Praying for a miracle

Archbishop prays for miracle in gay rights row

Jonathan Wynne Jones in New Orleans
Last Updated: 1:00am BST 23/09/2007


Tense times on the steamy streets of New Orleans. On the TV screens, the evening weather reports bring news of a gathering tropical storm in the Gulf of New Orleans and the population shivers at the thought of a repeat of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Behind closed doors in the private suites and meeting rooms of the city's InterContinental hotel, a very different storm is gathering.


Just a short walk from the muddy waters of the Mississippi, the Anglican bishops of the United States have gathered to decide whether they will provoke the biggest schism in the Church of England since its foundation by Henry VIII.


At issue is the role of gays in the Anglican Communion and the status of Gene Robinson, a homosexual father of two daughters who was elevated three years ago to become the Bishop of New Hampshire.


The appointment of Bishop Robinson, who lives openly with another man, his partner, Mark Andrews, is viewed as a slap in the face by conservative members of the American church and by the increasingly vocal and powerful Asian and African Anglican congregations, who see homosexuality as an affront to the will of God.


On Tuesday, the American bishops, the majority of whom are liberals, are expected to vote to support a greater role for gays and lesbians in the Church, both with regard to the creation of new bishops and the blessing of same-sex relationships.


Unless they can be persuaded otherwise, it seems certain the move will irrevocably split the Church, ending the Anglican Communion and creating an alternative alliance between Africa and conservatives in the US.


Into this increasingly hot and humid atmosphere, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, arrived for a frenetic round of last-minute shuttle diplomacy in a series of private meetings.


As events progressed, Dr Williams showed his face only briefly. In the lobby of the InterContinental, the lift doors opened to reveal the leader of the Anglican Church, his eyes weary from jetlag and battle fatigue.


Asked how the meetings were progressing, the archbishop gave a Gallic shrug and an exasperated raise of the familiar bushy eyebrows before the blessed relief of the lift doors sliding shut again.


He is said to have cut no less awkward a figure in the private meetings, seemingly pained by the position that he finds himself in, trying to reconcile those who believe homosexuality is a sin with liberals who want a more inclusive Church.


"This is not a very comfortable place to be," he said. "It is somewhat like the situation for soldiers in the First World War in the trenches — we can't remember how we got here and most of us don't want to be here."


The martial language echoes the war over the issue of homosexuality that has dominated the Church for the past decade.


It could not be more appropriate that the final battle is set for New Orleans, a city so steeped in its reputation for sin and debauchery that the fire-and-brimstone wing of America's Christian Right attributed the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to the cleansing wrath of the Almighty.
Words are more temperate in the Anglican Church. But the implications of a vote by the US bishops in favour of greater gay rights would be no less serious.



The Most Rev Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, met Dr Williams at Lambeth early last week and left him in no doubt as to the potential repercussions of such a step by the Americans.
"This is a watershed in the history of the communion," admitted the Most Rev Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales. "This is a struggle for the heart of the Anglican Communion."


Both the conservative and liberal sides have been seeking support from Dr Williams for their positions, placing him under intense pressure.


In a brief respite from church politics, the Archbishop toured the still-devastated streets of one of the poorest black areas of New Orleans on Friday and was cheered by members of a local congregation.


Later he preached at an ecumenical service where guests included the Irvin Mayfield Quartet. As other bishops joined a conga that went around the room, old women joined it waving tissues in the air. The archbishop stayed on stage, clapping awkwardly.


But by the time he headed for the city's Louis Armstrong International Airport, setting off on a visit to the Anglican community in Lebanon, the archbishop appeared to have accepted that on Tuesday the 159 bishops of the Episcopal Church, as the two-million-strong Anglican congregation is called in the United States, are almost certain to support a bigger role for gays.


American bishops at the summit have been quick to declare their support for Bishop Robinson, who had been so upset by an earlier call from Dr Williams for a choice to be made between gays and the communion that he accused the archbishop of "dehumanising" homosexuals.


In a document seen by The Sunday Telegraph, the US bishops have rejected plans for an Anglican covenant — or rulebook — that Dr Williams had hoped could keep the communion together and which dictated a tougher line on homosexuality.


The Americans' document, The Constitutional Crisis, says that "if the Anglican Communion decides to read scripture literally or impose conformity to a single interpretation without attempting objective regard for critical scholarship, it will be a different church".


Africans and their conservative allies will be dismayed to learn that, rather than using his final speech to deliver an ultimatum to the US bishops, Dr Williams offered support and understanding.


He said that he had failed to give them enough encouragement and that the "Anglican way is not to be locked into these polarities", before conceding the size of the task before them.



"Anglicanism is changing very rapidly and uncontrollably. What happens in the next couple of days will have a profound impact."


If Tuesday's decision goes as expected, the Africans and their allies will be forced to decide whether they still want to belong to the communion – with the answer looking increasingly negative.


The impact though would not just be felt in Africa, but around the world. One senior conservative English bishop warned it would also exacerbate divisions between liberals and traditionalists in the Church of England.


"It is difficult to understate the immense impact that this would have across the communion, and particularly in England," he said.


"It would question the reason for starting the process [of trying to reconcile the two sides] in the first place if it is clear that the Americans have never intended to change their stance."


The African archbishops and their allies believe that the pro-gay liberals have abandoned biblical teaching.


In one of the most passionate speeches at last week's summit, the Rt Rev Mouneer Anis, Primate of the Middle East, accused the American church of "walking apart" from the standard teaching of the communion.


"You may believe you have discovered a very different truth from that of the majority in the Anglican Communion," he said. "But some say you are a different church, others even think that you are a different religion."


The Africans have already been plotting with conservative members of the American church to create a new alliance, in effect a separate communion, if they lose the fight over homosexuality.
In response, the liberal diocese of Chicago may decide to elect the Very Rev Tracey Lind, a lesbian cleric, as their bishop. Such moves would mean that after four years of separation following Gene Robinson's consecration, the divorce was complete.


By yesterday morning, the good news for New Orleans was that the impending storm had weakened and moved away from the city. All except for the InterContinental hotel, where the darkening clouds now seem certain to burst.