Lambeth Daily - Press Conference: Covenant and Sacrifice

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Lambeth Daily
Press Conference: Covenant and Sacrifice
Posted On : August 2, 2008 5:10 PM | Posted By : Webmaster
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As bishops spent a second day discussing Covenant 
proposals, Paul Kwong, Primate of Hong Kong; 
Phillip Aspinall, Bishop of Brisbane and Primate 
of Australia; and Charles Jenkins, Bishop of 
Louisiana, reflected on the strengths and 
weaknesses of the Conference and of the Covenant process so far.

All agreed that most things about the Lambeth 
Conference were very good—particularly worship 
and Bible study, as well as the atmosphere in 
which difficult discussions took place.

Kwong was “a little disappointed” that more 
concrete suggestions had not emerged. “I’m not 
saying I don’t like the listening process, but we 
need something concrete—some action to be taken.” 
“We have been beating about the bush—talking 
about issues for a long time,” he continued, and 
“we want to see that all parties have a chance to 
sit down and work out something concrete—from 
where we are—to resolve the issues.”

Kwong noted that people in Hong Kong respect what 
fellow Anglicans’ views and decisions, but feel 
that everybody is insisting that what they’re 
doing is correct in their context. “We are not 
talking about rights,” he said, “every party has 
the right to do what they feel right in their 
context. We’re not talking about that—we’re asking for sacrifice.”

“Now,” he continued, “we are asking all these 
people to stop defending what they do as right, 
stop accusing the other parties that what they do 
is wrong; instead we come together and say ‘what 
sacrifice, what concessions will you make for the 
sake of the integrity of the communion, for the sake of the Church?’”

He recalled the example of Florence Li Tim-Oi. In 
1944, the bishop of Hong Kong ordained her to the 
priesthood, making her first Anglican female 
priest. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth 
Conference and most provinces strongly criticized 
this move, so Tim-Oi eventually relinquished her 
license as priest in order to preserve the unity 
of the Church. She did, however, continue to 
insist that her priestly orders remained valid. 
It took thirty more years for women’s priestly 
ordination to be accepted by the Communion.

Kwong suggested that the Communion appoint a 
person or team with diplomatic experience “to go 
around and visit and talk face to face with all 
parties concerned and find out to what extent 
they are willing to sacrifice before we try to find a solution.”

Talk of sacrifice quickly led to the question of 
whether there is a moral difference between 
sacrificing oneself on behalf of others as 
opposed to asking others to make sacrifices on 
behalf of oneself. Jenkins acknowledged that this 
was a very thorny issue and said that he always 
tries to consider what effects his decisions 
might have on others. Kwong quoted a Chinese 
saying: “the little ‘we’ has to make sacrifice 
for the big ‘We,’” but quickly stressed the need 
to hear the voices of all parties.

What would happen to provinces which, even after 
extensive discussion, felt they could not agree 
to moratoria or other items in the Covenant? 
Aspinall admitted that this is the most 
contentious and least developed issue. He 
stressed that the Covenant is not designed to be 
punitive, but even if a church did not agree to 
the Covenant and suffered consequences, a process 
to establish reconciliation would be begun immediately.

Representing the Spouses’ Conference, Margaret 
Sentamu noted that the job of strengthening 
relationships and working through conflict 
throughout the Communion does not rest entirely 
in the hands of bishops. Like the bishops, the 
spouses have been sharing and listening to one 
another’s stories, and have sought to model unity 
and cooperation. “We are already modeling 
reconciliation on the ground,” she said, and have 
“sought to engage in a Christian manner—knowing 
we will not agree but continuing to journey together.”