The Most Rev. Robert H.A. (Robin) Eames, Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, delivered a clear message during his recent visit to New York: the Lambeth Commission, of which he chairs, will lay the groundwork for the future of the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Robert H. A. Eames spoke at The Church Club about his roles as chair of the Lambeth Commission, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh.

Photo by KARA FLANNERY

“If this commission does its job,” Archbishop Eames said prior to his formal address to the Church Club, “then what we come up with in terms of pastoral guidance should be the sort of thing that will allow the Anglican Communion in generations to come to face up to any difficulty. In other words, I don't believe that we could say this particular issue is the last problem for Anglicanism.”

The Lambeth Commission is an international group of clergy and laity appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in October 2003. The group was formed and Archbishop Eames was named chairperson at the conclusion of an Anglican Primates Meeting, called after Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was approved at General Convention last summer.

Speculation on all sides is running rampant concerning the outcome of the report by Lambeth Commission. Nonetheless, Archbishop Eames is not shedding any light on what the report may or may not contain. Rather, he assured that the commission members, though quite diverse, are working together “brilliantly.” He expanded, “We bring different gifts, different experiences, different qualifications to this one task. We have a superb team of people. We have theologians, we have lawyers, we have sociologists, we have biblical scholars; we have such a wide spectrum of gifts. My job is to conduct the orchestra and make sure that the orchestra ends up at the end of the night playing the same tune.”

He revealed that the Commission has received correspondence and comments from throughout the Anglican Communion, not just from ECUSA. “We’ve received information from provinces, dioceses, individuals, bishops, priests, laity, non-Anglicans. It goes into the hundreds,” he cited. “We are listening to everyone.”

The Lambeth Commission first met in February. In mid-June, the Commission will meet in Kanuga on retreat and then again in Windsor, England in September. The report will be issued sometime in October 2004 (a date has not been set).

Using the analogy of a family, Archbishop Eames stressed that the Anglican Communion is very much like a family – all related but different, all connected but in many different places. Considering that the Episcopal Church Annual describes the Anglican Communion as “70 millions members of 38 self-governing churches made up of over 500 dioceses, 30,000 parishes and 64,000 individual congregations in a total of 164 countries”, that makes for a lot of family relations.

“The report is not going to be giving everybody everything,” the Archbishop shared. “We are trying to see what way the family can live together rather than face division. It is intended to help us face future difficulties.”

More than once he stated, “This is more about the future of Anglicanism.”

Archbishop Eames, a tall man with a relaxed air and determined stance, is no stranger to controversy. He previously chaired a worldwide Anglican Commission on the ordination of women. Speaking of that time, he remarked, “It was a different situation, insofar as I suppose it was the first major crisis Anglicanism had faced. [With] this one we have the experience of the other one and that does tend to condition people's outlook, condition people's minds to a particular situation. Feelings ran very deep on the question of women priests.”

He continued, “I like to think that the [first] Eames Commission helped Anglicanism to come to a realization of the role of women in ministry. There are still places in the Anglican Communion where those guidelines are not accepted, but the Presiding Bishop at the time assured me that we had helped ECUSA by what we did. Now if people can say to me, come the autumn, you have helped us to see a way forward, I'll go to my grave very happy.”

Of the final report, he promised, “What we produce will be clear, honest.”

At The Church Club
Archbishop Eames addressed an enthusiastic group at the Church Club on May 18.

Paying tribute to “the great support that your Club has given to the Anglican Communion, particularly through the support of the Compass Rose Society,” he quickly launched into the work of the Lambeth Commission, echoing many of his pre-address comments. “I want to assure you about two things,” he began. “First of all, no voice is going unheard. I know there are some who believe that the way in which things are presented means that we've already made up our minds about the recommendations we will make. I would assure you that is totally untrue--totally. And to those who, for various reasons--and again I speak as sensitively as I can--those who for various reasons feel that they are hurt, alienated, misunderstood, not represented, and so on--I would assure them that no voice is going unheard.”

He continued, “The second thing I want to say, as sincerely as I possibly can: The amount of work that we are facing is immense. The submissions we've received runs into many hundreds, and most of them are written. And as you will understand, Anglicans are not the shortest writers of essays--reflected only in the length of the sermons of our clergy!”

The Archbishop made public promises about the Lambeth Commission report: “While, obviously, not even Archangel Gabriel could produce a report which will please everyone, I promise you it will be detailed; it will be sincere; it will, I hope also, enable us to find a way forward. Please remember us in your prayers, because we're not in this for ourselves — we're doing it for you and for the Anglican Communion.”

He expanded on his recurring theme of family: “At the end of the day, we're all members of the one family — a diverse, scattered family. A family that has got vast cultural differences, political outlook, social and economic background — but we all say we belong to the Anglican Communion. And because we have that identity, it does us no harm at times to pause and think where we are, what we are, and what we're doing.”

Eames painted a brief history and recap of the expansion of the Worldwide Anglican Communion in all parts of the globe that incorporated missionaries, the Book of Common Prayer, economics, Third World countries, colonialism, and more, which in time “forced us to recognize that we were different culturally, we were different politically, and perhaps we were just a little bit different in terms of religious outlook.”

Noting that these changes caused the need for communication -- “And communication is a two-way business — it's the talking and the listening,” — he queried, “What was it we heard? We heard a different philosophy about missionary work, where no longer were we spending a fortune on training our people to go to the global South and to evangelize, but we were saying, 'Here is the means for you to develop yourselves.' And the whole missionary picture of Anglicanism went under its own quiet revolution. And we also learned the importance of autonomy, which allowed the ancient Church of Ireland, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and all the other provinces that make up our world family to say: Let us adapt and conform to our local traditions, our local outlook, and in some real way, help us to recognize it is 'bonds of affection' which bound us together — not rules, not regulations, and certainly not a central curia.”

Returning to his prevailing theme, the Archbishop noted, “Like a family — even the best of families--there were moments of sheer glory, there were moments of wonderful advancement and wonderful encouragement. But just sometimes, there were what the politician usually says: 'a little local difficulty.' ”

He also shared, “I'm an Anglican. I hope I'm a Christian. And I believe that one of the greatest messages that you and I must have the courage to take away from this wonderful occasion tonight is that we are thankful for the Anglican Communion. And we're thankful for our faith, and we're thankful for the family, and under God we will find a way forward.”

While in New York
Archbishop Eames expressed his disappointment at the shortness of his visit and the inability to see many of his friends in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The Archbishop’s visit may have been one a few days, but there was a lot happening in New York when he was here.

He was here when the 9/11 Commission was conducting televised hearings in NYC. “My heart went out to everyone, to those testifying,” he sighed. “I nearly cried this morning as I saw just an hour of the hearings about the doom of the two towers.”

He was also here when the Big Apple learned it was in the finals for possible selection as host of the 2012 Olympics. The Archbishop, however, was non-committal. “I’ve visited all the cities that were selected,” he winked, “and they are all nice places.”

Archbishop Eames became Archbishop of Ireland in 1986 and is the senior prelate in the entire Anglican Communion. Throughout his ministry, he has taken an active role in the Peace Process in Northern Ireland; he was granted a Life Peerage by Queen Elizabeth II for his work towards a ceasefire in that country.

The purposes of Church Club, as stated in its constitution, “are to strengthen the life and faith of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, to support theological education, and to offer its members a forum for the discussion of important issues facing the Church, and opportunities for them to share friendship.”Complete transcript of his presentation is available from ENS, www.episcopalchurch.org.

BACK