| ANY split with members of the GAFCON movement would be “a very sad and tragic event”, said the Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani.
He had not been consulted about GAFCON, even though Jerusalem is a conservative diocese. When he protested about the prospect of another potentially divisive meeting in a city that had had its fill of them, the organisers offered a compromise plan, involving a preliminary meeting in Jordan (still in his diocese). Subsequent offers had not been taken up, however, and the Bishop’s chaplain was on the list of eight undesirables whom GAFCON security staff had to look out for.
“I think that they have no right to call themselves orthodox,” Bishop Dawani said. Arab Anglicans had mostly originated from the Orthodox Church, “and we are both orthodox and Evangelical at the same time.”
The one meeting was at a service in St George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, on the day the conference began. In his sermon, Bishop Dawani described the work of the diocese as “the very presence of Christ among the needy, offered without differentiation based on religion, gender, or nationality”. He urged the GAFCON leadership to “continue here in a spirit of peace, reconciliation, and good will”.
Bishop Dawani was also anxious that different approaches to Islam, if articulated at the conference, would damage relations with Muslims in his diocese, already affected by the Western policy in the Middle East, and particularly by the Iraq war.
“Anyone has to think a thousand times before coming here. They must understand the complex political situation, the peace process, also the ecumenical fellowship, which is really active. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem for the absence of peace. And he is still weeping. It’s not an easy city. That’s why I asked the GAFCON leadership, ‘Don’t come here.’”
Had there been more contact with GAFCON, the Bishop would have liked to show the participants the Jerusalem diocese as an example of unity. “We have 13 Churches [denominations] in Jerusalem, and Anglicans are just one of those 13. We have very good fellowship among all the Churches, regardless of what will happen occasionally.”
The Bishop also met Muslim and Jewish religious leaders once a month. “We try together to convince political leaders to reach a just solution — a two-state solution — for the region here.”
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