News for Week Ending 7/30/2012

More information emerges about Global South meeting

Two additional documents related to the Global South Conference on the Decade of Mission and Networking recently came to light. (See Pittsburgh Update story here on the conference.) The four Communion Partner bishops from The Episcopal Church who attended the Bangkok, Thailand, gathering collected their individual impressions in one place here. Bishop Dan Martins, who blogged about his experience in Bangkok put the presence of the Episcopal Church bishops in perspective:

When the four of us from the Episcopal Church had the opportunity to address the group in plenary, we spoke very briefly and tried to strike a humble tone. We apologized for the long pattern of damage done to the wider communion by our own church, most recently the most recent General Convention, and shared the Indianapolis Statement minority report. Our stance was that we need the voice of the Global South to speak for us, since we are a minority voice within our own church. This is sensitive territory. Some of those present were somewhat cool toward us because we remain in what they see as a hopelessly compromised church. They have transferred their seal of approval to the ACNA. Others are more sympathetic to our position and grateful for our continuing witness from within the Episcopal Church. I don't think we changed any minds among the former, but we did strengthen our position with the latter, and moved some off the fence in our direction.

The communiqué issued by the primates attending the Bangkok meeting indicated that they had written to the Crown Nominations Commission offering their views on the characteristics needed in the next Archbishop of Canterbury.  That communication was not made public, but The Lead obtained a copy of it and published it July 29, 2012. You can read it here.

Not surprisingly, the Global South primates asserted that the majority of the world’s Anglicans are found in the Global South, particularly in Africa, and they lobbied for an Archbishop of Canterbury who reflects their own views. The Archbishop should “always act in a conciliar and collegial manner with his fellow Primates because his decisions will affect the life and witness of Provinces worldwide” [boldface in the original]. “He has to be able, together with his fellow Primates, to more effectively restructure the Anglican Communion Office and the Anglican Consultative Council to better serve the Communion.” And there is more.

Scotland to implement marriage equity

According to Episcopal News Service, Scotland will allow same-sex weddings as early as 2015. That announcement was made July 25, 2012, by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who offered assurances that individual rights and religious freedom will not be violated. The reactions of religious groups were mixed, but the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Scotland oppose the move. ENS also reported that U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has declared his commitment to legalizing gay marriage.