In many ways the Lambeth Conference appears to have had dual personalities. There was the listening, engaging side where Bishops met face-to-face and there was the organizational side where the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Communion Office and the Bishops attempted to find a structure by which the Communion can continue to hold together.
For a man at the heart of a bitter dispute that threatens to sunder the Anglican communion, Bishop Gene Robinson seems more relaxed than almost any of the 650 bishops and archbishops gathered for the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade assembly that brings together the leaders of an estimated 80 million Anglicans worldwide.
The man who attacked the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church during church services yesterday was said by local police to be motivated by hatred. The congregation’s
The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev. John Neill, says that the twelve bishops of Ireland have found ways to continue to minister together even as they disagree about the ordination of gays. He t has mellowed his position from opposition to sorrow that Bishop Robinson is not part of the Lambeth Conference.
The Bishop of Botswana, Trevor Mwamba is comfortable with the direction and tone of the Indaba process at Lambeth and says that the Bishops have now gotten in substantial discussions about sexuality and the Communion and the importance of the MDGs and the issues facing the Church in Africa are too important to be sacrificed to outside agendas.
The Rev. Canon Marilyn McCord Adams, of Christ Church, Oxford gave a paper at the recently completed Modern Churchpeople’s Union Conference. In the paper she highlights the history of the current covenant process and its status right now, showing it to be a structural and diplomatic attempt to solve a theological problem.
Bishop Alan blogs while packing his toothbrush and talks about what will be required of the Bishops attending Lambeth as they take part in the Indaba groups.
Stephen Bates profiles Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on the eve of the Lambeth Conference. As he prepares to welcome the bishops of the worldwide
Riazat Butt of the Guardian outlines a few of the bishops who are not coming to Lambeth and why. Meanwhile, at least one Nigerian bishop and one Kenyan bishop have defied their archbishops and are going to Lambeth anyway. In other news, Greg Venables, primate of the Southern Cone has revealed that Bishop John-David Schofield will not be attending.
Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took part in the 10:30 a.m. Eucharist at Salisbury Cathedral on July 13.