| AN AUSTRALIAN BISHOP has publicly dissociated himself from the proposed Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem in June, and from any movement that might “damage or lessen the moral authority” of the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
The Bishop of Newcastle, Perth, the Rt Revd Brian Farran, decried GAFCON as a “counter-conference” to Lambeth: “a one-dimensional conference designed to bolster the conservative voice within the Anglican Communion. . . GAFCON is being organised 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,” he said.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, had no authority to promote it in his capacity as Metropolitan of New South Wales.
Anglicanism had been marked by “respectful theological exploration and a recognition that on many vital issues there is no definitive viewpoint”. Lambeth resolutions had affirmed a preference for “serious intellectual inquiry and robust critique of belief”. But the proponents of the Global South nexus appeared to be moving into a “forensic” theology and ecclesiology that bordered on legalism.
The Bishop also voiced concerns about the GAFCON leaders’ lack of prior consultation with the Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani. “This imperious decision of location may be indicative of . . . a departure from the courtesies of classical Anglicanism.”
Bishop Dawani fears that the conference will exacerbate tensions and “import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese, which seeks to be place of welcome for all Anglicans”, and that the conference presence could have “serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land”.
Both he and the President-Bishop in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Revd Mouneer Anis, have been overruled. Bishop Anis, a Global South conservative himself, asked the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola, to reconsider. “It is my region and I know it better than you,” he said.
Four days after Bishop Dawani issued his plea, Bishop Bob Duncan, moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, invited all the Common Cause bishops and their wives to participate in Jerusalem, “the land where our Lord Himself came among us”.
Places for clergy and lay leaders, including young leaders, from every continent, “will be balanced according to provincial strength and will be allocated after bishops have registered”. A conference maximum of 1000 was the present constraint, Bishop Duncan advised.
Canon Chris Sugden (Comment, 11 January), described the conference as implied by the “pastoral responsibility” of the Global South Primates for bishops who would normally have looked to the Lambeth Conference. |
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