The current row about same-sex unions will deepen divisions in the AnglicanCommunion, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
The current controversy among Anglicans over same-sex unions is both a cause of great anxiety and embarrassment to members of the communion worldwide. The anxiety is rooted in a recognition that this issue could - many would now say will - split the communion, possibly into a "federation", as suggested by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
The embarrassment arises because, once again, of all the issues which confront Christians in the modern world it is a matter to do with human sexuality which is proving most divisive.
"I suppose the world has moved on," remarked one Irish bishop privately at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Dublin last month. He had expressed surprise at what he felt was the comparatively slight attention by the media generally to comment on same-sex unions by the church's Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, in his presidential address the previous day, May 13th.
On May 20th in Britain, it was announced that the queen had approved the nomination of Canon Jeffrey John as the next bishop of Reading. He is an openly gay man living in a continuing though now celibate relationship. His ordination will be at Westminster Abbey on October 9th. Since the announcement, all hell has broken loose in the Anglican communion.
In that address to the General Synod, Archbishop Eames trod carefully. He said: "Issues surrounding sexuality in general and same-gender relationships in particular have been on the agenda of the House of Bishops for many years.
"In the period of preparation for the Lambeth Conference of 1998, the House of Bishops entered into a prayerful and critical study of homosexuality and invited both theologians and experts in ethics, some of homosexual orientation, to address us. In all these discussions we were made increasingly aware of the variety of responses to these issues among church members.
"The Lambeth Conference of 1988 brought this issue to the fore in public debate in the Anglican Communion. Next week I will attend the meeting of Anglican Primates in Brazil where this issue will be high on our agenda.
"Across the past year your bishops have felt that the time has come to engage in this discussion at a deeper level in the Church of Ireland. We are aware of the fact that this is a very crucial issue for some people, either because they have particular views that they wish to advance or because they are issues that they face in their daily lives.
"For the latter, there has been much hurt in that they have felt that the Church of Ireland, let alone the wider church, has been neither understanding nor accepting of them.
"While individual bishops hold differing views and we recognise there are parts of our church where these issues are of greater importance than in others, yet in our loyalty to Scripture, tradition and pastoral concern we have found a real deepening of mutual trust and fellowship in open discussion that has not led simply to a common mind on this issue.
"As bishops we are conscious that we must identify key issues and basic principles that cannot be ignored and provide a way for the Church of Ireland to engage in this vital discussion without it becoming what some have called 'a church-dividing issue'.
"We hope to complete a paper which will be offered to the Church of Ireland to discuss at different levels and to pray about, in the belief that we may be led as a church to make wise and compassionate decisions deeply rooted in the faith of Jesus Christ which we profess.
"Power and authority must be exercised with genuine sensitivities to the feelings of others. That is why the bishops feel this is the best way forward for the Church of Ireland on this issue."
Essentially the Church of Ireland bishops cannot agree on the issue and will continue their discussions on the subject until some sort of consensus can be achieved. It is clear by now they may be overtaken by events in the broader church before that will happen.
But what is also clear, so far, is that the Church of Ireland is not as deeply divided on the issue as sister churches in the Anglican communion, particularly the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the US. Nor, for that matter, is it as exercised over the issue. An article last year in the Church of Ireland Gazette noted that it had not been discussed at General Synod since 1976.
Indeed, it would be fair to say that within the Church of Ireland generally and among its bishops particularly, the majority view would tend very much towards the traditional one of opposing same-sex unions, while at the same time emphasising a compassionate approach. That would also seem to be a reasonably accurate reflection of the majority view of the Anglican communion worldwide.
In his address, Archbishop Eames spoke of a meeting of Anglican primates in Brazil at which homosexuality was high on the agenda. It took place from May 19th to 26th at Gramado, southern Brazil. On May 23rd, Bishop Michael Ingham of the diocese of New Westminster in Canada announced his approval for a special rite to bless same-sex unions
Prompted in part by this, in a pastoral letter issued after their meeting in Brazil, the Anglican primates said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury [Dr Williams\] spoke for us all when he said that it is through liturgy that we express what we believe and that there is no theological consensus about same-sex unions."
It continued that as a body it could not authorise same-sex rites/blessings but stopped short of prohibiting such rites, adding that their lack of authorisation for such rites was "distinct from the duty of pastoral care that is laid upon all Christians to respond with love and understanding to people of all sexual orientations". It acknowledged that it was also "necessary to maintain a breadth of private response to situations of individual pastoral care".
Three primates, however, went further. Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria, one of the largest Anglican provinces in the world with over 17 million adherents (there are approximately 79 million Anglicans in 164 countries worldwide), officially severed ties with the New Westminster diocese. Archbishop Yong Ping Chung, Primate of South East Asia, and Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of Rwanda, issued a joint statement calling on the Canadian Anglican church to "discipline Ingham and to suspend him as a bishop".
Archbishop Akinola also called on Canon John not to accept his nomination as bishop of Reading. "We claim that we are Bible-living Christians. We cannot be seen to be doing things that are clearly out of the boundaries allowable by scripture," he said. Asked if the church in Nigeria would be prepared to sever relations with the Church of England over the appointment, he said: "Anybody who chooses to opt out of the boundaries, we are out with them. It is as simple as that."
It is not coincidental that those three primates come from parts of the world where Islam - with its utter opposition to homosexuality - is strong.
In the Church of England, nine bishops, supported by seven suffragan bishops, wrote an open letter to the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, expressing their concern at his nomination of Canon John as bishop of Reading, "because of the church's constant teaching, in the light of Scripture and because of the basic ordering of men and women in creation. We must also express our concern because of our responsibility for the church's unity."
In the US on June 7th, Canon Gene Robinson was elected by the diocese of New Hampshire to be bishop. He came out as a gay man in 1986. Soon afterwards he divorced his wife, with whom he had two daughters. He cannot be ordained bishop until he wins the consent of the Episcopalian church's general convention, which begins on July 28th in Minneapolis. This appointment has brought a further round of protests, with opposition hopes resting on a beliefthat the general convention won't give its consent to the appointment of Canon Robinson.
Last Monday in Australia, Sydney's six Anglican bishops issued a scathing denunciation of the appointment of homosexual priests as bishops in Britain and the US and told those who supported such moves they were no longer welcome in their diocese.
In general, within and without the church, conservatives see homosexuality as a behaviour. They believe that it is a chosen and changeable lifestyle preference, that it is unnatural, abnormal and condemned by God. So any attempt to accept homosexuality as a normal, natural orientation is unacceptable.They also fear its acceptance would increase the number of young people who decide to choose a homosexual lifestyle.
Liberals believe that adult homosexuality is not chosen, is not changeable and is a natural, normal sexual orientation for a minority of people. So any attempt to accept homosexuality as a normal, natural orientation should be supported.
They feel that that would increase the acceptance of people who have a homosexual orientation. It would also lower the incidence of violence against homosexuals, e.g. gay-bashing, and the oppression of and discrimination against homosexual people. The difficulty for Anglicans is the failure to reconcile those views into a common position. Hence the present crisis precipitated by people with strongly held opinions of both kinds.
Caught right in the middle of that crisis is Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the worldwide Anglican communion. Indeed, in his person he is almost an incarnation of the crisis. His personal views on the subject place him in the liberal wing of the church, but since being appointed to Canterbury last year, he has pledged to affirm the 1998 Lambeth Conference declaration that homosexual relations are "incompatible with Scripture". It also opposed the blessing of same-sex unions and sexual relations outside marriage.
In an interview earlier last year, Archbishop Williams said: "My theological conviction is that there is a good case for recognition of same-sex partnerships if they are stable and faithful. I would not, however, call it marriage."
In the biography Rowan Williams: An Introduction, published earlier this month, author Rupert Shortt said the Archbishop's "private view" was that the church should change its position on homosexuality as it had done in the past on slavery, eternal hellfire and its once total opposition to borrowing with interest.
Some would suggest even that Dr Williams's becoming Archbishop of Canterbury emboldened liberals on the subject, precipitating the current crisis. Last Monday he said he had raised no objection to the appointment of Canon John as a bishop.