Garner called for a clear statement about the continuing inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the Episcopal Church. He said that the statement was needed because gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were "targeted" by the communiqué issued by the Primates after their Tanzania meeting. Those people are feeling "very vulnerable" and worried that they have been cast out of the Church or will be "exiled" soon.
He recalled that while being in church on Ash Wednesday he found it "painful for me to keep replaying parts of that communiqué and wondering if I was welcome in that place." Garner said that if he, who has felt for years that he was welcomed in the Episcopal Church, wondered how new members of the church must be feeling.
The Rev. F. N. "Butch" Gamarra (Diocese of Los Angeles) told the Council that he was conflicted between the desire to work for remain open to reconciliation and the "elephant in the room," which he said was the fact that the Church is getting "hammered" for being inclusive.
The people in the pews need to hear from the Council that "we are not appeasing" people whom he characterized as bullying and disrespecting the Episcopal Church, he said.
"The language is terribly important to people in the pews," said Bettye Jo Harris (Diocese of Hawaii). She described how her son feels as if he's been driven from the Church since the communiqué was issued.
The day before, the Executive Council heard New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham, its Anglican Church of Canada partner, urge the council to reframe the question being asked by the Primates' Meeting.
He said provinces should not be "forced to a divisive kind of question" of choosing between belonging to the Anglican Communion and belonging to all the members of its church.
Such a choice, he said, "does not feel like the Gospel choice, nor does it seem like orthodoxy" he said. Framing the question another way, he said the two churches are being forced to choose between "conformity and autonomy."
Ingham said those choices are the "product of a political agenda and they are not imperative to the Gospel."
He predicted that the Episcopal Church's response to the Primates will have a "huge impact" in Canada, England and other places – not just in Africa.
"There are still many Anglicans who look to the U.S. and Canada to be their signs of hope" during times that seem very dark, Ingham said.
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