CANTERBURY, ENGLAND — Anglican bishops opened their once-a-decade summit Sunday with an elaborate worship service in the mother church of their troubled global fellowship, hearing a plea for unity despite deep rifts over the Bible and homosexuality.
In his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Bishop Duleep de Chickera of Colombo, Sri Lanka, said that Anglicans should focus on healing the world, not on internal differences that undermine “unity in diversity” that he called a “cherished Anglican tradition.” “There is space equally for everyone and anyone regardless of color, gender, ability or sexual orientation,” he said. “If we attempt some game of uprooting the unrighteous, then my sisters and brothers, none of us will remain.” About one-quarter of the invited Anglican bishops — mostly theological conservatives from Africa — are boycotting the Lambeth Conference, which runs through Aug. 3.
The estimated 650 participating bishops will spend their days in Bible study and small group discussions meant to rebuild relationships damaged by the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S.
Robinson and a few other bishops were barred from participating in this month’s conference.
The meeting was designed without any votes or legislation, and no one expects the Anglicans to resolve their problems by the assembly’s end. Organizers instead hope their discussions will help clarify what direction they should take to stay together.
The Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, prefaced the gathering with a three-day private prayer retreat for the bishops that ended Saturday. In one session at the cathedral, he asked bishops to pray with someone they were afraid to meet.
“A Lambeth Conference is not a political meeting about organization or structure alone, but it is a spiritual meeting,” said Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, head of the Anglican Church of Australia. “We must go into this confident that a way has been found to the Father … . We must be confident that that way is there.” The 77-million-member Anglican Communion is a global fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England. It is the second-largest group of churches in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
Anglicans have long held together divergent views of Scripture and ritual. But those divisions have been widening as churches in the developing world, where strict Bible interpretation is the norm, have become the biggest and fastest-growing in the communion.
Last month, a group of Anglican conservatives from Africa, Australia and elsewhere formed a new network within the fellowship that challenges Williams’ authority, but stops short of schism.
Some of the network organizers are attending Lambeth, but most are staying away.
Still, bishops have described the mood of the conference so far as hopeful.
On Sunday morning, they smiled and waved to supporters lining the cobblestone streets outside the walls of the historic cathedral. Instead of grouping according to their national churches, bishops mixed across provinces as they processed into the nave, trying to symbolize the bonds that they had formed in their retreat.
The two-hour service featured not only traditional organ and brass music, but also drumming, prayers in many languages, and music and dance by Melanesians, who wore grass skirts and colored headbands as they sang “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” Nearby, advocates for gay and lesbian Anglicans organized their own opening worship in another church. Robinson has traveled to Canterbury even though he wasn’t invited. He will remain on the outskirts of the conference, hoping to meet with as many overseas bishops as possible. A group of U.S. Episcopal bishops have planned two receptions for him outside the official program.
