Commission warns against harming unity

By Rachel Harden

CHURCH TIMES

ANGLICAN leaders across the world were warned this week to stop taking "precipitate action or legal proceedings" because of conflicting views over homosexuality.

The warning came from the Eames Commission, also known as the Lambeth Commission, which met for the first time last week, under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames. It is considering how divisions over this and other issues will affect the Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop of Canterbury set up the Commission in October at the emergency Primates' meeting after the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA) elected an openly homosexual bishop, the Rt Revd Gene Robinson.

The Commission issued a strongly worded statement on Monday, addressed to the warring factions within the Communion. It condemned the use of "strident language" by both conservatives and liberals.

Its 19 members gathered in Windsor for a short rite of commissioning by Dr Williams on the eve of the first session. He said: "The Primates of the Communion have repeatedly asserted that they wish to remain a Communion rather than becoming a federation of Churches; and the task of this Commission is to help make this more of a reality, at a time when many pressures seem to be pushing in another direction." Dr Williams said that the Commission was "not dealing with a problem that is simply about biblical faithfulness versus fashionable relativism".