An Anglican bishop in Australia has spoken publicly against the call by the Archbishop of Sydney for bishops to attend the Jerusalem meeting of like-minded Anglicans opposed to the direction of the Lambeth meeting later this summer.
The Australian edition of Christian Today:
“The Anglican Newcastle Bishop, The Right Reverend Dr Brian Farran, has disassociated himself from the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), describing it as a one-dimensional conference designed to ‘cause embarrassment,’ whether intended or not, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, and to the rest of the Anglican Communion.
Dr. Farran declared that GAFCON is a theological politically conference designed to act as a ‘counter-conference’ to the 2008 Lambeth Conference and has the potential to damage or lessen the moral authority of it.
‘GAFCON is being organized because its proponents are dissatisfied with the breadth of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation list to Lambeth. It is therefore a theologically political conference. It will cause embarrassment whether intended or not to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the rest of the Anglican Communion,’ the bishop said.
Bishop Farran said the Catholic Anglicans in Australia – those who seek to research and theologize by the parameters of classic Anglicanism – were ‘dismayed’ at the Global South ‘rigid’ approach in constantly returning to the homosexual agenda. The classical Anglican method is to seek consensus on controversial issues.
He defined theology as a conversation not so much with perceived adversaries as with others who with integrity seek the truth as it is found in Jesus Christ.
What was more concerning for him on GAFCON was the lack of consultation to inform the Bishop in Jerusalem that it would be held in the Bishop’s diocese. In a rebuke against the conservatives organising GAFCON, he described their selection process of where to hold the conference as an ‘imperious’ decision indicative of their ‘impositional’ mind-set. “
The bishop’s diocese is part of New South Wales, and while not representing a direct challenge to the call by the Archbishop of Sydney to consider boycotting Lambeth in favor of attendance at GAFCON, it does represent an act of differentiation within the Australian Church.
Read the rest here.
Saturday morning update (via Thinking Anglicans)
Bishop Farran has issued a press release. An excerpt:
Dr. Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney, is one of the conservative leaders who are promoting this conference. It needs to be understood that Dr. Jensen is an organizer of this conference in his own personal capacity or possibly in his capacity as the Bishop of the Diocese of Sydney. It must be seen that Dr. Jensen has no authorization to do this as the Metropolitan of the Anglican Province of New South Wales.
…
Of further concern is the lack of consultation by the leaders of the Global South with the Bishop in Jerusalem despite the fact that the proposed Global Anglican Future Conference is to be held in his Diocese. This imperious decision of location may be indicative of the impositional mind-set of the Global South leaders, a departure from the courtesies of classic Anglicanism.
In the end theology is not a matter for a police-state approach – the tortuous history of the Mediaeval Church reminds us too graphically that this is surely not the case. Rather, theology is a conversation not so much with perceived adversaries as with others who with integrity seek the truth as it is found in Jesus. The fact that there may be differences of insight is congruent with the four gospels themselves.