Doing the Lambeth Walk 8
Friday 1 August 2008
The Bishop of Down & Dromore, the Rt Revd Harold Miller, talks to Church of Ireland Press Officer, Paul Harron, from the Lambeth Conference
PH: Bishop Harold, you have been as good as a ‘blogging bishop' through your regular ‘Doing the Lambeth Walk' updates to the Down & Dromore website, so I'll try not to cover the same turf: you said there (Lambeth Walk Part 7) that you weren't sure if there was a road map or that as bishops you knew your destination yet - have things become any clearer during Thursday (31/7/08)?
BHM: As others may have mentioned (see Bishop Richard Henderson's interview, 31/7/08), the Archbishop of Canterbury's address on Wednesday evening was very good. He took a risk by articulating the two sides of the current situation. Like a good marriage counsellor, he described each side's point of view with sensitivity and integrity and I think both sides, as it were, felt, ‘yes, he's understood my position'. This was impressive and delivered at an important stage in the proceedings. However, in any marriage counselling situation, this is a foundation for finding a resolution, and the process needs to move to a further stage. I would say that, at this point, I do not know where it is going next. If there is a road map some of us don't know where it is.
Another bishop has described the situation as ‘the eye of the storm' (interestingly echoing the title of Bishop Gene Robinson's recent book). In the eye of a storm it feels calm within while the trouble is swirling around and about. Our situation is that we either face the storm here, addressing the difficulties in the next two days or find the storm ahead when we have returned home. I don't think the difficulties will go away.
PH: We have heard from the Windsor Continuations Group's preliminary observations (www.lambethconference.org/daily/news) about a pastoral forum: what are your thoughts on this?
BHM: My worry is how it could be set up quickly enough. We have very pressing matters just around the corner. Canadian dioceses in Montreal, Niagara and Ottawa have recently voted to allow liturgies for same-sex blessings. Their bishops will be deciding whether or not to ratify these decisions in the coming autumn, and have said that they are waiting until after Lambeth so that they can ‘listen'. There is also the proposed deposition of the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan, in September within the Episcopal Church. Either of these areas could throw a process ‘off course' very quickly.
PH: You mentioned in ‘Doing the Lambeth Walk 7' that you were intending to attend a seminar by Cardinal Walter Kasper - tell me about the ecumenical links you have been making at Lambeth.
BHM: There have been truly wonderful opportunities on the ecumenical front. I have enjoyed hearing Cardinal Walter Kasper and attended the gathering of the Nikean Club (founded in 1925 to celebrate the 1600th anniversary of the Council of Nicea). I was also impressed earlier in the week by the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks (as I know others were too). I have deeply admired those whom I've met here from the Orthodox Churches, too, including Metropolitan Bishoy, General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is clear that other churches - including the Roman Catholic Church - are all currently observing the direction of the Anglican Communion very carefully indeed.
I have also been able to meet very usefully with our Methodist friends with whom we are in covenant, having spent a good deal of time today with the Revd Professor Robert Gribbon of the Uniting Church in Australia, planning towards our first joint meeting in Mexico in January 2009, as the two of us co-chair the new Anglican - Methodist Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM). It will be a real joy to meet there and good that formal talks are happening after ten years.
PH: What other people are you meeting?
BHM: I must say - as I'm sure the other Irish bishops are saying - that there is a genuine sense of privilege in being able to meet Christian leaders from all over the world here, not least those who are suffering for their faith. It has been wonderful to meet again, for example, the Bishop of Dogura, Papua New Guinea, the Rt Revd Tevita Talanoa, whom I hadn't seen since 1998. Travelling back from the last Lambeth Conference, his boat back to the islands broke up in rough seas and Down & Dromore Diocese had helped financially with the purchase of a new boat for him. It has also been good to see Bishop Justin and his wife Mama Joyce from the Diocese of Maridi in Southern Sudan with whom we have established links (and who will be visiting Down & Dromore after the conference).
My wife, Liz, and I have both spent time at sessions discovering more about both transgendered and homosexual people, and I would say that, although both sessions were small, those who are evangelicals were well represented.
My wife has been especially enjoying meeting up with the Sudanese delegates, with whom she has been sharing lots of stories, not least while explaining how to use the washing machines in the laundry!
TO VIEW BISHOP HAROLD'S EARLIER REPORTS FROM LAMBETH GO TO THE NEWS/EVENTS PAGE (SEE TOP OF THIS PAGE). WHEN NEWS/EVENTS PAGES OPENS CLICK ON ‘OLDER NEWS ITEMS'ON THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE.Photographs: ' © Lambeth Conference ', except for Spouses photograph which is courtesty of the Diocese of Connor.