Southern Cone Primate Says Canadian Primate's Proposal On Boundary Crossing Is Dead On Arrival

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
9/11/2008

The Archbishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Rev. Gregory Venables says a proposal by Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz to facilitate a meeting to discuss cross-border interventions is dead on arrival.

The proposal was written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, PB Katherine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop Mauricio de Andrade of Brazil. In an e-mail to VOL, Venables said such a meeting "would serve no new purpose since we have all made our positions perfectly clear. It would make much more sense for these primates to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury together with those who are responsible for the present crisis in the Communion. All we are doing is to provide a temporary holding place for those who don't accept the blessing of sexual sin. Once there is repentance and a return to biblical principles our intervention will no longer be necessary."

Williams has said he will do his best to facilitate the request, the Canadian Anglican Journal reported. Hiltz told the Journal that he hopes the parties "could hear one another" during the meeting.

The Canadian primate asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to convene this extraordinary meeting because of the growing tensions border-crossing was causing the Anglican Church in Canada.

Hiltz, Andrade and Jefferts Schori have repeatedly asked Venables to stop intervening in the internal affairs of their provinces. Venables has, on his own accord, been providing episcopal oversight to churches that are in serious theological dispute with their respective provinces over the issue of sexuality. Venables told VOL that he has no intention of stopping border crossing because the very integrity of the gospel is at stake was. He reiterated that position while at the Lambeth Conference.

The Southern Cone has about 22,000 members and encompasses Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Its provincial synod, meeting in Valpariso, Chile, November 5-7, 2007, agreed to welcome into the province "on an emergency and pastoral basis" Episcopal Church dioceses "taking appropriate action to separate from The Episcopal Church."

The Rt. Rev. Donald Harvey, leader of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) who is under the ecclesiastical protection of Archbishop Venables told VOL, "We have to keep emphasizing that we did not come out from the authority of the Anglican Church of Canada on a mere whim. For most of us it was a very painful decision made after much prayer and soul searching- and only after all reasonable channels had failed. In my own case it was after 43 years of ordained ministry and the emotional costs have been high.

"I am deeply grateful that Archbishop Venables so courageously and willingly took us under his protection, allowing us to remain an integral part of the Anglican Family. I commend him for refusing to enter into a one sided "dialogue" with three of the most liberal Primates in the Communion who are all too eager to find a cure without dealing with the cause of the disease in the first place. Indeed, had they fulfilled their responsibilities in a faithful manner consistent with the Gospel, none of us would have had to seek the protection of other Primates in the first place. We stand firmly with our new Primate in this matter."

END