Gay bishop not invited to Lambeth conference

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1825375.ece

The openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, whose consecration in 2003 has taken the Anglican Church to the brink of schism, is to be excluded from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.

In a significant blow to the lesbians and gays campaigning for equal rights within the Church, Dr Rowan Williams has decreed that Bishop Robinson will not be among the 800-plus Anglican bishops invited to Canterbury next summer for the three-week gathering.

Dr Williams' decision provoked fury from the gay community in the Church of England, who said it demonstrated the "institutional homophobia" haunting the Church of England. Dr Williams was also accused of practising "ecclesiastical correctness" by the conservative evangelical opponenents of Bishop Robinson.

But the Archbishop, once a proponent of liberal catholicism of the kind preached by Bishop Robinson and his supporters, had little choice in the matter. If he had invited Bishop Robinson, the conference would almost certainly have been boycotted by conservative evangelical bishops and archbishops from the 'Global South' provinces in Africa and Asia.

The first invitations for the 2008 conference were sent out today by Dr Williams. The gathering, which takes place every ten years and which next year will be the largest ever in the history of Anglicanism, will bring together bishops from the Churches in the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion together with ecumenical and other invited guests.

The 2008 conference will differ from previous gatherings in that the bishops will begin with a period of retreat and reflection. Much of this retreat time will be held in and around Canterbury Cathedral. There will be attempts, almost certainly futile, to avoid the controversies of previous years. In 1998 the controversy over homosexuality "came out" into the open for the first time, and 1988 was dominated by the controversy over women bishops.

Bishops' spouses will be invited later in the year by the Archbishop's wife, Dr Jane Williams, a theologian in her own right on the evangelical wing of the Church.

In his letter, Dr Williams acknowledges that there has been keen discussion of the Lambeth Conference of 2008, and makes a plea for a spirit of tolerance.

"Because there has been quite a bit of speculation about invitations and the conditions that might be attached to them, I want to set out briefly what I think the Conference is and is not," he writes.

"It is an occasion when the Archbishop of Canterbury exercises his privilege of calling his colleagues together, not to legislate but to discover and define something more about our common identity through prayer, listening to God’s Word and shared reflection. It is an occasion to rediscover the reality of the Church itself as a worldwide community united by the call and grace of Christ."

He continues: "Coming to the Lambeth Conference does not commit you to accepting the position of others as necessarily a legitimate expression of Anglican doctrine and discipline, or to any action that would compromise your conscience or the integrity of your local church."

Referring to the debates tearing the Church apart, he says: "At a time when our common identity seems less clear that it once did, the temptation is to move further away from each other into those circles where we only related to those who completely agree with us.

"But the depth and seriousness of the issues that face us require us to discuss as fully and freely as we can, and no other forum offers the same opportunities for all to hear and consider, in the context of a common waiting on the Holy Spirit.

"I have said, and repeat here, that coming to the Conference does not commit you to accepting every position held by other bishops as equally legitimate or true. But I hope it does commit us all to striving together for a more effective and coherent worldwide body, working for God’s glory and Christ’s Kingdom."

Justifying the exclusion of Bishop Robinson, he says: "I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion."

He indicates there are "one or two cases" on which he is seeking further advice. Each letter is sent with "a reply slip" for bishops to indicate whether they will be attending or not, with replies needed by the end of July this year.

The Rev Martin Reynolds, spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, condemned the policy. He said it demonstrated "the institutional homophobia presently haunting the Anglican Communion."

He quoted a recent communique from the Church's primates, which said: "The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us.”

Mr Reynolds continued: “This is a flagrant example of victimisation that quite clearly intends to diminish Bishop Robinson’s status. If the Archbishop of Canterbury is unable to follow the dictates of the Primates Group, let alone the dictates of his own conscience, we are in a very unsafe state.

"We are deeply sorry for the failure of the Communion to live up to its own standards. Bishop Robinson and the diocese he was duly and canonically elected to serve have our full support and we believe they deserve much better.”

He said the decision placed most US bishops along with others throughout the world in an embarrassing position. "If they accept their Lambeth invitations this might appear to support Bishop Robinson’s victimisation, while if they reject the invitation they will abandon our Communion to the homophobes.”

The Rev Chris Sugden, of Anglican Mainstream, the orthodox lobby group, said: "The Archbishop is in a very difficult position. It appears he is making the criteria of withholding an invitation causing division, or scandal or making resolution difficult. Who is to be the judge of these things once the criteria is not Biblical truth as held by the universal church and Anglican doctrine but ecclesiastical correctness?"