Break-up over gay issue would be 'heart-breaking'

Would it matter if the Anglican Communion fell apart? Well, as with all things Anglican, the answer is both Yes and No. At one level, it doesn't exist anyway - the Archbishop of Canterbury is not the Pope, and his primacy among the 38 Churches that make up the Communion is simply a "primacy of honour". The Anglican Consultative Council (of which Bishop Richard is a member) is not the equivalent of the Roman curia. 

But at another level, our links with the rest of the Anglican family are of vital importance to all of us. We have grown through the colonialism that characterised our relationships until a generation ago, into a mature relationship of equals - with more practicing Anglicans in Nigeria now than in the United Kingdom. Over the last two decades, very many parishes have developed important links with parishes in the Third World. These links have been two-way; our own understanding of our faith has been developed through our fellowship in Christ with Anglicans in all parts of the world. 

More than any other diocese in the Anglican Communion, we in Oxford can appreciate the issues that the Primates wrestled with on 15 and 16 Oct. As in our own case, the wrestling was frank and painfully honest. But whereas our own discussions took place against the background of a more or less tolerant single national culture, the Primates were working against a much wider background representing the entire spectrum of cultural and social conditions to be found in more than 120 countries around the world. 

For many of our fellow-Anglicans in North America, refusal to consecrate Canon Robinson would be bewilderingly intolerant; for many of our fellow-Anglicans in "the Global South", it would be bewilderingly perverse. I have been asked by more than one person how I can bear to be part of a Church which appears to many to be homophobic; whereas one Primate from a fundamentalist Moslem country described how association with a Church that will consecrate a divorced, openly homosexual man has resulted inthreats against his own life.  These are not simple issues. 

In many ways, the publication of the Report by Bishop Richard’s working party on human sexuality could not be more timely. It is intended to promote wider understanding of the issues that are causing such widespread disagreement, and although it is primarily aimed at the ‘home market’, I very much hope that it will be used widely in other parts of the world as the foundation for ongoing research and reflection. 

The Primates were at pains to reaffirm the Lambeth Conference resolution to listen to the experience of homosexual people, and assure them that they are loved by God. And as they faced up to their differences with agonising honesty, they urged their Provinces not to act precipitately, but to await the advice of a Commission which will be charged with examining the theological, legal and constitutional implications of any breakdown of communion. 

I hope that the Commission will be able to reassure parishes and dioceses that their links can continue, not as “ecumenical dialogue” between estranged Churches, but as members of the same Christian family, recognizing the same orders of ministry and continuing to share sacramental fellowship with each other. For many of us, the alternative would be heart-breaking. 

Pray for the Primates, as their Provinces each make their own decision about communion with one another in the weeks and months ahead.  Pray for the Commission, as it works out the implications of the Primates' recommendations. Pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury, as an increasing burden falls on him, as the fulcrum of a divided Communion. Above all, pray for our Churches' witness to a broken and divided world, which is entitled to look to Christ and his Church for "the healing of the nations". 

Canon John Rees is the Registrar of the Diocese, and Honorary Legal Adviser to the Anglican Consultative Council