Anglicans begin painful quest toward a definition of 'communion'

The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda and spiritual overseer of the Anglican Mission in America, was in Roanoke last weekend to visit a congregation of that mission, Roanoke County's Church of the Holy Spirit. Kolini has been outspoken among African, Asian and South American primates, or leaders of national churches, who have decried Episcopal Church USA policies. Disagreements have focused on the Americans' recent confirmation of a noncelibate homosexual bishop and provisions some interpret as sanctioning the creation of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.

Kolini insists, however, that the division "is not about the consecration of a bishop or the ordination of a homosexual. The whole issue is scriptural authority. Are we guided by Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit?"

"This is not a negotiable," he said in an interview last Sunday, indicating there was no room for compromise when the commission's report is released by the end of next month.

"Departure from Scripture" amounts to "a denial of Christ," Kolini said, and "spiritual suicide."

For him, the only acceptable outcome of the study is "to call the Episcopal Church (USA) to repentance, to conform to the faith handed down by the fathers of the church."

No intention

of 'repenting'

The commission is studying some other critical issues - including whether groups such as the Anglican Mission in America should be recognized, and whether the archbishop of Canterbury, the titular head of the Anglican Communion, should have more authority over the 38 autonomous national churches it includes.

But the commission's focus is on the division wrought by the debate over the place of homosexuals in the church. Hard feelings over the theological debate have been exacerbated for some of the more conservative, mostly non-Western, primates who were insulted by some Westerners' assertions that they are too unsophisticated to appreciate changing understandings of homosexual orientation.

In any case, there's not the slightest indication that the Episcopal Church USA has any intention of reversing its policies or "repenting" of its recent actions. Those led not only to divisions with other Anglicans around the world, but within the United States.

What's happening here may well be a model for what happens - in theological reverse, that is - inside the Anglican Communion.

Episcopal Epiphany, the bimonthly newsletter of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, reported in its current issue on a recent meeting here of conservative Episcopalians unhappy with the national church and their own diocese. Editor Christie Meredith Wills quoted moderator Clarence Renshaw's determination to work within the diocese and the church.

"We don't want to walk off in a huff. We are committed to staying in: fighting, struggling to maintain an orthodox voice," Renshaw was quoted as saying.

On the international level, a similar phenomenon is already forming. Some of the provinces are already declaring themselves "out of communion" with specific dioceses in the United States, for instance. Others refuse to accept monetary donations from the Episcopal Church USA, even though they are in dire need. Yet all remain, so far, in the Anglican Communion.

But the key question becomes "what is communion?"