| The deputies are unhappy with moves towards greater centralisation of authority in bishops and in panels appointed by Lambeth Palace. “We work very well together [with the bishops], but to see that kind of potential disenfranchisement of laity is really adverse to our polity,” Mrs Anderson said on Monday.
The Bishops will have divided loyalties. They are acknowledged to have returned from the Lambeth Conference much influenced by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s appeals for unity, and mindful that newly formed relationships with African bishops could be jeopardised if any steps were taken on this and on same-sex blessings. “The indaba groups enabled bishops to get to know one another,” Mrs Anderson says.
“They are very faithful about transmitting information to us. But I think we can safely say that people in the Episcopal Church like to get information first hand, and we like to speak for ourselves. So there is always that little bit of an edge.”
Deputies are not delegates. “In the wisdom of our forebears, we were not delegated to repeat the viewpoint of those who elect us, but deputised because we are trusted by the people who elect us to go with an open mind.”
It is the deputies who are eager to revisit BO33. Many were unhappy with the way it was passed in 2006. “We’ve had an opportunity since then to live into that decision: did it work, was it good, did it buy us some time in deepening our relationships in the Anglican Communion, which we desperately want to do?”
Jim Naughton, Canon for communications and advancement in the diocese of Washington, recalls how the resolution was written amid “rumours of transatlantic arm-twisting by the Most Revd Rowan Williams. . .
“On the final day of the convention, the newly elected Presiding Bishop, the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori, took the unusual step of addressing the House of Deputies. Her popularity, coupled with fears that Williams would recognise parishes and dioceses threatening to break away from the Episcopal Church as the authorised Anglican presence in the United States, led the Deputies to pass legislation that had seemed all but dead.”
Four clergy and four laity are voted on to the General Convention in hotly contested elections in each of the 110 dioceses. The number includes 46 deputies openly acknowledged to be gay. Mrs Anderson believes the mix to be representative of the Church, but says: “I think what I like to call the diverse centre of the House of Deputies has moved a bit toward the left, simply because some of the voices we have valued in the past have left our Church.
“We will be paying particular attention to listening to our brothers and sisters from the more conservative dioceses simply because of that.”
Dr Williams will be speaking at a global economic forum, which will help the Convention “really step up to the plate with regard to helping the rest of the world”, Mrs Anderson says. She has also invited him to attend sessions in the House of Deputies, as much as he is able. She hopes he will welcome “the opportunity to talk with the people of our Church, particularly their regards as to the centralising agenda that many of us see taking form in the Covenant”.
There are hundreds of resolutions, ranging from support for tackling climate change to opposition to what is happening in Palestine. The prop-erty question does not come up at all: nowhere but Virginia, where some legislation from the Civil War still operates, has the Episcopal Church lost a court case. Rebuilding Episcopal dioceses in those that have seceded to ACNA is reported to be going well in some cases, and more realignments are not regarded as likely.
On same-gender issues, a resolution from Northern California asks for development and authorisation of liturgies for blessings, and one from Vermont for “rites of holy union”. The latter acknowledges that there is little likelihood of Communion-wide consensus in the near future, and emphasises the American context and the need to move on. But Mrs Anderson suggests that the focus on gay bishops and same-sex blessings is more the preoccupation of those outside the Episcopal Church. Newspapers in the US have grown weary of the topic.
It is issues such as domestic poverty and the Church’s mission in the economic crisis which she hopes will be driving the agenda of the Convention. “I’m advocating myself for increased giving to alleviate world poverty.” It is the resolutions on these issues that observers should watch, she suggests, if they want to assess the mood of the Episcopal Church.
She admits that it has been a turbulent few years, but she remains optimistic. “We have a lot to give and a lot to learn. It’s a great example of interdependence and mutuality, which is what we say the Anglican Communion is all about.”
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