Bishop Dominic and the four overseas bishops who visited the diocese before going to Lambeth enjoying an open-top bus tour of Newport.
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The bishop's blog - Week 1
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Saturday, 26th July
The Eucharist this morning was celebrated by Philip Aspinal, the Archbishop of Brisbane (Australia) who is probably the youngest Anglican Primate (Archbishop). We were in the same group at the 1998 Lambeth Conference when he had been ordained a bishop only a matter of weeks, so it has been good to catch up with one another ten years later.
The Bible Study groups looked at John 9:1-41 where Jesus engages with the man born blind and restores his sight. We looked at the theological understanding of sickness and disability and how Jesus restores us and ‘recreates’ us.
The theme for today is: Safeguarding Creation: The Bishop and the Environment
In our Indaba groups we read the Genesis account of creation and then asked what it said to us about the challenge to ‘sustain the earth’ and how we experience the fallenness of creation and what we can do as Anglicans to care for God’s planet. We recognised that God gives us dominion not domination of creation and how we have tended to regard the creation of mankind as the climax of the creation story rather than seeing the Sabbath when God saw that it was very good and rested as the ultimate purpose of creation. Placing ourselves at the heart of creation can lead to abusing instead of using and serving creation. We talked about Augustine’s Fall/Redemption theology and Irenæus’ Original Blessing theology and how before the Fall, humans were vegetarians. There is an Old Testament motif (theme) that sees the world returning to its pre-Fall state when we shall not eat meat and the ‘lion shall lie down with the lamb’.
We also talked about how the world can meet the demand for energy – using wind, wave and solar power and possibly nuclear energy. We spoke of the need to change lifestyles, have better carbon footprints, eat less meat and recycle. We were also invited to work out our carbon footprint for journeying to the Lambeth Conference and to pay an appropriate amount of money to plant trees to offset it.
This afternoon we had the group photograph! You can imagine what it is like trying to organise about 650 bishops and 100 ecumenical guests and officers, (trying to herd cats comes to mind) but it was done very efficiently as we climbed up on a scaffold and dutifully smiled. The camera didn’t move along the line so you couldn’t run from one end to the other like a school photograph. Nevertheless, we had to dress up in our glad rags and it was very warm and sticky.
Later this afternoon, I attended a meeting for bishops who feel called to the single life – some are members of religious orders, others are not. We spoke about some of the practical issues as well as what it means spiritually to be consecrated to the celibate life (and of course, all Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops are single) and how this is a vocation that needs affirming within the life of the Church.
This evening I went to a reception given by Archbishop Rowan and Jane in the garden at the Old Palace. It was an opportunity to meet some more bishops and spouses informally and a lovely balmy summer evening.
Tomorrow is Sunday and we have a day off! The Welsh bishops have decided to attend the Sung Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral and then head for the coast for a pub lunch. Then we shall need to catch up with some administration, read our papers and do our washing.
Next week we shall address the ‘sticky’ issues and the Indaba process is being revised a little to allow more time for it to work; we shall have to wait and see, and watch and pray.
Friday, 25th July
Leading the Eucharist this morning were bishops from the Church of North India and the Church of Bangladesh.
The Bible Study group was interesting as we looked at John 8:34-50 and wrestled with the words of Jesus when he said to some Jews, ‘You are from your father the devil’. It is a text that was used by Nazis in Germany and earlier by the reformer Martin Luther who described the Jews as ‘the devil’s people’. It has added to Christian anti-semitism. It is not easy to explain away and yet it seems so inconsistent with Jesus’ teaching about love and how he views his own ministry to his own people. This difficult text appears in a passage which is about the identity of Jesus in relation to Judaism.
In the Indaba groups we discussed ecumenism. Different bishops had different experiences of it depending on their local context and whether Christianity is the major religion in their countries. We all agreed ‘that they may be one, that the world might believe’ is a gospel imperative and that unity is needed for effective mission, but we also recognised the pitfalls of bureaucracy, the problem in recognising ministers of some other churches and the need to avoid ecumenism as a means of survival rather than to evangelise from a position of strength. Where different churches can get to know one another by engaging in projects that serve the community and in the care of the marginalised, grass roots ecumenism takes place.
In the afternoon I attended a meeting concerned with Canon Law. It was chaired by Archbishop Barry and Professor Norman Doe, a law professor at Cardiff University introduced a new book The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches in the Anglican Communion. It is a remarkable book laying down some principles for the various Provinces of the Anglican Communion. Canon Law exists to maintain orthodoxy, encourage good pastoral practice and openness to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people despise Canon Law and see it as being in opposition to grace rather than a means of grace by which we can live together and treat one another justly.
The evening session was a lecture given by Professor Chris Rapley on the ecological crisis and the role of the Church. Professor Rapley is the Director of the Science Museum and was previously Director of the British Antarctic Survey. He told us of the effects of climate change and the damage that has been done and is still being done by us to the environment and he warned of the possible consequences. Other speakers told us of climatic changes and the consequences in their own countries and we were urged as bishops to give a clear lead by encouraging our dioceses to be ‘green’ and eco-friendly. We need to find news ways of producing energy, reducing carbon emissions and saving our planet for future generations. We were told that it does not just require scientific and technological changes or even political changes but a moral lead to care for creation rather than continue to exploit it.
We were told that if the polar regions melted (which is unlikely) the sea level would rise by seven metres and islands and counties would disappear. Nevertheless, the sea levels are rising and one picture showed what Westminster would look like if waters levels rise and it floods. Professor Rapley said that when he showed that picture in Cardiff people had clapped!
The care of our environment and the good stewardship of creation is something that I have attempted to talk and write about, and it must be one of the priorities that we need to address individually and corporately if we are to be faithful in our stewardship of God’s world.
Thursday 24th July
Today was ‘London Day’ when the coaches left at 7.15 a.m. to take us to London for three events - the March and Rally against poverty, lunch at Lambeth Palace and a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
The March was impressive and colourful with over 600 bishops in purple cassocks. Many of the wives were in national costume and it stopped the traffic and gained a lot of attention with bishops holding placards demanding that the Government keeps it promise to help alleviate world poverty and there were many placards with quotes from the prophet Micah 6:8 What is it that the Lord requires of you; only to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. I hope that the media gave the march plenty of coverage to show that the Lambeth Conference is concerned with how the Church can address some of the major issues facing poor people in our world and how we can put pressure on world leaders and governments to address the issues of poverty, disease and hunger.
The March was followed by a rally in the courtyard of Lambeth Palace when Archbishop Rowan called upon the Government to fulfil its commitment to play its part in addressing poverty and injustice. The Prime Minister responded with an amazing speech. He spoke with enormous passion in a way in which he does not come across on television. He highlighted how the world is not going to achieve its targets without renewed effort but he also spoke of what has been achieved and the importance of the role that churches and others can play in addressing this with urgency. His own Christian commitment was evident and another speaker offered to ordain him if he should ever need to consider a career change!
We then had lunch in a huge marquee with over a thousand people sitting at round tables and the irony of being able to sit down for a good meal after marching on behalf of the poor and hungry was not lost on us.
We were then taken by coach to Buckingham Palace for tea and the opportunity to walk around the grounds – the roses were particularly beautiful. The Queen and Prince Philip walked around and spoke to various bishops, spouses and ecumenical guests and the bands (including the band of the Welsh Guards) played music. I chatted with various people, among them our own Canon Gregory Cameron and his wife Clare.
We arrived back after 9.00 p.m. and I responded to the emails that had arrived, prepared this diary account and read some of the newspaper reports of the Lambeth Conference. I do wonder if some journalists just make up the news or if they are attending a different conference. I can assure you that there is no sense that the conference is falling apart and I do wish they wouldn’t always choose the same people from whom to obtain quotes – they always go for those with extreme views who like to hang around reporters rather than the overwhelming majority who think the conference is going well. There are of course, some pressure groups who meet to plot and plan but most of what is said or done is fairly predictable. We could have done without the outburst of the Archbishop of the Sudan saying that Bishop Gene Robinson (who wasn’t invited anyway) and his supporters should go home. It has been received as a misjudged and unsuccessful attempt to scupper the listening process to which we are supposed to be committed.
On the coach to London I sat with Tim Thornton, who was the chaplain at Cardiff University and is soon moving from the Salisbury Diocese to be Bishop of Truro. I think that will probably make him a fellow Celtic bishop. On the way back, I sat with Ng Moon Hing, the Bishop of West Malaysia who has been a bishop for just one year. He lives in Kuala Lumpur, a city with the same population as Wales and his diocese is the size of England and he speaks the six languages used by his people.
Tomorrow (Friday) the Bible Study groups will be looking at John 8:31-59 and the Conference theme will be ‘Serving Together: The Bishop and other churches’.
Wednesday, 23rd July
The Eucharist this morning was celebrated by the Bishop of Cuba assisted by other Spanish speaking bishops. It had a Latin American flavour with wonderful hymns which had feet tapping and hands waving even at 7.15 a.m.
The theme for today is ‘Transforming Society: The Bishop and Social Justice’.
In my Bible Study Group we looked at John 8:1-20 ‘I am the light of the world’ and the India bishops spoke again about ministry to the Dalits (‘untouchables’) and how they had to fight to allow them to drink from the chalice at Holy Communion. We all agreed that Jesus tells us to make judgements in the light and not in the dark, and that has a bearing on this Conference when judgements and comments have been made about different groups without hearing their stories.
In my Indaba group we allowed a little more time to discuss how we as bishops are encouraging our dioceses to address the Millennium Development Goals concerned with the eradication of hunger and poverty, the supply of clean water, education and health care, how we are addressing gender issues and caring for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people. I spoke about what we are doing in the diocese in terms of Fairtrade, the Lent Appeals that have raised money for feeding programmes and a training centre in our companion diocese as well as sending seeds, clothes, blankets and teddy bears. I told them that the churches in some of our own poorer parishes are engaging with community projects and Canon Andrew and Val Willie recently visited the Highveld and stayed in a township. I also mentioned some of the projects undertaken by our schools including buying drinking straws that are used for purifying polluted water and making it safe to drink.
We were told of dioceses where they give a proportion of their annual income to overseas development projects and a bishop from Jamaica spoke of his work in serving the poor. We were all aware that even in our own country the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer and there does not seem to be a political solution, so perhaps it will need positive policies supported by religious groups and others to bring about greater justice in society.
The sun is shining, so lunch was a barbecue and I ate on the lawn with the two Bishops John Davies (of Swansea & Brecon and St Asaph) and some American and Canadian bishops. Archbishop Barry has left us for 24 hours to be at the funeral of the former Archbishop George Noakes in Carmarthen.
This afternoon, I went to a session which was called a Hearing when the Windsor Continuation Group spoke of their work towards producing a Covenant to hold the various Anglican Provinces together in an agreed working relationship. Anglicans have traditionally avoided a strong central authority and the Archbishop of Canterbury has a place of honour with the title primus inter pares (first among equals) and we have relied on ‘bonds of affection’ and somewhat loose structures (called the four instruments of unity) to hold us together – they are the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ Meeting, the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council. It is now evident that these structures are insufficient to hold us together and that some Provinces have been taking unilateral action which has offended other Provinces. The question of course, is whether a Covenant will be workable and how we would all agree what went into the Covenant and what sanctions would be taken against those who didn’t keep it.
Archbishop Rowan has said in the past that if the Church is the Body of Christ and one part of the body is wounded or hurting, then the whole body if affected.
At the Hearing people were invited to have their say. Some liberal and some conservative American bishops spoke about the need to extend God’s love to gay and lesbian people and not exclude them or force them into celibacy; other regretted the actions taken by some bishops (the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson and approving the blessing of same sex relationships). Some spoke of what harm had been inflicted on the Church by African bishops ‘invading’ other bishops’ dioceses and how that was contrary to Anglican discipline. At least one African bishop simply saw homosexuality as sinful and unbiblical and said that we cannot add or subtract from scripture which left me wondering what he felt about the biblical prohibition of usury. The sadness in all this is that we are all trying to honour the same scriptures and harsh judgements must be avoided if we are to respect one another’s integrity and explore the truth together.
A Canadian Lutheran bishop (in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada) said that Anglicans were not alone in facing this issue and she assured the Church of Canada that the Lutherans would remain in communion with them whatever the outcome of the deliberations. That, I think, reflects the feeling of many at the Conference who feel that there is so much more that unites us than divides us and they plan to find a way of staying together.
This evening I was a member of a panel looking at the role of being a Bishop Visitor to Religious Communities. I am Visitor to six of them! Each community (of nuns, sisters, monks, friars, brothers) chooses a Visitor, who need not be their local bishop, and he is appointed to guarantee the life of the community to the wider Church. He has certain Constitutional rights, carries out a Visitation at least every five years, and members can appeal to him in matters of dispute. He is a critical friend and advisor to the community and should have an understanding of the monastic/religious life. Interestingly, the religious life is growing dramatically in some countries especially in Africa and the south Pacific, but it is not doing well in Britain. The meeting was attended by Bishop Visitors and the monks and nuns, friars and sisters who are here at the Lambeth Conference as part of the chaplaincy team.
Tomorrow is different – it’s the London Day when we take part in a march and rally against poverty, have lunch at Lambeth Palace and tea at Buckingham Palace! The coaches leave at 7.15 a.m.
Tuesday, 22nd July
Part of the day was spent communicating with the Kent University IT department and the Church in Wales IT department to sort out my email problem. I am now back ‘on line’ and emails come via Cardiff and go out via Kent University! I can therefore send my blogs and deal with my emails.
The theme for today is ‘The Bishop and Evangelism’.
The Eucharist this morning was celebrated by Bishop from Central Africa and in different languages. The Bishop of Southern Malawi (Dr James Tangatanga) preached a tremendous sermon on the ‘bread of life’. After the bible study groups we met for Indaba and continued to explore some of the local issues in which bishops engage. I chose to be in a small group with three other bishops from New Zealand, the United States and England looking at Youth Ministry, which reminds me that Pam Richards has arrived in Canterbury to do one of her spiritual journeys in the crypt of the Cathedral. African bishops met to discuss HIV/AIDS because that is one of the greatest issues for them.
We reviewed how the Indaba process is working and agreed that we are given too much to discuss and with time constraints and that is not how Indaba should be working so I think we may see some radical changes to allow us to set the agenda of what concerns us and to listen intently and prayerfully to one another.
Lunch was a barbecue and at last the sun is shining. Over lunch I talked with the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht (Netherlands) with whom we are in full communion and we recalled that we had met in Sweden when I represented the Church in Wales at the ordination of two Swedish bishops. Also at lunch was the young Bishop of Panama who has the whole country as his diocese.
One of the good things about the Lambeth Conference is meeting bishops who are ministering in such difficult situations. We have bishops from places like Burma (Myanmar) and Zimbabwe and one Sudanese bishop who has been ordained but it is too dangerous for him to reach his diocese where there is no cathedral and no money to pay him. The Indian bishops in my bible study group talk a lot about ministry to the Dalits ‘untouchables’ and how difficult life is for Christians who comprise of only 3% of the population.
I managed to catch up with my emails and was in ‘phone contact with the office at Bishopstow. Then I had an hour in the gym, and wrote something as ‘liturgy bishop’ to go out with the papers for the next Governing Body meeting.
This evening we had a talk by Cardinal Ivan Dias from the Vatican. He is in charge of the department for evangelisation and spoke about mission, social justice and evangelisation. As you might expect he spoke as a Roman Catholic and referred to the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission which Bishop David Beetge (The Highveld) co-chairs. The Cardinal stressed the importance of mission and how the gospel calls us to practical efforts towards justice and of the need to enter into dialogue with other faiths whilst retaining our own integrity regarding the uniqueness of Jesus. After the evening session I had a drink with Bishop David and Carol Beetge and with Ambrosius, the Metropolitan of Helsinki (Finnish Orthodox Church) who said that he had stayed with Archbishop Rowan at Bishopstow.
Monday, 21st July
The 7.15 am Eucharist was celebrated by the Archbishop of Korea and the Archbishop of Japan was invited to say a prayer for peace and reconciliation in which he acknowledged the invasion and occupation of Korea by Japan.
We then met in our Bible Study groups. The other bishops in my group are three bishops from North India, the young American Bishop of Rochester (New York) who is also an Asian, the Bishop of Oklahoma and the Bishop of Cloher (Ireland) and today we were joined by an Armenian Orthodox bishop who is one of the many ecumenical guests.
We had a morning and an afternoon session of the Indaba groups. Mine is ably chaired by Chilton Knudsen, the Bishop of Maine (USA). She had us meeting together in a group of 40 and also in smaller groups. The Bishop of Zululand (who is Italian) explained that this is a process used by Zulus for discussing community matters and settling disputes. We were invited to share something of our home context and how we see the role of a bishop. We identified that the role of the bishop is to be a successor of the apostles whose own life is rooted in Christ and who seeks to invigorate others with the gospel. There are the traditional roles of being a focus of unity, a guardian of the faith, a teacher and chief pastor etc. etc. Whilst the job description was the same for all of us, it was clear that our cultures reflected different ways in which the tasks are carried out.
I had lunch with Archbishop Barry (who is leaving the conference to attend the funeral of Archbishop George Noakes) and Bishop John Davies of Swansea and Brecon. We then visited the ‘Marketplace’ where there are various stalls selling Christian books and training materials and purple shirts, mitres, crosiers and everything a bishop could possibly need! I spent nothing!
This evening the main speaker was Dr Brian McLaren from the United States who spoke about how to evangelise in our post-modern and post colonial contexts. He is a dynamic and engaging speaker and the session finished at 10 pm. He said many of the things that we have heard from (now Archdeacon) Bob Jackson about the need to engage with young people and those outside the church in a way that meets them where they are and relates the gospel to their lives.
I didn’t find time to go to the gym today but there is quite a bit of walking to do around the campus as my room is a 20 minute walk from where things happen. I visited the IT centre because my laptop has disconnected from the Church in Wales server (so this may appear a little late) and I shall need to contact Cardiff tomorrow to help solve the problem. I also managed a visit to the launderette where Katharine, (the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States) showed me how to use the machines and the chaplaincy team have a wonderful place for quiet prayer.
Sunday, 20th July
Since we arrived last Wednesday, the bishops have been in retreat with addresses given by Archbishop Rowan focussing on the writings of St Paul, Christian discipleship and the ministry of a bishop today. There are some 650 bishops and most of them have wives (or husbands) who are attending the parallel Spouses’ Conference hosted by Jane Williams. In addition there are a large number of ecumenical guests, press, volunteer stewards and officials so the campus is very busy. There are long food queues, but with such large numbers the singing during worship is uplifting. The worship is being led by the chaplaincy team comprising mostly of Anglican monks and nuns.
Some African bishops from Kenya and Nigeria have defied their archbishops and turned up, but it is great shame that some are not here and able to confer (which is what a conference is about) and I believe that the conference is poorer without them and they are certainly the poorer for not being here.
I had a chat with Archbishop Rowan yesterday and he sends his love and greetings to the Diocese of Monmouth.
Today, we all went to Canterbury Cathedral for the opening Eucharist at which Archbishop Rowan celebrated and the Bishop of Colombo (Sri Lanka) preached. The setting of the Eucharist was the Missa Luba, a version of the Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs and it was wonderful to hear the Canterbury Cathedral choir singing Latin to an African beat and with drums. The Melanesian Brothers and Sisters wore traditional dress and danced whilst carrying a boat that contained the Book of the Gospels. The reading and prayers were in a variety of languages reminding us that the Anglican Communion is a world wide Church.
This afternoon, we had the opening plenary session to introduce us to the Conference. I am pleased to say that they have abandoned the old way of operating with written reports and endless resolution which largely get ignored. That method was based on Western democracy and the Westminster Parliament. Many bishops from other cultures didn’t understand the rules about amendments, proposing and seconding etc. and the result of debates was that there were ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. Instead, this time there will be no resolution and we are all in bible study groups so that we begin each day with being immersed in the scriptures. Then we go into Indaba groups – Indaba is a Zulu word describing a process of listening to one another in order to discern what is being said and to make sure that everyone can be heard. It should allow all participants to play an equal part and not to be bullied by stronger voices or to be disadvantaged because of their lack of English. We were told that it ‘allows people to speak from their hearts and in a safe place’. So we shall be listening to what God is saying to us through the scriptures and through one another. I shall be interested to see how it works.
In this afternoon’s long session we were also told about the process to consider the idea of an Anglican Covenant by which we would all be expected to agree to follow certain rules about how we behave towards one another. We were left in no doubt that there is a crisis within the Anglican Communion that has resulted in a lack of trust with the American and Canadian Churches going ahead and doing things which have offended some other Provinces, and some other Provinces offending others by ministering without permission in other bishops’ dioceses.
Archbishop Rowan then gave a brilliant Presidential Address in which he analysed the state of the Anglican Communion and emphasised the Lambeth Conference process by which every voice can be heard. He looked at the possibilities of becoming a loose federation of churches or a collection of independent Church (like sovereign States) or of remaining as a Communion of Churches. I feel sure that the vast majority of those who are here will want us to continue to exist as the Anglican Communion.
Please pray for us in the days ahead that we may know God’s will and work together in truth and love.
Links:
Explanation of Indaba
Archbishop Rowans Presidential address