Conservative Anglicans meet as rift threatens church

By Edmund Blair

CAIRO (Reuters) – Traditionalist Anglican clerics from the
developing world said on Tuesday that liberal U.S. and Canadian
churches had not done enough to heal a rift over gay rights
that is threatening to tear apart the Anglican church.

The 77 million-strong Anglican church has been divided
since 2003 when the U.S. Episcopal Church ordained a gay bishop
and Canadian Anglicans began blessing same-sex marriages.

The move outraged traditionalists who dominate the Anglican
church in Africa, Asia and Latin American, a grouping known as
the Global South. They say the Bible condemns homosexuality and
add that their position represents the majority of Anglicans.

“I still believe there is room for us to walk together,”
said Drexel Gomez, archbishop of the West Indies, speaking on
the sidelines of a six-day meeting of the Global South group
which began in Egypt on Tuesday.

“But if they (the United States and Canada) refuse to buy
into what we call the Anglican consensus then I believe that
those people who cannot accept the consensus are the ones who
must leave,” he told Reuters.

In a bid to end divisions in the 450-year-old church, a
report by Anglican leaders called for steps by the U.S. and
Canadian churches, including expressing regret for their
actions. A dispute now rages about whether those conditions
have been met.

Archbishop Robin Eames, who headed the task force that drew
up the so-called Windsor Report, has said the demands were
broadly met. Traditionalists in the Global South disagree.

“He expressed an opinion, which came as a surprise to many
people … We have heard expressions of sadness at the hurt,
but we haven’t heard yet the statement which the Windsor Report
was looking for,” said one Anglican primate at the meeting, who
asked not to be named.

REMAINING FAITHFUL

Traditionalists complain that, for example, at least one
diocese in Canada is still conducting same-sex blessings, which
they say contradicts the report’s demands.

“They have not met what we asked for,” said Gomez, adding
that a final response from the U.S. and Canadian churches would
have to wait for their conventions in 2006 and 2007.

Bishops from the Global South say their meeting in Egypt,
which runs from the October 25 to 30, is not seeking to focus
on the Anglican divisions and that their discussion will cover
pressing concerns such as AIDS and interfaith dialogue.

“This meeting is not to react to any single issue,” said
Datuk Yong Ping Chung, archbishop of southeast Asia.

But analysts say the meeting in Egypt could further
entrench opposition to the liberal trends in Western churches
because the debate will be dominated by conservative voices.

Several delegates from the United States and Canada, who
oppose the liberal moves in their countries, have been invited.

“The Global South will encourage us, who are remaining
faithful, to know that we are not standing alone,” said Donald
Harvey, a retired Canadian bishop who is part of a network of
Canadian Anglicans opposed to the liberal moves.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican
spiritual leader who personally backs accepting gay bishops,
has been seeking to heal the rifts. He will address the meeting
on Friday but analysts say he has little power to impose a
solution and will instead have to rely on encouraging
moderation.

“The easy solution is to live with difference. That’s
always been how Anglicanism has coped with disputes in the past
… But that is not an easy thing to do,” said Paul Handley,
editor of the Anglican weekly newspaper Church Times.