From Matt Kennedy at Lambeth for Stand Firm:
Saturday, August 2, 2008 • 3:44 am
Just learned by accident, Canon Paul Fehehly let it slip, that "Trinity" (I assume Trinity Wall Street) has been producing the videos that have been running prior to the morning briefing. If you remember, it was in one of these videos that Bishop Tom Shaw of Massachusetts smiled into the camera and said, "I am a conservative." These short videos are being compiled into one long video that will be given to each bishop at the end of the conference.
You will learn in this conference that the Reflection group is the group that determines which "reflections" are included in the draft document itself and no one, but the Reflection Group, knows the relative weight or numbers of bishops who support any given line of the final document.
Good morning:
Canon Paul: the theme today is a carry over from yesterday “Fostering our Common Life: The Bishop, the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process.”
This is the same theme from yesterday. This is a two part work.
A word about the spouses program. The ABC is with the spouses today. They will be blessing the vine they have been growing over there. The theme: a part of the vine, projecting unity.
The schedule is laid out in the program. One addition, at 5:00pm there is an additional hearing in terms of the reflection document. At 5:00pm we should be able to give you the next draft. It will be available in the press room as the bishops consider it. It should be close to the final draft by that point and only have to go through one more indaba group session tomorrow.
The rest of the program for the day, the plenary and other things are listed in the program pamphlet.
That is the schedule today. The press conference in the afternoon will feature +Paul Quan and +Charles Jenkins will be present.
A word about tomorrow. One of the difficulties is that here s no media accreditation tomorrow. If you have crews coming send a name and the org and photo to us today and if you do then you should be ready and all will be well.
As you know the final plenary session starts at 2:30pm tomorrow
We will have our regular briefing in the morning and we do not have a guest scheduled at his point and we will probably not schedule one. There will be no 1:30pm conference tomorrow
Here is the rough plan for Sunday.
At 2:30 there will be a plenary with the bishops and spouses
At 3:30 Rowan will give his 3rd and final Presidential Address. We will give you copies of that and copies of the Final Reflections document at 2:30pm.
There will be at 4:15pm press conference with the ABC and it will last for about 30 minutes and then we move to the cathedral for the final service.
Questions about logistics…
Kenneth Kearon is introduced. He speaks very softly so it was difficult to catch his words. I certainly missed some of what he said, but it is fairly accurate
Good morning:
Canon Paul: the theme today is a carry over from yesterday “Fostering our Common Life: The Bishop, the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process.”
This is the same theme from yesterday. This is a two part work.
The schedule is laid out in the program. One addition, at 5:00pm there is an additional hearing in terms of the reflection document. At 5:00pm we should be able to give you the next draft. It will be available in the press room as the bishops consider it. It should be close to the final draft by that point and only have to go through one more indaba group session tomorrow.
The rest of the program for the day, the plenary and other things are listed in the program pamphlet.
That is the schedule today. The press conference in the afternoon will feature +Paul Quan and +Charles Jenkins will be present.
As you know the final plenary session starts at 2:30pm tomorrow
We will have our regular briefing in the morning and we do not have a guest scheduled at his point and we will probably not schedule one. There will be no 1:30pm conference tomorrow
Questions about logistics…
Kenneth Kearon is introduced. He speaks very softly so it was difficult to catch his words. I certainly missed some of what he said, but it is fairly accurate.
Kenneth Kearon is the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion and the Secretary of the Lambeth Conference. He will talk about the covenant and the process of the conference itself.
Kearon: It is important to remember what the vision of this conference was—to have the bishops look at their unique role in mission. The ABC is the one who came up with that vision and he laid down several marks for the structure of this conference.
1. Everything should be shaped and grounded by scripture’
2. The bishops themselves should be the primary resource
Both of these marks have been fulfilled here at this Lambeth Conference
The indaba process involves every bishop and allows every bishop’s voice to be heard and to be the sources of our discussion of the bishops’ mission.
These last two days are about what the bishops take away from the conference. Today is what they take away as a body and as a communion and tomorrow what they take way as individuals.
This mornings indaba will center on the Windsor Report and the whole Windsor Process, the issue of moratoria and the three specific moratoria that go along with it. We will look carefully at the future of these. They will also spend time discussing the idea of the Pastoral Forum and if they are supportive; this idea will have some force and be carried into the Reflection group and acted on as we go.
And they will also be thinking about the (listening process…I think, I missed his words here). There are some important proposals sent up regarding that
Tomorrow will be much more personal about their experiences and what they have valued and what they will take away.
Questions
Q: I am wondering about the process of creating the final reflection document. As I understand it there will be a hearing this evening where bishops will discuss the latest draft and then the final version will be produced tomorrow. Will there be some meeting or some sort of final acceptance tomorrow?
A: What will happen, I assume, is that today’s draft will go to the 5:00pm hearing and then to indaba tomorrow and at that stage we will have a final document to be affirmed at the plenary tomorrow
Q: That is a different schedule than Paul gave a moment ago. He said we would have the final draft this evening.
A: We have to allow for the possibility of some feedback in indabas on Sunday, that is a possibility
Q: I have a question about the Covenant. What is the situation with that, are you hoping that you will have a show of hands or some indication of support?
A: yesterday they looked at the Covenant in two sessions. In the morning they looked at the covenant in principle and in the afternoon they looked more closely at the details. And at the end of that they even answered a questionnaire. These will be gathered and sent to the Design Group meeting in September. They intend to produce a lambent commentary that includes the bishops’ reflections at that meeting. If all of that happens, the commentary will be sent to the provinces so they can use it in their own reflections.
Q: will there be some sort o vote or show of support for the final draft of the Reflections document?
A: No it will be affirmed in indaba
Q: Naughton: So if a group of bishops want to disassociate from the document what would they do?
A: That has not been the style of the Conference. There will be a chance for the people to talk about their objections if they have any in the hearing. But the reflections document includes different points of view. It is possible that different opinions will be expressed on the same thing in the final reflections document
Q: What about the Lambeth commentary you spoke about. Will that say anything about sexuality? (I think I missed this question..)
A: The commentary is about the Covenant. Obviously the covenant design group will be a part of the process of….(missed it)
Q: So are the reflections then a description of where we are? What is the meaning of the document?
A: The Reflections document is trying to reflect where we are as a Lambeth Conference. It reflects what actually happened in the Conference itself rather than making any resolution or decision.
Q Me: the Reflections document seems like a list of ideas but there is no way to assess the relative weight of the ideas listed. I mean how do we know whether a given line or idea in the reflection is the thought of just one bishop or whether it is from a large majority or bishops?
A: We don’t and that is a concern that has already been raised. The judgment on that is that the Reflection group measures the and makes a judgment on which reflections merit inclusion in the document. It is the Reflections group that puts together the draft reflection.
Q: about the reflections document: there were a number of items listed out as reflections from the bishops. 2 things were said I want to ask you about: 1. that 1.10 should not be reversed and the other 2. said that they wanted a statement expressing where we are on sexuality issues. How do these things hold together.
A: The Archbishop of Canterbry has said and the general thrust of the bishops thoughts on this is that we do not want Lambeth 1.10 revisited. The reflections listed in that section are just expressions of opinion, they are the various ways in which people see the issue of humans sexuality.
Q: is there a mechanism in the Conference if a number of bishops get together and say, we want this particular issue or that particular issue to be affirmed
A: Yes, there is but the way you do that is within the indaba groups. The bishops…would draw up a statement and then put it through the indaba process. They have to go through indaba and pass it through there and ask the other bishops in their groups: is this the right track? And if they agree they can pass it forward to the Reflections group. A number of issues have been brought forward in this way already…lists some (cannot hear what he lists)
Conger: All the money, time, and effort that has been spent, is it worth it?
A: I think so. It has been a conference of relationship and engagement. That is something we have always claimed to be, about relationship, but now that we have made it a reality people feel as though they have been heard and they have listened. I think that is why the bishops are committed to it. That’s why they are not dodging off for dinner in the evening. They are committed to make it work. People are hearing things they have never heard before and listening.
Q: I still have a problem understanding how to quote things out of the reflections paper. This is the conference where the church says what it thinks about things, but there are contradictory reflections…(gives an example)
A: If there is no gloss on it, if a reflection idea is there and not countered in a another section of the statement you can take it at face value as the mind of the bishops at lambeth but this is not a binding thing
Q: But this document represents the main line of thought for the present mind of the bishops?
A: yes
Q: Mary: it seems that this process for the people back home may come across as if there is no longer one mind represented by Lambeth 1.10 but many minds. Some will look at this document and think that this is watering down or reversing 1.10
A: I would say the reverse. The ABC said the mind of the communion was expressed Lambeth1.10. That is his opinion. The fact that that has not been challenged is an implicit assertion or acceptance that that his assessment is accurate. Lambeth 1.10 is taken as a given here.
Q: Will there be another WCG report?
A: I don’t think there are plans for that. They have shaped the questions to be dealt with in today’s indabas and hearings. They would probably meet later on looking at the outcome of indaba today but they would not do another report before the end of the Confernce.
Q: The documents stand as stated?
A: yes, the WCG observations are their observations and they stand as that. Now the conference must take those observations and must speak.
Q: Naughton: in terns of gong forward, we are trying to get a sense of what is the force of what is happening in the reflection. Is the force that there has been a lot of advice given to the WCG and the Design group going forward?
A: I think the force will be the steer the bishops themselves feel and take from the conference because they are the ones speaking to the communion about what happened here Bodies like the WCG and the Design group will get a steer from the conference and the provinces as they are considering the Covenant.
Q: Some retrospective questions: Will indaba survive for the next conference and the other retrospective is did you predict that the impact of the WCG would be as strong as it was with regard the faith and order commission and other aspects of it?
A: I do not know when the next Lambeth conference will be. There is a proposal for a gathering every three years, a gathering of bishops not a conference, and that discussion will come up this morning. So I do not know because there is nothing fixed about these dates or even about the Lambeth Conference itself. Is for the ABC to decide whether we have another Lambeth conference and when to schedule it. He could decide never to have one again. There is talk about having a more frequent gathering. Nothing is decided at this point.
I think every time the Lambeth Conference is set up a design group takes the mood and measure of the communion and designs the conference accordingly. There is no doubt he indaba experience has been the most powerful experience here. It will be up to the next conference whether they will continue it.
I suppose before the conference we did not know what the impact would be. We were very open the way the conference would shape itself. The WCG will always be important, how important we do not know. I think that hopefully we have been able to set the crisis issues in the wider context of other larger issues and that has served us well.
Q: One of the things you have said today is about the sense of sharing and listening that has gone on and that people who do not agree will at least come away understanding one another. Given that, are there any initiatives that the ACO will try to do to build bridges with those who were not here?
A: it is am major regret that people are not here. What it means sis that a significant voice has not been heard and the process would have been enriched had they been hear. One of the issues on Monday, when the Lambeth design group meets, will be how to communicate to those who were not here. It will not be easy since this has been an experience more than a document. I think things like that will be done, but I regret their absence because the experience they could have had and the enrichment that it could bring has been lost.
Q: The reflections documents talks about a gathering every three years. Doesn’t the ACC meet every three years? Does that mean the role of the ACC, is the role of the ACC going to be looked at?
A: yes, there were thoughts about that and about the place of the Primates Meeting as well. The ACC is not an episcopal body. It is not unlike your own synods with the inclusion of all orders and laity. The question is how will these proposals be thought through. The ACC needs to be strengthened. It meets every there years. I do not think you will ever get away from that face to face engagement.
end
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