THE so-called Camp Allen or Windsor bishops in the United States have presented the Presiding Bishop, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, and the Archbishop of Canterbury with a proposal for oversight of parishes and dioceses that decline to engage with liberal bishops or accept Dr Jefferts Schori’s oversight.
The bishops are conservatives who endorse the recommendations for an Anglican Covenant. Eighteen met Canon Gregory Cameron of the Anglican Communion Office for a briefing before the House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans last year. Previously, some met the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, and the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt.
Dr Wright said then that they needed encouragement to “extend their left arms as far as they can in one direction and their right arms in another to prevent what could otherwise be multiple fracturing and break-up” (News, 11 August 2006).
The Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam in February 2007 requested the setting up of an external system of oversight. The proposed scheme entailed the appointment of a Primatial Vicar to oversee dissenting congregations; but it was turned down by the US House of Bishops in March 2007, with the argument that it would compromise the Episcopal Church’s autonomy.
At the House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans last September, Dr Jefferts Schori confirmed an invitation to bishops to serve as episcopal visitors to dioceses that could not accept her ministry. Several bishops offered their services, including some of those now proposing the Communion Partners scheme. The Joint Standing Committee acknowledged that the proposal infringed Episcopalian polity, but concluded that it was a viable basis on which to proceed.
The scheme now proposed includes a small group of Primates, who would advise the bishops, and with whom they would consider matters related to the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor process. The Primates named are those of the West Indies, Tanzania, Indian Ocean, Burundi, and the Middle East.
The Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt Revd John Howe, said that the group aimed to “provide a visible link for those concerned in the Anglican Communion”. It would exist to “provide fellowship, support and a forum for mutual concerns between bishops”, and “a partnership to work towards the Anglican Covenant”.
Relationships would be “governed by mutual respect and proceed by invitation and co-operation”. Bishop Howe wrote: “Our purpose in meeting with Bishop Schori [on 21 February] was to apprise her of this plan, seek her counsel, and assure her that we remain committed to working within the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, and that the Primates involved in this discussion are NOT involved in ‘border-crossing’, nor would we be. We will visit no congregation without the diocesan bishop’s invitation and permission.”
Critics fear that the group would give the appearance of speaking for the Episcopal Church as a whole in the Communion, and sense an attempt to drive forward a Covenant about which, even as redrafted, many have principled objections or deep reservations.
Dr Jefferts Schori has not yet given her approval of the extended scheme, though she has offered a “nihil obstat” — no objection. Lambeth Palace would not respond to reports that Dr Williams, who met the bishops’ group on 31 January, had backed the scheme. “We’re not commenting at all,” said a spokeswoman this week.
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