[NOTE: This interview is updated with Bishop MacPherson’s initial thoughts about the recommendations issued by the Windsor Continuation Group; the thoughts are found immediately below in italics.]
Looking at the recommendations of the meeting this afternoon, and at which there was standing room only, the recommendations appear about the same as that which came out of Dar es Salaam. The only exception to this as I recall, is the Dar es Salaam document carried stronger language with regard to non-compliance. For true purposes of accountability, I feel we truly must have a specified consequence spelled out.
Unlike the previous hearing, there were a number more bishops willing to speak publicly today about the damage that is taking place and the need for a Covenant that will provide clear direction to the Communion.
On Saturday, I was able to have a conversation with Bishop MacPherson about the Lambeth Conference thus far. We covered a variety of topics, including the Lambeth event in general, the two meetings that took place amongst Global South bishops and Primates, along with the Common Cause bishops and the Communion Partners bishops, and some further specifics about the Communion Partners plan.
Since our conversation about the Communion Partners group took up a good portion of our time, I am detailing that conversation in another article; this first article covers further details about the Lambeth Conference. My hope is that we will be able to bring readers a portion of the last half of our interview in audio.
INDABA CONVERSATION STRUGGLES
As appears to be common among the bishops here, Bishop MacPherson is somewhat frustrated with the focus of the conversations at Lambeth thus far, as well as the pace. When we talked on Saturday they had not yet confronted the key issues that are so dividing the Anglican Communion, despite the fact that it has been two weeks of retreat, Bible study, indaba groups, worship, and plenary sessions.
His Bible Study is moving well—Bishop MacPherson’s group includes the Archbishop of Melanesia, two other bishops of Melanesia, and bishops from South India, Canada, Uganda and Church of England.
It is in the Indaba groups—which are groups made up of five Bible Studies—where “we are struggling,” Bishop MacPherson said, “and our situation is not unique.”
“As of right now, there’s a lot to be desired, and we’ve got to get to a point where we break through.”
When I asked him if the process was designed not to talk about the divisive issues within the Anglican Communion, he said that he thought it more likely that the effort was to control the timing of the conversations.
THE WINDSOR CONTINUATION GROUP & THE COVENANT
Bishop MacPherson found the Windsor Continuation Group’s reports interesting so far and also attended the hearing on the Windsor Continuation Group [his estimate on attendance was that there were 2-300 bishops in attendance], as well as attended the first Covenant session.
“There was a very limited time for questions at the hearing, but we have three more hearings coming up.”
On Friday night, Bishop MacPherson attended a self-select session on the Covenant, with an estimated attendance of about 80 bishops [the room allowed for this session was very full]. The Programme booklet describes that self-select sesson in this way:
“Introducing the Covenant—With episcopal and other members of the Covenant Design Group—This first session will look at the Theological Introduction of the St. Andrew’s Draft for the Anglican Covenant, and explore whether the Covenant is the right concept to carry the life of the Communion forward.”
It appears that there will be five self-select sessions on the Covenant, each one going through different sections of the Covenant.
Because of the panel presentation and the time allotted there wasn’t much time for conversation about the Covenant, but Bishop MacPherson did sense that some of the American bishops may have had an “ah-hah moment” while hearing from the panel about the extent of the challenges facing the Communion.
One of the things we did not discuss but which I find interesting is that until the Indaba Groups on Friday, August 1 and Saturday, August 2 there does not appear to be “common discussion” time set aside for the Covenant. There will be two Indaba Groups for Friday, one for Saturday—and that is the extent of common discussion time that I can see allotted to the Covenant.
Furthermore, there are four hearings scheduled for the “Conference Reflections” document that the Reflections Group are laboring on. Those four hearings were scheduled to take place on Monday, July 28, Wednesday, July 30, Thursday, July 31, and Friday, August 1—and that last hearing is directly after the first “common discussion” time set aside for the Covenant on Monday morning.
I find that very odd—and can only note that it appears that the reports of the Windsor Continuation Group are taking precedence in the scheduling of common discussion time.
THE MEETINGS OF THE GS PRIMATES, & CCP/CPP BISHOPS
Another highlight for Bishop MacPherson were two meetings amongst the various groups of traditional allies in the Anglican Communion. At the first meeting, some 150-180 bishops of the Global South, Common Cause, and Communion Partners, along with key Global South Primates, met and shared worship and conversation about the Anglican Communion. In addition to the group hearing from some of the key Global South Primates, Bishop MacPherson spoke about Communion Partners and its concerns and direction, and Bishop Duncan spoke about Common Cause and its concerns and direction. The next evening, Archbishop Chew officiated at a smaller meeting where Bishop MacPherson and Bishop Duncan along with other bishops from the two respective groups shared with the Primates present about the common concerns shared by Communion Partners and Common Cause.
“Everyone there has the same concern,” said MacPherson, “which is the direction of the Communion and how to move forward. One thing that both I and Bob stressed is we’re not looking at competing groups of people. We both have the same goal and share the same dream, and that is a faithful orthodox proclamation and living out of the gospel, but that there are two different routes we are taking.”
3 Comments •
Bishop MacPherson’s words are very encouraging. It is nice to see that
a) He is committed to a cooperative and cordial relationship with Bishop Duncan.
b) He is treating the WCG proposals with a due level of thought, rather than rejecting them out of hand or jumping on board whole heartedly.