Bishops gather for conference of a lifetime

Tag : Sky Fruit

The 650 senior clergy gathered in the cathedral city of Canterburytoday for the start of their once-a-decade get together must all beaware that this conference is make or break for the Anglicancommunion.
On the outside looking in is the uninvited Bishop of New Hampshire,Gene Robinson.
His ordination as the first openly gay bishop enragedtraditionalists, horrified the moderates and caused an earthquakeof church-splitting proportions.
Five years on, and his continued place in the church has led to ahardening of language and attitudes towards gay ordinations andeven the blessing of gay couples.
More than 200 bishops are boycotting Lambeth and refusing to"discuss the faith that holds them together and the issues whichare driving them apart," as Martin Beckford eloquently put it in The Telegraph.
The most high profile absentee today is the Bishop of Rochester,Michael Nazir-Ali together with 99 of Nigerian Anglican bishopsafter their leader, the Bishop of Nigeria, Dr Peter Akinola orderedthem to boycott the event.
"The Anglican church prides itself on being the church that iscomprehensive, meaning that it includes all kinds of points ofview," Archbishop Desmond Tutu told Sky News last week.
That broad church ideal seems to be losing currency on both sidesof the divide.
300 rebel bishops gathered at the Global Anglican Future Conference(GAFCON) last month and approved the formation of a new globalnetwork to fight against the preaching of "false gospels" ofhomosexuality and other "immoral" sexual behaviour.
The group claims to represent 35 million of the 77 millionAnglicans worldwide and rejects the acceptance of gay relationshipsand the ordination of gay clergy and formed the Fellowship ofConfessing Anglicans (FOCA).
A spokesman for Rowan Williams, who as Archbishop of Canterbury isthe man tasked with trying to preserve the unity of the AnglicanCommunion, said "these people are becoming a Protestant sect."
Liberals in the Church of England are incensed at moves to breakaway from the Communion, calling their claims to be"traditionalists" bogus.
The bishops from across the world will spend the next three days atthe University of Kent in quiet prayer in reflection before theconference of a lifetime begins in earnest.
"I pray that these days spent in reflection, prayer, discussion andfellowship will bear fruit in the life of the entire Communion inwhich God has called us to minister," Dr Williams said in hiswelcome message.
"The chief aims of our time together are, first, that we becomemore confident in our Anglican identity, by deepening our awarenessof how we are responsible to and for each other; and second, thatwe grow in energy and enthusiasm for our task of leading the workof mission in our Church.
"Jesus Christ says again and again to his disciples, 'Do not beafraid'. These are words which I hope will echo for us each day aswe meet and talk here."