Dioceses Urge Archbishop Williams for Response on Sexuality

Anglican dioceses and parishes are urging the Archbishop of Canterbury to respond in a meaningful way to ensure no groups are alienated by the stances taken on sexuality enacted by the General Convention.

|TOP|Archbishop Williams has recently announced a mid-September summit to find a way to resolve the divisions within The Episcopal Church.

He said in an interview with a Dutch newspaper that the Anglican Communion is capable of avoiding a future in which lawsuits over property would be all-consuming.

“In terms of decision-making, the American Church has pushed the boundaries,” Archbishop Williams told Nederlands Dagblad.

“It has made a decision that is not the decision of the wider body of Christ. In terms of the issue under consideration: there are enough Christians of good faith in every denomination – from evangelical to Roman Catholic – to whom it is not quite so self-evident, who are not absolutely sure that we have always read the Bible correctly.

"They are saying: this is an issue we must talk about. But if we are going to have time to discuss this prayerfully, thoughtfully, we really don’t need people saying: we must change it now. The discussion must not be foreclosed by a radical agenda.”

|QUOTE|Archbishop Williams described the situation in the Episcopal Church as highly complicated and said he has delayed responding to the dioceses which have requested alternate premarital oversight because he does not want to “make up church law on the back of an envelope.”

He also has "great concern for the vast majority of Episcopal Christians in the U.S. who don’t wish to move away from the Communion at all, but who don’t particularly want to join a separatist part of their Church either. I want to give them time to find what the best way is.”

He is aware, however, that the Anglican Communion Network won’t “hold out” under the present circumstances indefinitely.

“If Canterbury doesn’t help, there will be other provinces that are very ready to help,” he said.

|AD|“I don’t especially want to see the Anglican Church becoming like the Orthodox Church, where in some American cities you see the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church. I don’t want to see in the cities of America the American Anglican Church, the Nigerian Anglican Church, the Egyptian Anglican Church and the English Anglican Church in the same street.”

According to Archbishop Williams, a split in the Episcopal Church would likely have effects for the Church of England as clergy and congregations are forced to decide where their loyalties lie.

“My nightmare is that action is now going forward that will tie us up in law courts in 10 years, in disputes about property,” he said.

“That would take so much energy from what we’re meant to be doing... We can prevent those endless lawsuits, I think, if there is enough co-operation in the central mission of the Church. If that work continues it may also help us in finding those structures.”