What is the Archbishop Thinking?! (Gritter)

by Gordon W. Gritter

Gordon W. Gritter has participated actively in the Dioceses of California, Michigan, and El Camino Real. He served four terms as President of the Standing Committee of El Camino Real, has been a Deputy to each General Convention since 1994, and has recently been involved in Anglican Communion activities in London and Rome. He is a retired psychiatrist who lives near San Luis Obispo, California.

We should all be grateful that Bishop Marshall has clearly and forcefully articulated the discontent which the bishops of the Episcopal Church (in the United States) have with the Archbishop of Canterbury's failure to appear in person in the United States to discuss the Anglican Communion situation.

Clearly, the Archbishop of Canterbury is not antagonistic toward, nor dismissive of, the Episcopal Church. He is strongly inclined to regard us as friends and esteemed colleagues. Why, then, has he been so aloof?

It seems to me that in order to understand his present position – certainly an extremely difficult one – it is necessary to take note of several things.

The first is that his stance reflects his deep concern for the proper structure and function of the worldwide Anglican Communion and his dismay that the Episcopal Church has taken an essentially rogue action within the Anglican Communion in the matter of approval of a bishop who is in a same-sex relationship. It is not that he personally disapproves of homosexuality or of inclusion of same-sex people in all areas of the Church. His personal position, stated before he became Archbishop, has not changed. But now he is Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Anglican Communion is still officially opposed to homosexuality, and it seems obvious that a substantial majority of the Anglican Communion still supports that position. Thus, the action of the Episcopal Church lacks the "consensus" which is necessary in order to make a big change [that consensus need not be absolute, but in his view it should be substantial] and thereby weakens the organizational integrity and witness of the Anglican Communion.

Second, he is keenly aware of the fear and hatred with which the United States is regarded in much of the developing world. That fear and hatred infects the attitudes and behaviors of many of our Anglican colleagues within those "formerly colonial" areas. Although he is grieved by those attitudes, he is essentially powerless to change them, and he is perplexed that the Episcopal Church seems determined to ignore and deny that component of the current strife in the Anglican Communion.

Third, he is horrified by the obviously un-Christian behavior of some of the Southern Primates who refuse to share Communion or even to attend meetings with representatives of the Episcopal Church.

Fourth, he is worried about the increasing evidence that some of the Southern Primates have formed an alliance with the conservative wing of the Episcopal Church. They show every intention of planning to take control of the worldwide Anglican Communion or, failing that, to form a rump version of their own Communion.

How, then, should the Archbishop proceed? Obviously, one can only say: "very carefully." But no matter how careful and circumspect his words and actions may be, they will immediately be seized upon, distorted, and denounced by one faction or another. Should he now come to the USA for a meeting with the bishops of the Episcopal Church? Such a meeting would create an irrational uproar at a time when there is already too much mischief and uproar afoot. Are people within the Episcopal Church therefore entitled to call him "inept" and "cowardly"?

In my opinion, Archbishop Rowan has every reason to expect that the Episcopal Church will continue to be his ally, even though he hears our indignation at having been snubbed. He can rely on us to understand his dilemma and to behave rationally in the long run. There are other people within the Anglican Communion about whom he can have no such confidence. Indeed, some of them are capable of planting "bombs" and behaving very destructively. He sees the urgent need to try to maintain constructive communication with them lest the entire Anglican Communion go up in flames because of disastrous sectarian leadership.

I applaud Bishop Marshall for his honesty, candor, and insistence upon accountability, while at the same time maintaining respect and dignity. I do not applaud those others who are being partisan, rude, and insulting, thus confirming the worst stereotypes about Americans.