NEWS FROM VANCOUVER - Diocese of New Westminster Anglican Consultative Council adopts resolution on local option Dioceses and Bishops asked to consult with provincial authorities before preceding ----------------------------- The Anglican Consultative Council has adopted a resolution that asks dioceses and bishops not to take actions that would "strain" the Anglican Communion without first consulting their national churches. It then asks the national churches "to have in mind the impact of their decisions within the wider [Anglican] communion." Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster voted for the motion, saying that he and his diocese had complied with its provisions. The resolution passed with no opposition and one abstention from the 70 representatives from 38 Anglican national provinces throughout the world who have ended 12 days of meeting in Hong Kong. While voting in favour, Bishop Ingham said that the Council should be cautious about moving the Communion toward a position where no change could ever happen unless everyone agreed. "That's a formula for inertia," said Bishop Ingham, adding it would be hard for Anglicans to justify historically. "It is important to balance the need for coherence and credibility with freedom for change," Bishop Ingham said, "and change always begins locally." He pointed to the English Reformation as an example of 'local option.' Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, president of the Council, brought the motion regarding consultation. He suggested that on the issue of same sex unions, Bishop Ingham had not consulted other Anglicans widely. After the New Westminster Diocesan Synod in May, 1998, passed a resolution that asked for the blessing, Bishop Ingham in January, 1999, established a two year period of diocesan study. At that time Bishop Ingham informed Canadian Primate Michael Peers and every other Canadian bishop what the diocese was doing in detail. The Canadian House of Bishops subsequently discussed the issue at its meetings, and a special presentation that dealt with the blessing was held at the national General Synod of the Canadian Church in July, 2001. The matter will again come before the Canadian House of Bishops in October. At an information session put on by Bishop Ingham in Hong Kong, Archbishop Carey said he had not seen a report produced by the Diocese of New Westminster's Legal and Canonical Commission on the blessings until then. However the report and much supporting material was sent to the archbishop's office in early July of this year. The Anglican Consultative Council passed the Archbishop's motion without opposition. Bishop Catherine Roskam, Suffragen Bishop of New York, abstained. She was one of the three representatives on the Council from the Episcopal Church of the USA. A Roman Catholic observer at the meeting applauded the Carey's motion. "The Catholic Church smiles on this resolution," said the Reverend Don Bolen. He suggested that the motion might have asked Anglicans to also do some "ecumenical consultation," that is, consult the Roman Catholic Church, among others. The Anglican Consultative Council finished its 12-day meeting in Hong Kong on Thursday. The council meets every two or three years in periods between meetings of the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, which meets once each decade. TEXT OF RESOLUTION: This Council, being concerned about a range of matters of faith and order which have arisen since we last met, and having in mind the constant emphasis on mutual responsibility and interdependence in the resolutions of successive Lambeth Conferences, from the call in 1867 for "unity in faith and discipline...by due and canonical subordination of synods" (1867, IV) to the call in 1998 for a "common mind concerning ethical issues where contention threatens to divide..." (1998, IV 5 (c) calls upon: Dioceses and individual bishops not to undertake unilateral actions or adopt policies which would strain our communion with one another without reference to their provincial authorities, and Provincial authorities to have in mind the impact of their decisions within the wider communion, and All members of the Communion, even in our disagreements to have in mind the "need for courtesy, tolerance, mutual respect and prayer for one another" (1998, III.2 (e)). This story was written in part with reports from Canadian Press and Anglican Media Sydney. _________________________________________________________________ Surf the Web without missing calls! Get MSN Broadband. http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp