Conservatives criticise the Archbishop for restraint shown in Gay Clergy Issue

The centre of the Anglican Communion has been shaken seriously since the ordination of an openly gay canon to the Dean of St. Albans in late April by the Church of England. Conservative evangelicals are furious at the decision and decided to cap quotas to the Church in protest of the trend spreading in the Anglican community.

Til now the controversy among the conservatives and liberals still remains unresolved. The Lambeth Commission, which was set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to hold the Anglican Communion together and resolve the schism in gay clergy issue, will complete its report by October.

Archbishop Robin Eames, who chairs the Lambeth Commission has preciously pleaded for a halt to actions and statements that “express definitive positions on relationships within the Anglican Communion” and asked the conservatives not to split by forming new provinces or dioceses until the commission has completed its work.

This has triggered an increasing tension within the Anglican Communion as the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev Drexel Gomez challenged Eames’ attitude of being indifferent to a long list of precipitate actions taken by liberals, which has left conservatives exasperated.

The liberals’ recent actions include the appointment of Jeffrey John to be Dean of St Albans, the Canadian Church’s moves towards the blessing of same-sex unions, and the American Church “actually going forward with the authorisation of such rights”.

In a letter to Emmas, the Irish Primate, Archbishop Gomez writes, “There is no small feeling amongst conservative members of the Communion that they are being asked to show restraint whilst the liberal agenda moves ahead.”

Archbishop Gomez continues, “This is only likely to create a situation where the playing field is perceived as skewed – conservative reaction is held back, whilst liberal viewpoints are allowed to claim too much territory. It creates the question in many minds, ‘Why should we wait, if others are not showing the same restraint?’”

Archbishop Gomez, as part of 18 Primates from the Global South, echoes the voice from the group of conservative archbishops who represent 55 million Anglicans in the letter. The Primates, who represent more than two thirds of the Anglican Church worldwide, said that the Communion faces “critical challenges” and called for it to “move faithfully forward in true unity under the supreme authority of the Word of God”

Referring to the appointment of an openly gay bishop last summer by the USA Episcopal Church, they commented, “This deliberate disobedience of the revealed will of God in the holy Scriptures is a flagrant departure from the consensual and clearly communicated mind and will of the Anglican Communion,”

They demanded the USA Episcopal Church to repent and revoke the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson within three months. Otherwise, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates would take appropriate disciplinary action, which could include the expulsion of the USA Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion.

If the American Church is not expelled from the Communion for refusing to repent and rescind the consecration of a gay bishop, the 18 Primates from the Global South warned of a “tragic realignment”, which would mean an end to the relationship with Canterbury is inevitable.