Primates' Pastoral Letter and Response

Excerpt from the Pastoral Letter from the Primates of the Anglican Communion (May 27, 2003)

Human Sexuality

We take seriously the duty laid upon us by the Lambeth Conference 1998 to monitor ongoing discussion of this matter and encourage continued study and reflection in the context of common prayer and worship. We are grateful to the Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez, for taking forward our discussion on matters of sexuality by introducing the booklet "True Union in the Body?", which fruitfully illuminated our study. We are also grateful to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold for drawing our attention to the Report of the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (USA) on this issue. We commend the study of both documents.

The question of public rites for the blessing of same sex unions is still a cause of potentially divisive controversy. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke for us all when he said that it is through liturgy that we express what we believe, and that there is no theological consensus about same sex unions. Therefore, we as a body cannot support the authorisation of such rites.

This is distinct from the duty of pastoral care that is laid upon all Christians to respond with love and understanding to people of all sexual orientations. As recognised in the booklet "True Union", it is necessary to maintain a breadth of private response to situations of individual pastoral care.

Response to the May 27, 2003 Pastoral Letter from the Primates of the Anglican Communion

By the Reverend Michael Hopkins, President Integrity USA, and
the Reverend Susan Russell, Executive Director, Claiming the Blessing

We read with amazement that the Primates took to heart the words of Dr Esther Mombo -- who urged them to "talk to each other rather than about each other" -- while they were engaged in the process of talking about rather than to gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) persons.

We are disappointed that their willingness to be "moved by the stories of Christian witness" did not extend to ours -- which have been systematically excluded from their conversations. We are dismayed that our own Presiding Bishop did not take the opportunity to share with his brother Primates the theology statement offered by Claiming the Blessing, but presented only the Report from the Bishops' Committee on Theology which the House of Bishops declined to receive as a Mind of the House when it met in Kanuga. We are affronted that the "richness of our diversity across the globe" does not include the richness of GLBT Christians and their gifts to the Church and their work on behalf of the Gospel.

Further, we are concerned that a new standard of theological consensus is being invented which has neither roots in historical Anglicanism nor room for prophetic witness. The distinction between and the separation of public rites and private pastoral care is, we believe, a dangerous and slippery slope that not only undermines our identity as people of common prayer but assaults our catholicity.

We take heart in our historical recollection that the Councils of the Church have usually been the last, not the first, to act -- and have done so only after it is clear what the Holy Spirit is already doing. And we believe the Spirit is calling us to press on toward General Convention, committed to the full inclusion of all the baptized into the sacramental life of the Church. We remember that when last we gathered in Minneapolis the Spirit called us ahead of most of the communion on the issue of women's ordination. We suspect that had the Primates gathered in 1976 they would not have "as a body authorised" such ordinations -- and we remind ourselves and the Primates of the tremendous gifts the church has received by the inclusion of women in all orders of ministry. We also claim the blessing of our American polity that includes all orders of ministry in the deliberative process.

Finally, we take heart in the promise from the Primates "to respect the integrity of each other's provinces and dioceses, acknowledging the responsibility of Christian leaders to attend to the pastoral needs of minorities in their care." We believe that the pastoral needs of the GLBT persons in our care can best be met by optional but authorized rites for the blessing of their committed, faithful, monogamous, life-long relationships and we intend to continue our work to achieve that goal at General Convention 2003.

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