Letter of GC Deputies of Hawai'i

March 7, 2007

To: The House of Bishops meeting on March 16, 2007
From: The Deputation of the Diocese of Hawai`i

At a March 6 meeting of the deputation of the Diocese of Hawai`i, the Deputies voted to request that the House of Bishops consider seriously taking the following actions as it responds to statements and communications coming out of the primates' meeting in Tanzania:

* Acknowledge receipt of communications from primates and other Communion-wide groups, but do not respond to any ultimatums or commands

* Do not violate the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church in spirit or in fact

* Do not agree to any suggestion that subverts the autonomy of The Episcopal Church, e.g., the suggested form of a Primatial Vicar and Pastoral Council to whom the Primatial Vicar would be accountable

* Remember that the so-called instruments of unity have no authority over any province, including The Episcopal Church

* Insist that provinces are treated equitably regarding the Windsor Report and subsequent reports, rather than allowing pressure to be put on only The Episcopal Church

* Stay the course; do not sacrifice the autonomy of the Episcopal Church, nor the breadth and depth of Anglican theological inquiry as framed in Hooker's Of Ecclesiastical Polity and Resolution II of the Lambeth Conference of 1888.

Respectfully and faithfully,

Darrow Aiona c1
Elizabeth Zivanov c2
Morley Frech c3
Alison Dingley c4
Carol Arney c5
Ryan Kusumoto l1
Keane Akao l2
John Decker l3
Bettye Jo Harris l4
Beverly Amjadi l5

The Anglican Church of Canada Responds to the Windsor Report

Mar. 13, 2007--In 2003, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams established the Lambeth Commission on Communion to advise him and the churches of the Anglican Communion on how they could maintain "the highest degree of communion that may be possible" in light of actions by The Episcopal Church (US) and the diocese of New Westminster in Canada, and of some primates and bishops who intervened in the affairs of some parishes.

The result was the publication of The Windsor Report in Oct., 2004.

All provinces of the Anglican Communion were asked to respond to The Windsor Report. The Anglican Church of Canada established a Windsor Report Response Group, made up of members of the House of Bishops, Faith Worship and Ministry Committee and Partners in Mission Committee, and chaired by Dr. Patricia Bays of the diocese of Ottawa.

That group surveyed responses from across the church and prepared a summary of them for the Primate when he went to the Primates' Meeting in Dromantine in 2005. It then drafted a response to the Windsor Report, which it tested with the Council of General Synod and members of the House of Bishops in the fall of 2006. The responses were redrafted in light of comments received, and a new draft went to the Council of General Synod in March, 2007.

The council adopted the response, with some amendments, and will be sending it to General Synod in June for endorsement.

Click here to read the report.

ENS | WEST TEXAS: Council hears bishop call for true listening

By Mary Frances Schjonberg
Monday, March 05, 2007

Bishop Gary Lillibridge outlined the diocese's growth and signs of vitality during his address. Then he turned to what he called the "wintry season" of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

He re-iterated his stance as a "Windsor compliant bishop," meaning, he said, that he would refrain from giving his consent to the election as bishop of any person living in a same-gender relationship, would not authorize a public rite for blessing same-gender relationships, and that he agrees with the Windsor Report's call for bishops to stop intervening in dioceses beyond their own.

"I have also said that we are not going to pick and choose the parts of the Windsor
Report that we like and disregard those that we don't like," he told the Council. "There is little 'Communion' future there."

Endorsing the call of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10 to seriously engage a "listening process," Lillibridge called on members of the diocese to prepare for a conversation recognizing that "the gospel truth seems clear to me: we conservatives, we liberals, we moderates are each other's family; we are each other's brothers and sisters -- because God is our parent and Jesus is our brother."

"We may not like some of our siblings, but we cannot change what God has done in bringing us together at the Eucharistic table as God's family," he said. "As St. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Lillibridge told the Council "we cannot simply talk "about" gays and lesbians."

"We must talk ‘with' them. These are fellow Episcopalians and Anglicans, not Philistines," he said. "They make pledges to their congregations, they serve on Altar Guilds, they are ushers and lay readers; they serve on vestries and bishop's committees; maybe even as diocesan council delegates. They, like all of us, have an experience of the Holy Spirit in their lives and we need to hear about it. They did not wake up one day and say, ‘Hey, let's destroy this Church that we love.'"

Click here to read the rest.