FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Dr. Christopher Wilkins at (412)831-1737 or (412)760-8817 (cell)
Leslie Poole at (407)647-3492

Pittsburgh, PA, March 11, 2005

Commentary on the Windsor Report and Primates’ Communiqué

Keeping the Broad Church on the Middle Way

The middle way, the via media, is the way of the broad church--a way of being a church that is one of Anglicanism's greatest gifts to Christianity and to the world. Our decision as members of the broad church is to consider well the provisions in the Windsor Report that would lead to multiple layers that might work to interfere with the Holy Spirit at work amongst the people of God.

The Episcopal Church, through the grace of God, has made decisions based on the Holy Spirit as it has been shown to us in our particular place and situation. We cannot speak for others in other parts of the Communion. Our witness is here where we have a representative democratic church that listens to all voices, sending witnesses to speak every three years at General Convention. We acknowledge that there are a broad range of reactions to the decisions made at the 2003 meeting.

The bishops and delegates, having listened to the testimonies of the whole church, voting by majority, made the decision that the Diocese of New Hampshire should be allowed to choose a bishop based on his work as a man chosen by God. This was a legal and responsible choice made through the Christian practice of discernment involving the people of New Hampshire. Their witness is continuing and they are especially vexed by the caricature portrayed of their beloved bishop.

There were many voices, as is our custom, at the gathering of the faithful in the United States. Some were fearful. Others wished we would wait, thinking that thirty years was not long enough for clear discernment. Some thought that this was not scriptural.

Of the forty-four bishops that voted against this there were some who had formed groups long ago to oppose this use of Scripture. They already had used scriptural argument in years past to oppose the ordination of women and changes in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer. They now carefully gathered those in the world who were already in agreement with them and turned the conciliary Anglican Communion into a battleground. The once peaceful councils were turned into tables of conflict and used to discredit our democratic polity.

We are heartened to note that the Primates’ Communiqué recognized that the decisions of the 2003 General Convention were made in a responsible manner in complete compliance with our canons and constitution. It is up to us now to explain why and how these decisions were made.

Despite the break in fellowship displayed by some of the Primates attending the last Primates' meeting, we are still in loving fellowship and communion with the Anglican Communion.

We encourage the Episcopal Church to be prepared to represent to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in June 2005 how the Episcopal Church determined its current course after long scriptural study and to provide the scriptural basis for those determinations. The Primates have requested that for a short time we deny ourselves fellowship at the only table in the Anglican Communion that is representative of the lay, ordained and bishops worldwide. We understand that this was the solution proposed as a way toward reconciliation. However, we believe that the ACC must make its own decisions about fellowship, and that the Episcopal Church should do nothing on its own to inhibit fellowship and communication among members of the ACC.

In a world fraught with wars that have taken the lives of many innocent and vulnerable people, we are determined that we, the members of via media, the broad church of the Anglican teaching, will find a way of peace that will recognize the full humanity and dignity of all struggling people worldwide.

We offer this in humility, truth, and sufficiency. We go forward in faith and courage as people of God in this particular church, proclaiming our friendship with God who has given us all more love than we can possibly imagine.

--end--