A word from the Presiding Bishop

[ENS] The primates of the Anglican Communion and Moderators of the United
Churches have met together in Northern Ireland to address common concerns
and to share something of our lives and ministries in our own widely
different contexts. We have carefully studied the Windsor Report and how
we might best be a communion in the midst of the deep differences which have
been brought into sharp relief around the subject of homosexuality. I leave
Ireland grateful that we as primates have done our very best to find a way
forward and to avoid creating an unproductive situation of winners and
losers.

These days have not been easy for any of us and the communiqué we issued
gives some sense of our meeting and how we have struggled together. The
communiqué is the fruit of a great deal of prayer and reflects our mutual
desire to move forward together.

As the communiqué was written with a view to making room for a wide variety
of perspectives it is inevitable that no one will be pleased with all
aspects of it. Some will not be pleased with the request from the primates
(paragraph 14) that the Episcopal Church, along with the Anglican Church of
Canada, "voluntarily withdraw" our members from the Anglican Consultative
Council "for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference." This
request, together with the opportunity for a hearing with the Anglican
Consultative Council (paragraph 16), gives space for speaking and listening.
During this time the Episcopal Church will be responding to the questions
addressed to us in the Windsor Report, as the primates have requested. We
will have the opportunity to speak out of the truth of our experience. I
welcome this opportunity knowing that the Episcopal Church has sought to act
with integrity in response to the Spirit, and that we have worked, and
continue to work, to hon!
or the different perspectives very much present within our church. Also
during this time, the Anglican Consultative Council will be listening with
care to what we have to say.

The primates discussed the importance of pastoral care for all members of
our Anglican Communion and have spoken clearly to the matter (paragraph 15).
I very much welcome the recommendation to the Archbishop of Canterbury that
he appoint a "panel of reference to supervise the adequacy of pastoral
provisions" for "groups in serious theological dispute with their diocesan
bishop, or dioceses in dispute with their Provinces..." The bishops of the
Episcopal Church are committed to the provision of such pastoral care to
those of various perspectives and have established a means of being certain
it is provided which is described in Caring for all the Churches: Delegated
Episcopal Pastoral Oversight. I am also pleased by the commitment made by
the primates "neither to encourage nor to initiate cross-boundary
violations."

The communiqué notes that our meeting was "characterised by generosity of
spirit, and a readiness to respect one another's integrity, with Christian
charity and abundant goodwill." I have faith and confidence in the many
ways in which the mystery of communion is lived among us. I am grateful that
bonds of understanding and affection bind us together and call us to an ever
deeper and more costly living out of the reconciliation brought about by
Jesus through the Cross. Again this week it was revealed that so much more
unites us than divides us.

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church, USA