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THE ISSUES: Weasel words announce Sydney boycott
By THE ISSUES
February 12, 2008

INVOLVED: Pictured with their spouses in the grounds of Lambeth palace in 1998, the Sydney team of bishops played key roles at the last Lambeth Bishops Conference. INVOLVED: Pictured with their spouses in the grounds of Lambeth palace in 1998, the Sydney team of bishops played key roles at the last Lambeth Bishops Conference. But not this year after a boycott was announced.

 

Grow up, writes THE ISSUES. What problem was ever solved by not talking about it?

HERE's the statement from the Most Reverend Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of New South Wales, announcing that he and his Assistant Bishops decline to accept the invitation by the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, to attend this year's Lambeth Bishops' Conference.

"With regret, the Archbishop and Bishops of the Diocese of Sydney have decided not to attend the Lambeth Conference in July. They remain fully committed to the Anglican Communion, to which they continue to belong, but sense that attending the Conference at this time will not help heal its divisions. They continue to pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lambeth Conference." (The ISSUES has created the bold italics, they are not part of the original).

There is something really weird about the way this statement is worded, and it contains some seemingly polite and some seemingly spiritual weasel words, do you see it?

The statement was released to the media with this intro "Statement from Archbishop Peter Jensen - speaking after the service of ordination of 48 deacons at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney" -

So, Archbishop Jensen is the speaker, right? Well, no!

If he was the speaker the statement would say ‘we' (I, Peter Jensen, and the Assistant Bishops appointed by me) ‘have decided not to attend' and ‘we remain fully committed etc'.

If you fell for this spin-doctoring misuse of language you would sense that, rather than subjective persons making free decisions for which they are accountable, some objective, disembodied rational umpire was saying what good boys they really are.

Then there are the weasel words! "With regret" - really! What is regretted?

Sounds polite but in the context of refusing to meet with the world's other Anglican bishops and snubbing the ever gracious Archbishop of Canterbury's invitation, ‘with regret' is an attempt to cover up the arrogance, rudeness and judgementalism of the decision.

Then this: They remain fully committed to the Anglican Communion. Fully? Committed? In the light of the refused invitation, and the fact that Archbishop Jensen is a leading organiser of an alternative conference called The Global Anglican Future Conference to be held in Jerusalem in June (without consulting the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem) these words are hollow.

Sydney evangelicals have always been in the minority at Lambeth Conferences and for a long time a minority of Sydney evangelicals have opposed attending gatherings of Christians where so-called catholics or liberals ‘have the numbers'.

Thus in 1997 Archbishop Harry Goodhew faced some hostile questions in Sydney Synod about Sydney bishops attending the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

But contrast the adult maturity of this answer from Harry Goodhew at that synod with the current boycott by Peter Jensen -

‘Lambeth Conferences provide bishops with the invaluable opportunity to study together, to share with each other and to pray together. A conference is held at the same time for the spouses of bishops. As I indicated in my Synod Address, Lambeth has provided me with opportunity to confer with other Bishops in the Anglican Communion and put an evangelical point of view.'

The they statement also says: attending the conference at this time will not help heal its divisions.

Whenever has taking your bat and ball home, refusing to play, been anything else but giving all the other players the snub, the cut, the desire to ruin the whole play?

This part of the they statement is Orwellian, it uses good words to cover up bad meaning. Surely nothing can ever heal division - in a family, a sporting club, a political party - except commitment to talk and work out differences!

And lastly: They continue to pray. Pray what? In the light of saying ‘we refuse to meet with you because...(The ISSUES invites readers to complete this sentence) this is just spiritual paternalism.

Many readers will be familiar with fellow Christians saying they will pray for them over some difference of theology or morality meaning ‘I will pray that God will bring you the light of sharing my views, you infidel.'

The Most Reverend Peter Jensen is the Metropolitan Archbishop of New South Wales i.e. he heads up the fellowship of diocesan bishops in the NSW Province and customarily and constitutionally ordains new bishops in that Province.

Bishop Brian Farran, head of Newcastle Diocese in the NSW Province, has publicly stated, prior to Peter Jensen's Lambeth boycott statement, that Archbishop Jensen had no authorization from the college of bishops he leads to organise the alternate, breakaway Global Anglican Future Conference.

Presumably Peter Jensen has not consulted with (or attained the agreement of) the NSW bishops about his boycott of Lambeth either. So much for healing/creating divisions!

Ostensibly the furore over Lambeth 2008 is about homosexuality, especially the consecration of an openly gay bishop in the United States.

But that bishop, Gene Robinson, has not received an invitation to the conference, though American bishops who supported his consecration have.

The Very Reverend Phillip Jensen, Dean of Sydney, seems to have hidden his public light under a bushel since the media frenzy about his condemnation of Prince Charles as an adulterer. (Why does it always seem to be about sex with Sydney leaders?).

But in the St Andrew's Cathedral October 14, 2007 Cathedral Courier, distributed in that church on Sundays, at some length he answered the Dorothy Dix question ‘Should a Christian accept the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend his Lambeth Conference next year?

Dean Jensen was most forthcoming in his answer which was essentially that some bishops attending Lambeth are not Christians at all, while many others are foolish, unfaithful Christians by deciding to associate with these sinful hypocrites in a conference, and that no real Christian should attend at all.

He said: ‘The error is not limited to Americans. Those who are advocating this sinfulness are very keen for all to attend Lambeth together. The aim appears to be to bring about change by forcing the Communion to accept at Lambeth those who advocate sinfulness. By accepting them as full members tacit agreement is given to sinful behaviour.'

If the sinners were not professing Christians, says Dean Jensen, it would be OK to conference with them but, citing St Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 as his authority, he goes on - ‘It is not the sinner whom we need to avoid, but the professing Christian sinner.'

Lambeth 1998 affirmed traditional Christian sexual ethics of monogamous heterosexual marriage.

This despite the fact that Lambeth 1988 -at the insistent prompting of African bishops - allowed provision for polygamists who became Christian Anglicans to continue in marriage with more than one wife.

Far from endorsing homosexuality, Lambeth 1998 simply called for a respectful listening to the concerns of Gay and Lesbian Christians. Lambeth 2008 will, presumably, hear the results of that listening process and discuss differences.

The fact that some American Anglicans acted contrary to the spirit of Lambeth 1998 is no reason to boycott a conference of Anglican bishops from more than 100 countries.

So The ISSUES asks, what is really going on with the Sydney boycott announced with such weasel words?

Is it a power and control ploy? Sydney Anglicans creating a new, exclusive, ‘we alone have the truth', international communion of only evangelical Anglicans?

What an irony it is that Peter Jensen has teamed up with an Archbishop whose Diocesan Marriage Canon permits polygamy - Peter Akinola of Nigeria - to organise the alternative Jerusalem Conference!

The solution to further divisions? Come on Sydney Bishops grow up and go to Lambeth (Jerusalem too if you must) and put your case.