October 14, 2004
The Lambeth Commission
on Communion
A statement from the Rt. Rev. Leo
Frade, Diocese of Southeast Florida
Next Monday, Oct.
18, the Lambeth Commission on Communion will release the report of
its yearlong work. Appointed a year ago by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Commission has been charged with making recommendations to him
and to the Anglican primates on how to maintain the highest degree
of communion possible following the decisions made by the Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Church of Canada on issues involving homosexuality.
There
has already been considerable speculation in the media about the content
of the report and its possible effects on the Episcopal Church and
its relations with other member churches of the Anglican Communion.
I do not know what
the report will say, but it is realistic to suppose that there will
probably be some strong challenges to all of us in the communion about
how to maintain our relationships when we have matters about which
we bitterly disagree.
The bishops of the
Episcopal Church have committed themselves to “a
gracious reception of the report in a spirit of humility, and to a
willingness to learn how we might best be faithful and responsible
partners in the Anglican Communion”. In the reception of this report
we are receiving a letter from our family from around the world, our
sisters and brothers of the Anglican Communion, with whom we are related
by a common bond of our faith and the waters of baptism. I believe
that the baptism water poured upon us is much thicker than blood, and
will make it possible to bridge any differences of opinion or cultural
bias that may exist between us and those we love.
A series of meetings
of the Provinces of the Episcopal Church and the Executive Council,
as well as an additional meeting of the House of Bishops, have already
been scheduled to review and reflect on the report. I have scheduled
a similar meeting with our diocesan clergy in early December. The purpose
of these meetings is to give us an opportunity for a deeper understanding
of how other parts of the world have received the decisions of our
General Convention.
The
Episcopal Church was an entity for 100 years before the Anglican Communion
was formed. Our Anglican polity is not that of Rome, with a central
authority imposing uniformity around the world. Each Anglican Province
is an autonomous unit, with its own canonical procedures, liturgical
styles and cultural expressions. Our great gift as Anglicans is this
rich diversity, and our great challenge in our autonomy and diversity
is to stay together and to continue in the communion that God has given
us.
Whatever the content of the Lambeth Commission Report, as
bishop of Southeast Florida I am committed to love and care for all
in this diocese without distinction, and I will continue calling the
people of this diocese to fulfill the mission that Christ has given
us: “To make known to all people the transforming power of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, including ALL, excluding none.”
The people of our communities in Southeast Florida are connected
by ties of blood and shared history with the peoples of the Caribbean
and Latin America, and in our churches we are sisters and brothers
in Christ, baptized in the same water and the same Spirit. We will
argue, we may be upset with each other, but we are family. The Commission’s
report cannot change that fact.
We may be called
to live without an immediate resolution of all the questions at hand,
but we are surely called to be faithful to the Gospel of Christ, which
demands that we love God and our neighbor, without any limitations.
I believe that by God’s grace we will be able to live in unity with
one another as the Body of Christ in our different countries and cultures.
### updated
10/18/04 |
