Lambeth Commission to recommend Exclusion of the ECUSA from Anglican Communion

The worldwide Anglican Communion may be about to punish the Episcopal Church in America, by excluding them from the communion as a penalty for ordaining a homosexual bishop. The punishment is anticipated to be recommended by the Lambeth Commission, which was set up by Rev Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to give advice on how to best defuse the crisis of homosexuality in the Church.

The Anglican Church consists of approximately 75 million members, and this expulsion from the Lambeth Commission is expected to be announced in Windsor next week, when the Commission will present their findings in a final meeting.

The Commission’s recommendations will not be officially published until October, but if the reports are true then the findings are likely to cause disappointment among liberal Christians and Anglican-Catholics in the West, who will regard such a decision as a defeat to the conservative evangelicals.

Archbishop Eames, before leaving for London to prepare for next week's meeting said, "This has been the most difficult and challenging task I have ever been given in my Anglican experience. Feelings on all sides of the problem are running high. The diversity of our world church family is being reflected in the depth of feeling and the diversity of opinion across the world."

The predicted recommendations of the Lambeth Commission seem to stem from an uproar by evangelicals, and the Anglican churches in Africa at the ordination of the divorced, gay father of two, Rev Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire.

The decision to suspend the ECUSA would not be permanent for certain, but would depend on whether repentance for its actions in the election of Bishop Robinson would be forthcoming. The ECUSA, who is financially powerful but numerically weak, would for example be allowed back when Robinson retired, or if he were removed from his position. However, this again would only be the case if the ECUSA did not go against sanctioning rites for the blessing of gay unions.

A further punishment may also be handed out to the Anglican Church in Canada where the diocese of New Westminster gave the first same-sex blessings rite. Their disciplinary action is likely to be less harsh however, as the General Synod in Canada agreed recently to postpone the universal sanction of same-sex blessings.

The homosexuality debate has instigated a planned fundamental restructuring of the Anglican Church. Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury delayed a huge crisis in the Church of England when he managed to persuade the openly gay Jeffrey John to stand down as Bishop of Reading. However, John was subsequently given the position of Dean of St Albans.

The Lambeth Commission is made up of chairman, Dr Robin Eames who is also the Archbishop of Armagh, and also representatives of the conservative, liberal and Catholic sections of the Anglican Church from the West and Global South.

The report in October will of course only contain “recommendations” and so the desperate battle is likely to continue, as first the Primates must agree to the recommendations in February, then the Anglican Consultative Council, which is the representative body of the Anglican Communion must grant final approval.

The punishments are thought to be necessary for the task of retaining some degree of unity within the Anglican community. Some church leaders have already shown their impatience with the situation and have declared themselves as “out of communion” with America and Canada. In particular the Nigeria Church has begun founding a new evangelical Anglican Church in America in response to the crisis. On top of this, bishops in Uganda have taken three parishes into their care from the United States.

It is thought that the huge restructuring of the Anglican Communion will result in a reformed federation comparable to the Worldwide Lutheran Church.

In preparation of next week’s vital Lambeth Commission meeting, Archbishop Eames said, "When people read our suggestions in the report, I pray that they will be able to see a way forward which is positive and realistic. Apart from the difficulties we have faced, I am saddened at the effect these divisions have had on the real work and mission of the Church in a suffering and bewildered world."