Justifying Lambeth

From The Hills of the North (blog):

Thursday, July 31, 2008

How to justify Lambeth: this must be a question weighing heavily on the minds of the organizers and the Archbishops of Canterbury. They are at somewhat of a disadvantage by their own plan for the Conference--that it accomplish nothing. They not only have to justify the expense of the gathering, they also have to justify the incredible debt incurred. Moreover, they will have to show that those who did not attend were wrong when they dismissed Lambeth as another gab-fest, with little substance likely to be forthcoming. That this quarter-plus of the world's bishops--arguably representing a majority of the Communion--were self-evidently correct will make it even more difficult to justify Lambeth.

Undoubtedly the talking points for the simple question, "Was it really worth it?" are already in draft, and one can imagine the sorts of points that will be made. The bishops got to know each other. They formed relationships. They may not agree, but at least they see Christ in one another. They pledged themselves to more conversation. They built a foundation of trust they can build upon in the months ahead. They all seemed to agree that a Convenant "of some sort" was not a bad thing. They all agreed they had to work harder to prevent the Communion from fracturing further. And so forth. In essence: they met. There's not much more than can be said. Certainly the Reaganesque question, "Are you better off today as an Anglican than you were three weeks ago?" can hardly be answered in the affirmative. And ten years hence no one will be able to cite anything that this Lambeth actually did. Indeed, such a waste was this Lambeth that it will interesting to see how another Lambeth Conference will be justified at all.

The documents that come forth from Lambeth will either have no binding or even persuasive power, or they'll be merely "reflective," meaning they will be little more than musings on paper. They will, owing to the structure of the Conference, lack any democratic imprimatur, and thus command very little stature or respect. Unlike the signature resolution of the last Lambeth Conference, they will not speak for the Communion--not even for those who did come. Because the documents do nothing, they will soon be forgotten. In short, the conference and thus its byproducts by the most important measures--actions, participation, and democratic decision-making--simply lack legitimacy.

Perhaps the Archbishop's great hope for Lambeth was that he could get through it without a formal split in the Communion. Undoubtedly he will the morning after think he has at least accomplished that, and he will be encouraged in that fantasy by the British papers, which will likely give him credit for that minimal achievement. But in fact the split is at hand, and in fact worsened these past few weeks, as the Americans made crystal clear that they will not be detoured from their path of "inclusion." Likely some of those hoping for better, like the Sudanese, will leave disillusioned with the reality that GAFCON already recognized. And it will not be long before it's quite plain the American radicals have been emboldened by the lack of discipline, as any petulant, selfish toddler would be in an analogous context. Moreover, the contrast with GAFCON, which love it or hate it actually did accomplish some things, will become ever more stark in the days ahead. One can already see in the remarks of Tom Wright, Mouneer Anis, and others a more generous tone toward those who felt they could not be a part of the Lambeth confab. Even the ACI folks are sounding much more like the GAFCON contingent these days.

There has been a smug (and bitter) implication from the Archbishop and others that somehow those who did not come to Lambeth would be sorry they missed out. But at least at this point it's hard to see why they would regret their absence. They missed being told they were wife beaters by a radical feminist bishop from the States. They missed being called "demonic" by another bishop from America who has a soft spot for the world's most hideous tyrants. They missed a Bible studys from a guy who viewed homosexual rape as nothing more than the sin of "inhospitability." They missed the blatant lies from American bishops about how no same-sex blessings were being done or were authorized. They missed a meaningless protest march in the London streets against poverty and the excessive feast that appeared to be the real main point of the exercise. They missed having to walk out of a highly offensive and accusatory session in which males were portrayed as inherently prone to abuse of women. They missed being surrounded by Americans whose excessive numbers underscore the colonialist reflex of the church's white, liberal, Western overlords. They missed the freak shows happening at the fringes of the conference. But what else did they really miss? Truly there was nothing that happened at Lambeth that would cause them to think twice about their decision. And the same can't be said about the decisions some of their orthodox colleagues made to attend.

There will be something Neville Chamberlain-like about Rowan Williams announcing the great successes of the Lambeth Conference in a few days, when the Churchills of the Communion know well that the Episcopal Church is readying for a major revisionist offensive that will, with no small amount of glee by its stormtroopers, make him look the fool. And while there may be a sense that Rowan Williams has survived Lambeth, and so will survive as Archbishop, it may not be long before, as with Chamberlain, there will simply be no question but that he must go. If he truly is able to tell himself that getting through Lambeth was a signature achievement, perhaps he'll feel more at ease with returning to the life of a scholar at his own initiative in the weeks ahead. We can only hope.

But because Rowan Williams is weak, the Communion is now weakened. Lambeth might have been a chance to save the Communion from final schism, had he only exercised some leadership. But he didn't, and so the destruction of the Communion will increase at an ever-quickening pace. Ultimately that lost opportunity will be the legacy of this Lambeth Conference, if it does not also earn the distinction of being the last one.

How can this Lambeth Conference be justified? It can't be.