Archbishop Eames pledges ‘path forward’ as commission named to look at ‘Communion’ uniting Anglicans

28 October 2003 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=4963

Named today by the Archbishop of Canterbury to lead a 16-member commission formed to report on “understandings of communion” that unite Anglicans worldwide, Archbishop Robin Eames of Ireland said this morning that opportunities for growth and reconciliation can be found amid “what some are calling a crisis” in Anglicanism worldwide as the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire proceeds with the November 2 ordination of a bishop living in a same-sex union with his male partner.

“We will try under God to provide channels on communication, channels of understanding, but most of all a path forward,” Archbishop Eames said in remarks to a previously scheduled gathering here of the Compass Rose Society, an organization of supporters of the mission of the Anglican Communion. “Please pray for me,” he asked.

Archbishop Eames, who from 1988-93 led a similar international commission on the ordination of women who now serve as priests and bishops in many of the Anglican Communion’s 38 member churches, said he did not accept the invitation from Dr Williams “easily” but “there are times in life that … a situation has to be addressed.”

“We have got to maintain the Anglican Communion,” he said, who as Archbishop of Armagh is senior Primate among the 38 prelates who lead the autonomous member provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

To applause, Archbishop Eames called upon Anglicans to “recognize … what binds us together more than what may divide some of us.” Speaking of the Primates’ meeting in London, October 15-16, he said that “no matter what views they expressed, the bottom line was, let us remain in Communion.”

Archbishop Eames went on to underscore the international respect accorded to Anglicans for the skills of listening and mediation unique to their faith tradition. He cited specific examples of Anglican ministries of outreach and reconciliation amid tensions in the Middle East, in responding to the refugee crisis in Uganda, in overturning apartheid in South Africa, and in seeking peace in his own native Northern Ireland, where he himself was called upon by factions to negotiate a ceasefire.

“The Anglican Communion enjoys the position of being one of the most powerful communications agents in the world,” he said of the global network of churches in 164 countries. “Anglicanism has got to be there as a world body, binding up its wounds, but saying…we have a message that this world must hear.”

To US Episcopalians in the audience, Archbishop Eames said specifically that the historic “bonds between my country and yours are invincible,” adding that “there are those of us” among the Primates “who want you” and who want to maintain “communion” and shared ministries.