Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea Diocese of Port Moresby

At its meeting on the 6th. December, 2003, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea issued the following statement in response to recent events in the Anglican Province of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA). Following the publication yesterday (18th. October, 2004) of the Windsor Report, which gave the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission, the earlier statement by our own Anglican Bishops is of special interest.

The Windsor Report can be downloaded from http://www.anglicancommunion.org/windsor2004/index.cfm and a press pack is available via michael.craske@anglicancommunion.org.

I hope this proves helpful,

+Peter Fox
Anglican Bishop of Port Moresby.

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STATEMENT OF THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS OF THE
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Dated 6th. December, 2003.

 

Two recent actions within the Anglican Communion are viewed with deep sadness by the Anglican Church of PNG --- the authorization of a public Rite of Blessing for those in same sex relationships in the diocese of New Westminster, Anglican Church of Canada, and the Consecration of a divorced priest now living in a same sex relationship in the diocese of New Hampshire, Episcopal Church of USA. Such actions are outside the understanding of Anglican Christians in PNG and, they believe, do considerable harm to the mission and unity of the Church.

The Statement of the Primates of the Anglican Communion (16th. October 2003) rightly judged that ?these actions threaten the unity of our own Communion as well as out relationships with other parts of Christ?s Church, our mission and witness, and our relations with other faiths, in a world already confused in areas of sexuality, morality and theology, and polarized Christian opinion.? The unity of the Anglican Communion is already wounded and these actions impair our communion even further, particularly as they were proceeded with despite many pleas not to do so from within the Communion, not least in the case of the New Hampshire Consecration in the face of an expressed concern from the Primates? Meeting itself.

The House of Bishops wishes it to be known that it disassociates itself from these two events and believes them not to be actions of the whole Church but only of the churches concerned. As such they cannot commend acceptance by the whole Communion. This will mean a further wounding of our sacramental fellowship with the churches concerned.

At the same time, the House of Bishops pledges itself to support the work of the Commission to be established by the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider his role within the Communion when grave difficulties such as these arise, as well as to give urgent and deep theological and legal reflection on the issues involved in these recent actions. At the urging of the Primates, our Province will take time to share in this process of reflection and will, if necessary, re-evaluate its position in the light of the Commission's findings.