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".

After the meeting, the statement released by the Commission said that it was saddened that tensions within the Communion, "exacerbated by the use of strident language", have continued to rise in recent months. "The Commission requests all members of the Anglican Communion to refrain from any precipitate action, or legal proceedings which would further harm 'the bonds of communion' in the period while it completes its work. Mission and ministry, including prayer for unity, remain the priorities."

Earlier this month, 14 Primates of the global South offered their support to a new network of conservative Anglicans in ECUSA. They included the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies, who is a member of the Commission.

The Commission set up small working groups to study five key topics: issues of process in the Anglican Communion; the nature and purposes of communion; the obligations of communion; authority; and the role of the instruments of unity in preserving fellowship. It also considered the work of previous commissions, including that chaired by Dr Eames on women bishops.

The Commission is to report back by the end of September after two further meetings.