Indaba at Lambeth

Isn't it interesting that the Lambeth Conference organizers chose an African process as the centerpiece for the Lambeth Conference? Many critics saw the move to indaba groups as a way to forestall decision-making. Now, American bishops, according to Allison Lawrence, wife of Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, are feeling "railroaded" by the process. Africans are complaining that what is being practiced is not indaba at all.

According to Ruth Gledhill of The UK Times, Allison Lawrence said: “They have taken a Zulu word and used it for an American concept. The African concept when you do an indaba is you talk, talk, talk until you agree. In these indaba groups, they talk a little and then someone changes the subject if they don’t like it. The Americans are feeling railroaded and manipulated. Even the Africans are saying, ‘This is not indaba’.”

Meanwhile, conference organizers are keeping a tight leash on media access, but the Archbishop of the Sudan was able to schedule his own press conference after being denied the opportunity to speak to the press at the official Lambeth press briefings. His call for Gene Robinson to resign and that gay blessings, marriages and ordinations must stop certainly wasn't the message the conference leaders wanted to project out to the public. The Lambeth Conference is shaping up to be more than the organizers bargained for, which is a good thing.