The Archbishop of Canterbury today issued a "profound apology" to the lesbian and gay Christian community.
In a powerful address to General Synod Dr Rowan Williams warned that any schism within the church would represent of a "betrayal" of God's mission.
But he made clear that he regretted recent rhetoric in which he has sought to mollify the fears of the traditionalist wing of the church.
The Archbishop is from the Church's liberal Catholic wing and a man who once espoused equal rights for gays within the Church. More recently he has adopted a conservative line for the sake of Church unityToday he said: "There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them.
"I have been criticised for doing just this and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression."
Addressing the even more contentious debate over gay ordinations - something which threatens to split the Church further with the expected consecration in May of lesbian Canon Mary Glasspool as a bishop in Los Angeles - Dr Williams said it had not been helped by those who ignored the fact that many regular worshippers are gay, as well as many "sacrificial and exemplary priests".
He made it clear there was blame on all sides of the argument that has brought the Church to the brink of splitting. He pleaded for Anglicans battling over gays and women bishops to cease fighting, admitting that he and other bishops might have to settle for a two-tier communion if it is to survive at all.
In his wide-ranging address at Church house Westminster, Dr Williams made clear that the ordination of women bishops should not go ahead at the expense of the Church's Anglican Catholic wing, which is currently assessing an offer from the Pope to move over to Rome into a new Anglican Ordinariate.
Dr Williams admitted: "Most hold that the ordination of women as bishops as good, something that will enhance our faithfulness to Christ and our integrity in mission."
But he said that this good was "jeopardised" by the potential loss of both traditionalists and some evangelicals who oppose women bishops.
Referring to proposals to give women bishops a lesser level of authority, he said the reform should not happen at all if it is done in such a way that "that will corrupt it or compromise it fatally".
And while the Anglican Covenant, a new unity document intended to find a way to keep the 38 provinces under one umbrella, has been attacked as being too punitive, Dr Williams said this was mistaken.
"There is no supreme court envisaged and the constitutional liberties of each province are explicitly safeguarded. But the difficult issue that we cannot simply ignore is this."
Referring to tomorrow's debate tabled by a lay member from the Chichester diocese calling for the Church of England to recognise the breakaway new traditionalist church in the US, he said: "Certain decisions made by some provinces impact so heavily on the conscience and mission of others that fellowship is strained or shattered and trust destroyed. The present effect of this is chaos - local schisms, outside interventions, all the unedifying stuff you will be hearing about, from both sides, in the debate on Lorna Ashworth's motion."
Outlining a possible way forward to a two-tier communion, he admitted: "It may be that the covenant creates a situation in which there are different levels of relationship between those claiming the name of Anglican. I don't at all want or relish this, but suspect that, without a major change of heart all round, it may be an unavoidable aspect of limiting the damage we are already doing to ourselves."
Source:The times
search the web
Custom Search
