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 | Organization: Its structure is basically democratic and largely decentralized. Change across the Anglican Communion is only implemented after years -- sometimes decades -- of painful debate. This contrasts with religious organizations like the Roman Catholic Church, where the pope can make statements of belief which are binding on the membership, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches that the prophet receives revelations directly from God which are also binding on all believers. | ||||||
| Decentralization: Some Anglicans have jokingly referred to a
T-shirt which may or may not have existed in reality. It says: "I am not
the member of an organized church. I'm an Anglican." The spiritual
head of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury. But he has
little administrative authority over the Communion. Major policy decisions
are left up to the primates and bishops at the Lambeth Conference which meets every decade.
Still, the
Conferences have little direct authority over the provinces. Provinces meet
regularly to discuss policy; decisions generally require the agreement of
three groups: the bishops, priests, and representative from the laity.
Considerable power is also wielded by the bishop, clergy and laity of each
diocese. An individual diocese
or province which is out of step with the rest of the communion can
implement change independently of the rest of the Communion. This can inflame passions elsewhere,
particularly when it involves human sexuality. For example:
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| Influence of culture: The 38 Anglican provinces cover the entire
world, including many diverse societies which have very different cultural
traditions concerning gender and sexual orientation. The position of the
various provinces towards the role of women and the nature of homosexual
orientation and behavior depends primarily on the local culture. For example,
in 1974, the "Philadelphia
Eleven" -- eleven female candidates for the priesthood -- were
irregularly ordained in Philadelphia, PA. But it took 24 years before the
General Assembly of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (the Anglican Church
in Japan) voted to accept female priests; that decision meant that the
majority of provinces accepted women for ordination. There are
still many provinces who continue a sexist attitude by refusing to consider female ordination.
It is impossible to have the entire Communion change in a lock-step fashion. If past transitions over human slavery and female ordination are any guide, many decades will pass before the more traditional Anglican provinces will catch up to where the Episcopal Church, USA and the Anglican Church of Canada are now on matters of equal rights and treatment of gays and lesbians. | ||||||
| Broad range of beliefs: The Anglican Communion is proud of its
heritage of offering a "broad tent" to believers. Within the
Communion are such diverse groups as Evangelicals, religious liberals,
Charismatics, Anglo-Catholics, etc. If Anglicans were more homogenous, they
would experience less internal conflict.
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| Conflict over criteria for truth: The Virginia Report of the
Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal
Commission of 1997 noted that Christian beliefs are dynamic.
5 Anglicans must discern "afresh the mind of Christ for the Church in each
generation." They recognize three main criteria for truth:
These three criteria can be used to support either a condemnation or acceptance of homosexuality. The culture in which a person is raised appears to be the most important factor in determining their conclusions about homosexuality. |
Previous crises in the Anglican Communion:
The 19th century saw a major crisis within the Anglican Communion over the morality of human slavery. This was particularly acute in the U.S., Canada and England. The practice had been supported by many Anglicans and Christians of other denominations for centuries. It was justified by the common interpretation of the "Curse of Ham" from the book of Genesis. Additional support came from the Bible itself -- there are no passages which specifically condemned slavery; there are many verses that regulated the institution. Unlike the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, the Anglican Communion was able to survive the slavery debate without a schism over slavery.
Other crises during the late 19th and early 20th century were relatively minor and involved disagreements over whether women had souls, whether married couples could morally use birth control, etc. However, in the 1960s, the evolving feminist movement began to have a major impact on the Anglican Communion, particularly in the west provinces.
There has historically been a threefold ministry in the church: deacons, priests and bishops. Some provinces wanted to change the traditional practice of reserving ordination to the priesthood as a special privilege for males.
The important stages of this controversy are worth considering, because they could form a model for the Communion's consideration of the role of homosexuals in church life:
| Prior to 1960: The Anglican Communion and many other Christian faith groups had always rejected female ordination. No woman, regardless of her abilities and talents could be considered for ordination. | ||||||||||||||||
| During the 1960s: There was a growing acceptance in western cultures of the need to give women equal opportunity as a moral imperative. This was largely driven by secular groups, very liberal religious groups, and individuals. Debate intensified within the Anglican Communion concerning female ordination as priests and even their consecration as bishops. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1968 Lambeth Conference: Five resolutions were passed concerning
the ordination of women:
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| 1974: Three bishops of the Episcopal Church, USA irregularly ordained eleven women. Massive outrage surfaced in the Church and throughout the rest of the Communion. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1975: The Anglican Church of Canada authorized female ordination. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1976: The Episcopal Church, USA passed a resolution declaring that "no one shall be denied access" to ordination into the three orders of ministry: as deacons, priests or bishops, on the basis of their sex. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1978 Lambeth Conference:
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| 1980s: Debate intensified within some provinces over the consecration of female priests as bishops. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1988 Lambeth Conference: This was a critical time for the
Anglican Communion as there was a strong possibility that one of the
provinces would consecrate a woman as bishop.
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| 1989: The fear of the first female Anglican bishop materialized when the Episcopal Church, USA consecrated a woman as bishop. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997: Eames commission report: The group issued a report which discussed how the Communion wanted to "...uphold legitimate provincial autonomy while at the same time fostering a care and consideration for those ...." who opposed female ordination. They felt that the "...guidelines developed by the Eames Commission and supported by resolution of the Primates' Meeting have helped Anglicans maintain the highest degree of communion with those who, with integrity, hold quite opposite views about the ordination of women." They estimated that there were "well over 4,000" female priests, "10 women bishops of which 6 are diocesan bishops." Australia, Burundi, England, Kenya, Philippines, Scotland, Uganda, Wales, West Africa, and West Indies accepted women into the Diaconate and Presbyterate (priesthood). Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, and Southern Africa had accepted, in principle, women to all three ministries of the church: as deacons, priests and bishops.. The province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia had joined Canada and the US to actually have women in all three levels. They reported in England that: "Some groups opposed to women's ordination continue to feel marginalised. Others believe the Church of England went too far in accommodating conscientious dissent....The reports from the Provinces indicate occasional or even more general attitudes of contempt for opponents on both sides of the continuing debate. Communion in diversity requires charity and respect." The Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia continued its opposition to ordaining women. They said, "It is wrong to consider the open process of reception where the principle is wrong and not accepted...there is no debate where scripture, tradition and common sense are clear." | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998: By this date, a slim majority of the provinces had decided to ordain women. There was little controversy at the Lambeth Commission concerning females throughout the threefold ministry. Female ordination had become almost a non-issue. |
By 2006, there still remain many provinces in the world, and a few dioceses in the U.S., which do not permit the ordination of female priests. All but three refuse to consecrate women as bishops. The Church of England only started ordaining women in the early 1990s. They are not expect to allow female bishops until the 2010s at the earliest. The Communion will probably not reach full agreement for decades into the future. It may well take generations -- conceivable even a century -- before sexism is totally abolished in the Anglican Communion, and women are allowed to fully serve the church at all levels.
Current status of "the issue:"
As of early 2005, gays and lesbians may be ordained throughout most of the the Anglican Communion, but they normally have to agree to remain celibate. The Anglican communion does not generally recognize or bless gay and lesbian union ceremonies. Exceptions exist in some dioceses in the U.S. and Canada.
Among many Anglican leaders, stability and homogeneity of belief and practice is of primary importance. Other leaders see justice in the form of equal rights for all persons, including those of sexual minorities, as paramount. There are no good solutions to the conflict.
Equal rights for gays and lesbians was the main topic of conflict at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. A serious division surfaced among the various Provinces, with many Western churches taking a more liberal view. The Archbishop of Canterbury created a commission to study the matter. Their Windsor Report was issued in late 2004. The Primates split the Anglican Communion in 2005-FEB by asking the U.S. and Canadian provinces to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council .
References:
- "Archive of Resolutions from 1968 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops," The Anglican Communion Official Website, at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
- "Archive of Resolutions from 1978 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops," The Anglican Communion Official Website, at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
- "1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops: Resolution 1: The ordination or consecration of women to the episcopate," The Anglican Communion Official Website, at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
- "The Eames Monitoring Group Report," The Anglican Communion Official Website, 1997-AUG, at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
- "The Anglican Way: Scripture, Tradition and Reason," Chapter 3 I of the Virginia Report, at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
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Copyright © 1997 to 2006 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-SEP-04
Author: B.A. Robinson
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