Predictably, the Anglican world is awash with words following the release of the Windsor report. I've read the report but, like everyone else, need time to digest it. Anglicans Online has published on a Monday for the first time and does a good job of scanning the news. I like the work of Stephen Bates, religious affairs writer of the The Guardian, who has written three excellent pieces on the report here, here, and here. Thanking the Lambeth Commission on Communion for its "thorough and balanced report," Integrity USA, through its President and its Director of Communications said:

We are grateful that the report recognizes that serious, Communion-wide dialog on the ordination of gay and lesbian persons and the blessing of same-sex relationships has not occurred. We look forward to the development of a process that will enable true dialog on these issues. We hope that such conversation will not only be ABOUT homosexuality, but WITH gay and lesbian Anglicans.

. . . Overall it seems to us that the report is a call to an earnest, Communion-wide discernment process about the nature of the Gospel and the nature of the Church given the contexts of our varied interpretations of the Scriptures, our differing approaches to Anglican tradition, and the complex realities in which the various provinces of the Communion live and move and have their being. Clearly it is essential that this conversation occurs, and in such a manner that all the people of God who are members of this Communion can fully participate.

Amid the plethora of comment, Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of ECUSA said:

Given the emphasis of the Report on difficulties presented by our differing understandings of homosexuality, as Presiding Bishop I am obliged to affirm the presence and positive contribution of gay and lesbian persons to every aspect of the life of our church and in all orders of ministry. Other Provinces are also blessed by the lives and ministry of homosexual persons. I regret that there are places within our Communion where it is unsafe for them to speak out of the truth of who they are.

. . . I am put in mind of the words of Archbishop Eames in the Foreword to the Report. "This Report is not a judgment. It is part of a process. It is part of a pilgrimage towards healing and reconciliation." It is my earnest prayer that we will undertake this pilgrimage in a spirit of generosity and patient faithfulness, not primarily for the sake of our church and the Anglican Communion but for the sake of the world our Lord came among us to save."

The right note from which to start.I do like Anglicans Online's comment:

We will say that we think the entire crisis about 'What is the Anglican Communion?' was precipitated by the internet and electronic publishing. In that golden age when bishops wore gaiters and ladies wore hats, an Anglican in Uganda or Singapore or Fort Worth had virtually no way of knowing what a faraway parish was doing, and was probably too busy to care. Now we can all stay entirely too informed, whether we need to or not. And every angry activist group now has a website and an email newsletter, by which they can stir up indignation in people who otherwise wouldn't have cared a whit about the lives of people that they would never see or meet.

Many await with concern the release of the 'Windsor Report', the Report of the Lambeth Commision on Communion, from this site at 11am GMT on 18 October.

Heavenly Father, you have called us in the body of your Son Jesus Christ to continue his work of reconciliation and reveal you to the world: forgive us the sins which tear us apart; give us the courage to overcome our fears and to seek that unity which is your gift and your will; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
(Common Worship, Collect for unity)

On 15 October, Integity USA made this press statement about the pending report.

The Lambeth Commission on Communion is scheduled to release its final report on Monday, 18 October 2004. It is anticipated that the report will make recommendations for maintaining unity within the Anglican Communion in the midst of profound disagreement. The two key issues that prompted formation of the commission were the authorization of a rite for blessing same-sex relationships by the Diocese of New Westminster (Canada) and the election, approval, and ordination of V. Gene Robinson--a gay man in a committed same-sex relationship--as the bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire (United States).
The leadership of national Integrity is committed to a careful and prayerful reading of the report. Therefore, we will not respond publicly to the report until we have had sufficient time to study it. However, a few advance comments are appropriate regardless of the report's contents:

• The report will not be the definitive word on any issue. It will contain recommendations--not mandates--to be considered by the primates and the Anglican Consultative Council over the next several months.
• We believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding the church "into all the truth" (John 16:12-13)--both through the deliberations of the Canadian and American provinces as well as through the deliberations of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. "Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches" (Revelation 2:11).
• That which unites us is stronger than that which threatens to divide us. We share "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). Integrity is confident that the Anglican Communion will remain intact as it works through its differences.
• Integrity acknowledges the deep pain felt in some provinces of the Anglican Communion as a result of recent actions in North America. We remind all of our brothers and sisters throughout the Communion of the deep pain that gay and lesbian Anglicans have experienced and continue to experience as a result of prejudice and discrimination within our churches and societies. May we seek to heal all those who hurt "and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" (Ephesians 5:2).

The press and radio are reporting a speech by Philip Jensen, Anglican Dean of Sydney, to the 2004 National Conference of Reform in England. Jensen denounced the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams for his personal views about homosexuality, though Dr Williams has publicly maintained a traditional stance in opposing gay marriage and gay ordination. "That's no good. That's total prostitution of the Christian ministry," Mr Jensen said. "He should resign. That's theological and intellectual prostitution. He is taking his salary under false pretences." Mr Jensen apparently also attacked the Prince of Wales as "a public adulterer" and Kings College Chapel as "a temple to paganism" for selling recordings of its famous choir in the ante-chapel.Church leaders here in Australia, including the Dean's brother, Archbishop Peter Jensen, are quickly distancing themselves from the remarks. The Anglican Primate, of Australia, Dr Peter Carnley, has described the comments made by the Dean of Sydney, Philip Jensen, as divisive and unhelpful, extreme and inappropriate.Quite.(Mr Jensen has since written to The Guardian, which first published his speech to Reform, saying that he had been grossly misrepresented. He admits calling for Dr Williams' resignation but denies calling him a prostitute. He said he had described the situation where holders of high office in the church publicly subscribed to official beliefs but privately pursued "a different set", and this was prostitution of Christian ministry. "I regret that my rhetorically forceful language was able to be misrepresented as such a personal attack on Dr Williams," he wrote.)Archbishop Williams is a deep and rich thinker. That a senior church figure would even contemplate such speech indicates a visceral, unthinking, response to questions of sexuality and faith. Philip Jensen's intemperate reference to theological prostitution reminds me of John Knox's denunciation of the Church of Rome before Mary Queen of Scots on 26 August 1561: "Wonder not, Madam, that I call Rome an harlot; for that Church is altogether polluted with all kind of spiritual fornication, as well in doctrine as in manners."P.S. Letters to the editor in the Sydney Morning Herald run the full gamut of responses to Jensen's outburst. Meanwhile, ABC radio reports that my bishop, the Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, George Browning, "has been left scratching his head about Dean of Sydney's vitriolic attack."

George Browning: Yes, I am. When I read the paper this morning I really couldn't believe what I was reading, so I can only assume that the Dean has been misquoted somehow, I just can't believe that he would've said what he's reported to have said.
Interviewer: Well, there's been no clarifying comments come out of the Sydney Diocese. So on the face of that, what do you make of it all?
George Browning: Well, it's hard to know what to make of it, to be quite honest. I don't know what the context was of his speech, but whatever the context, what he said is entirely inappropriate and factually wrong.
I mean, what he's reported to have said about the Archbishop of Canterbury is appalling. The reality is that on the gender issue the Archbishop of Canterbury has upheld the statement of the Lambeth conference of 1998, so apart from being quite rude and insulting (the wording) it actually is wrong.

P.P.S. The Church Times reports that Reform apologised to the Archbishop of Canterbury for Dean Jensen's remarks and Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian have since reported that Dean Jensen called Reform 'a bunch of old women'.

The General Synod Anglican Church of Australia has said 'no' to the ordination of people in same-sex relationships, 'no' to the blessing of same sex relationships, and endorsed the Government's recent amendment of marriage law to include opposite-sex partnerships only. Several resolutions were discussed.The first resolution motion invited conversation and listening.

31.34 - That this General Synod:
1. notes the Lambeth Conference resolution 1.10 of 1998 on human sexuality and subsequent developments in various parts of the Anglican Communion;
2. welcomes the publication of the study guide to Faithfulness in Fellowship;
3. urges Dioceses to promote the use of the study guide and also commends to the Dioceses the Doctrine Commission's recently published essays Lost in Translation as they explore the importance of Scripture in our understanding of this issue; and
4. requests Dioceses to commit themselves to listen as the Church develops a Christian response to the contemporary experience of human sexuality.

According to Revd Dr Charles Sherlock, a number of suggested amendments failed. (I am indebted here to his account). I am happy that for this reasonable motion to have been accepted.However, in its action on the next three motions on human sexuality, the Synod took little account of the caution recommended by its own Doctrine Commission and sought firm conclusions on issues where there is no concensus. The Commission had said in its report to the Synod that:

Although no consensus emerged amongst its members, the Commission indicated that no legislative action in the Church should be taken and so recommended that further study and prayer be undertaken. During the course of the work undertaken on this issue it became apparent to the Doctrine Commission that serious study needed to take place over the issue of how Anglicans 'read, mark, learn and inwardly digest' the Scriptures. It was felt that division over hermeneutical issues relating to the interpretation of the Scriptures was at the heart of many of the difficulties currently dividing the Anglican Church both nationally and internationally.

The General Secretary presented a series of conservative motions as a basis for discussion.

34.7 - Recognising that this is a matter of ongoing debate and conversation in this church and that we all have an obligation to listen to each other with respect, this General Synod does not condone the liturgical blessing of same sex relationships.

This motion passed with a substantial majority, after various amendments seeking to make the motion more stringently conservative were dropped. Dr Sherlock quotes two speakers opposed to the motion: Elizabeth Smith, and Gillian Varcoe of Canberra and Goulburn.

34.8 - Recognising that this is a matter of ongoing debate and conversation in this church and that we all have an obligation to listen to each other with respect, this General Synod does not condone the ordination of people in open committed same sex relationships.

Again, conservative amendments failed, including an attempt to condemnation of "any sexual same sex relationship". "We must welcome the formation of committed friendships, and allow people to share their home," one member said.

34.9 - This General Synod welcomes the initiative of the Federal Government in clarifying that marriage, at law in this country, is a relationship between a man and a woman.

Dr Sherlock moved that this question not be put, since it was of a different kind to earlier ones and involved the synod in political judgement. A "spirited debate" led to this move being defeated and the motion eventually passed in its original form.Postscript: Further motions (1) asking Synod to express 'regret' at actions taken in other parts of the Communion, and the 'challenges to fellowship they create' and (2) to 'affirm its support' for Lambeth Resolution 1.10, mercifully were not decided, as time ran out during debate.

In this part of the world, the summer begins with the start of the cricket season and the pleasant ritual of the ABC's superb coverage of international matches on the web and the radio.The season bowled into action with the toss for the First Test, Australia v. India, in Bangalore (picture).Utterly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and I've never played cricket myself, but its the only spectator sport I really enjoy. As the game is fairly slow-paced, you can picture it well in your mind from the radio commentary -- once you get your head around the specialised vocabulary and the complex scorecards.Speaking of scores, and since the federal election is only 2 sleeps away, here's my 'How to Vote' Card:

Division of FRASER
5 James VASSILOPOULOS, Socialist Alliance
3 Bob McMULLAN, Australian Labor
4 Adam GILES, Liberal Party
2 Lynne GRIMSEY, Australian Democrats
1 David TURBAYNE, Greens

Senate - A.C.T.
1 TUCKER Kerrie, The Greens
2 MANDERSON Roland, The Greens
3 JACOBS Rachael, Australian Democrats
4 BOURNE Peta, Australian Democrats
7 JOLLEY Jeannette, Australian Progressive Alliance
8 DEEBANK Ryan, Australian Progressive Alliance
5 LUNDY Kate, Australian Labor Party
6 SMITH David, Australian Labor Party
9 EDWARDS Dave, Ungrouped Candidates
13 HUMPHRIES Gary, Liberal Party
12 MORISON Ian, Liberal Party
10 JANES Tim, Christian Democratic Party
11 MILLER John, Christian Democratic Party

These are the motions on sexuality being considered by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia at its three-yearly meeting in Freemantle this week. They're a gloomy lot overall. The first, however (31.34), sponsored by the Standing Committee, invites conversation and listening, rather than non-inclusive open-and-shut decisions.

31.34 Sexuality and Gender Relationships
That this General Synod:
1. notes the Lambeth Conference resolution 1.10 of 1998 on human sexuality and subsequent developments in various parts of the Anglican Communion;
2. welcomes the publication of the study guide to Faithfulness in Fellowship;
3. urges Dioceses to promote the use of the study guide and also commends to the Dioceses the Doctrine Commission's recently published essays Lost in Translation as they explore the importance of Scripture in our understanding of this issue; and
4. requests Dioceses to commit themselves to listen as the Church develops a Christian response to the contemporary experience of human sexuality.

 

34.7 Sexuality and Gender Relationships - 1
Recognising that this is a matter of ongoing debate and conversation in this church and that we all have an obligation to listen to each other with respect, this General Synod does not condone the liturgical blessing of same sex relationships.

 

34.8 Sexuality and Gender Relationships - 2
Recognising that this is a matter of ongoing debate and conversation in this church and that we all have an obligation to listen to each other with respect, this General Synod does not condone the ordination of people in open committed same sex relationships.

 

34.9 Sexuality and Gender Relationships - 3
This General Synod welcomes the initiative of the Federal Government in clarifying that marriage, at law in this country, is a relationship between a man and a woman.

 

34.10 Sexuality and Gender Relationships - 4
Recognising that other churches in the Anglican Communion have taken actions in relation to same sex relationships which move away from the declared view of this General Synod the Synod regrets those steps and the challenges to fellowship they create.

 

34.16 Gender Relationships
Synod, noting the consecration of a practising homosexual in a diocese in the United States of America and the movement within the Anglican Church in Canada to sanction the blessing of same sex unions, affirms its support for the Lambeth conference resolution 1.10 on Human Sexuality when it says:
"This Conference:
(a) Commends to the church the subsection report on human sexuality;
(b) In view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
(c) Recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the church, and God's transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
(d) While rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
(e) Cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions".

The Primate of Australia, Dr Peter Carnley, in his presidential address tried desperately to square the circle: "Same sex relationships are best spoken of by using the category of friendship, which does not so much as raise an implication, let alone the logical necessity and thus the expectation, of sexual activity," Dr Carnley told the general synod. ". . . as Christians, we should not allow ourselves to be browbeaten by the permissive society into the view that chastity and abstinence from sexual activity is an entirely unrealistic impossibility among adults." Dr Carnley argued that rather than narrowing the definition of what constituted a relationship, the church should be opening up the categories -- including the idea that same-sex and even heterosexual relationships could be celibate.

Well God bless him for at least trying with sincerity and openess. Otherwise, no comment right now. I am too dispirited and fed up. Maybe later.

Meanwhile, the humble parish fete at local chuch seems to be much more fun.