While the Presbyterians have been occupying my attention the past few months I have been keeping an eye on developments in the Anglican Communion worldwide.  Part of this is the mirroring of the discussions and disagreements different Presbyterian branches are having.  Another point of contact is that there is significant overlap and cooperation, on both sides of the issue, in the property litigation.  (The test cases in the California Supreme Court which multiple Presbyterian governing bodies and groups have filed amicus briefs on, is dealing with Episcopal churches.)  But maybe at the heart of it the goings on in the Anglican Communion right now make a great soap opera or high global drama.  While physical conflict is not involved, there is still the air of a great global battle with leaders on one continent allying themselves with groups on another continent.  Like in chess, Risk, or Diplomacy there are strategic positions, blocking moves, and alliances.

Well at the moment the Anglican Communion is in the middle of their major decennial meeting to which all (or almost all) the bishops world wide are invited, the Lambeth Conference.  (FYI: It is named for Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, although the conference is being held at the University of Kent.) While not a legislative meeting with such a great attendance from across the Communion is a major “Instrument of Communion” and carries some consensus and institutional weight.

For a brief review of where the Anglican Communion is at the moment, and a not very optimistic view of where it is headed, Christianity Today just posted a good summary on their web site.

To briefly review:  In the United States, Episcopal churches, and even dioceses, that are not happy with The Episcopal Church’s permissive stand on ordaining and elevating to bishop practicing homosexuals, exemplified in New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, are looking elsewhere in the world for church oversight.  These groups came together with similarly oriented representatives worldwide before the Lambeth conference as the Global Anglican Future Conference, being referred to as GAFCON.  This meeting itself was a mini-soap opera because it was supposed to start in Jordan at a Dead Sea conference center, but there were permitting and visa issues and the meeting was prematurely moved to Jerusalem.  Any way, the Jerusalem conference issued a final statement,  the Archbishop of Canterbury responded, and an additional GAFCON statement followed that.

Now, as if that were not enough, on July 7 the General Synod of the Church of England voted to permit the elevation of women to bishops without safeguards, or ways to opt out, for those opposed to the women bishops.  This was greeted by an expression of concern from the Vatican about breaking with apostolic tradition and a caution to Anglican clergy that although they may be dissatisfied with their current church’s positions, they would not be roundly welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church.  The Russian Orthodox Church also criticized the action, but left open the avenue for Anglican priests to switch to that church. (Note that The Episcopal Church has permitted women to serve as bishops for a while now and the Presiding Bishop is female.)  Further votes, including one requiring a 2/3 majority, are needed and it will be a couple of years at the earliest that this could happen.

So, where does this leave the Lambeth Conference?  We will have to see.  It is interesting to note who was not invited to this event that is supposed to include all the bishops:  Prominent on the not-invited list was Gene Robinson.  In addition, a bishop with close ties to the ruling regime in Zimbabwe as well as U.S. bishops who had been elevated by overseas archbishops over the objections of The Episcopal Church.  Who did not come?  Many of the no-shows are bishops who would have liked to have seen the supporters of Bishop Robinson on the not-invited list.  In addition to these divisions over doctrine, there are reports that the conference is heavily in debt and does not have the funds to pay the final bill.

While it is tempting to draw one-to-one comparisons of the Anglican situation with the PC(USA) situation, such as GAFCON = New Wineskins, I will leave that as an exercise for the reader.  However, I will leave you with one other item about Lambeth, and that is the presence of religious cartoonist Dave Walker, invited as the “cartoonist in residence” for the event.  I would point you to this contribution in particular.