Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 22:41:07 -0400
From: "Frank K. Allan" fallan@mindspring.com
To: lcrew@andromeda.Rutgers.EDU
Subject: what happened at Lambeth

Louie:

Regarding the statement by my brother and good friend Jeffrey Rowthorn [See http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/lambeth99.html], I agree that he is correct when one looks only at the paperwork.

However, from his description and my experience, it would appear that we did not attend the same conference. The issue of human sexuality descended on Lambeth like a cloud from before we met (the Dallas gathering) until after we packed our bags and had gone home. There were closed meetings from which some African bishops who might have had another view were excluded, there was the St. Francis "op" Center which was the base of the anti-gay coalition, there were pamphlets and placards from both sides, there were sermons totally unrelated to the scriptural texts for the day which railed against homosexuals and the American church; there was enormous anger and threats to leave the Anglican communion. And there was the press, but blaming them for the spin is like shooting the messenger.

In contrast, even the enormous issue of world debt received scant attention on the floor, and passed with minimal debate, as did just about everything else, including the report of the sub-section I chaired on modern technology.

When the Archbishop of Canterbury rose before the final vote to speak in favor of the stronger resolution, he emphasized that we really do have more important things to talk about, so let's get on with it.

"Uh-huh," I thought. "Then why has this almost totally consumed our energy for the last three weeks." It was sort of like my son's graduation from the seventh grade. Trophies were given out for the best in athletics--huge trophies, about three feet high. Then it came time for the awards for scholarship. The principal reminded us that this is what the educational enterprise is really all about. My son's trophy for scholarship was about three inches high, and as we walked out of the auditorium I heard him mumble, "I think I'll go out for football next year."

If Lambeth wasn't almost all about homosexuality, I'll eat his trophy.

Frank Allan

• Return to Louie Crew's collection of materials on the Lambeth Conferenc e.
• Louie Crew's Anglican pages.
• Louie Crew's home page.
• Send mail to: lcrew@newark.rutgers.edu

Please sign my guestbook and view it.

Statistics courtesy of WebCounter.