach consensus at a closed meeting this week in New York on how the worldwide Anglican Communion can move forward from the controversy over homosexuality in the church.
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 20:05 (BST)
NEW YORK – A crucial meeting in New York this week has failed to bring the gathered Episcopal and Anglican leaders to a common agreement on how to move the Anglican Communion forward from the controversy that continues to rage over homosexuality in the church.
The three-day meeting, which began on Monday, brought together key leaders from both churches at an undisclosed location in the city to "review the current landscape of the church in view of the conflicts within the Episcopal Church”.
The meeting, at an undisclosed location in New York, came at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who had received requests from seven dioceses for a new overseer. The conservative dioceses had made the request in opposition to the increasing support for homosexuality in the U.S. Episcopal Church.
"We could not come to a consensus on a common plan to move forward to meet the needs of the dioceses that issued the appeal for Alternate Primatial Oversight," read a statement issued this morning on the Anglican Communion News Service.
Meanwhile in statement released today, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke positively of the meeting.
“It's a positive sign that these difficult conversations have been taking place in a frank and honest way,” the statement read.
“There is clearly a process at work and although it hasn't yet come to fruition, the openness and charity in which views are being shared and options discussed are nevertheless signs of hope for the future.
“Our prayers continue,” he said.
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Episcopal leaders scheduled the meeting to have a "candid conversation," as Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold described it, after it was made clear that Williams had no direct authority over the internal life of the Provinces in the Communion.
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Added: Saturday, September 30, 2006, 13:43 (BST)
In my experience, attempting to "problem-solve" this issue will not further the mission of the church. There are human beings involved who both belive they are right - I doubt there will be resolution. Perhaps it is not needed and further focusing on this issue will cause the church to lose it's focus on the bigger mission. What if....the church could find a way to fulfill it's mission and not resolve this particular issue? I suggest they elevate to the highest possible work they can do as a church and take each question as it comes. What if... resolving the issue one way or another doesn't really put us any closer to God?
Karen Robertson, MIchigan
Added: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 22:53 (BST)
The entire Anglican Communion is moving more and more into a farce. With meeting upon meeting and nothing decided at all; the only result has been greater divisions and greater tension. If the liberal wing of the Church are unwilling to back down then surely a time must come when we call an end to their ties with the Communion, because for sure their new doctrine entirely goes against all traditional Biblical teachings, and this is something that can never be compromised with.
Terence Downing, London
