EDNY Plays Active Part in ACC Meeting in England
Bishop Roskam, Jane Tully prepare for June gathering

Since General Convention 2003, controversy over the consent to the election of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire has swirled throughout the Anglican Communion in such forms as the Primates meetings and the issuance of the Windsor Report in October 2004. The next step is the upcoming meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).

Two people from the Episcopal Diocese of New York will be playing key roles at the ACC meeting in June in England: Bishop Catherine Roskam and Jane Tully of St. Bartholomew’s, Manhattan.

What is the ACC?

In the Anglican Communion, there are four instruments of unity: the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Primates Meetings; the Lambeth Conference for all Anglican/Episcopal bishops (held every 10 years; the next is 2008); and the Anglican Consultative Council.

The last, the Anglican Consultative Council is the only one of the four which includes lay people and priests; the others are comprised of, or are solely for, bishops or Primates.

Each of the 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion sends representatives to ACC meetings. From the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA), the representatives are a bishop, a priest and a lay person: Bishop Roskam; the Rev. Robert Sessum of the Diocese of Lexington; and the Hon. Josephine Hicks of the Diocese of North Carolina.

The next ACC meeting will be held in Nottingham, England at the end of June. While ACC meetings are always important, what makes this gathering significant is that the ECUSA representatives, as well as their counterparts from the Anglican Church in Canada, were asked by the Primates in February 2005 to “voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference.”

Some have interpreted this action as placing ECUSA and the Canadians out of communion with the other 36 Anglican provinces. However, most strongly agree that this action does not represent broken communion. Rather, this move was meant to allow both provinces an opportunity to present the theological basis of their actions.

Recently, Executive Council of ECUSA voted to send our three representatives to the June ACC meeting, but not as voting participants. The Anglican Church of Canada has voted likewise.

Bishop Roskam explained, “As delegates, our going and having a presence there at the ACC meeting, but withdrawing our official participation, honors the request of the Primates to withdraw without compromising the integrity of the ACC.”

What will happen at the meeting?

The ACC representatives from ECUSA will be attending the meeting without participation. In essence, they will not have seat, voice or vote at the meeting. Nonetheless, the feeling was strong that the ECUSA representatives should have a presence at the meeting.

“This is the first opportunity for the conversation,” Bishop Roskam noted. “This is the first occasion for it to happen in a way that provides for listening from all parts of the Communion. As an ACC delegate, I will be listening.”

What will happen, however, is that the report from the Theology Committee will be presented. The Theology Committee, of which Bishop Roskam is a member, was especially created by Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to answer questions and to present the theological and spiritual reasoning of the decisions of General Convention 2003.

The report will be presented by a committee which includes Bishop Roskam and Tully. Other committee members are: Bishop Neil Alexander of Atlanta; the Rev. Michael Battle, associate dean for academic affairs and vice-president of Virginia Theological Seminary; Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana; and the Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity.

“We are truly going to listen to the concerns of the Anglican Communion,” Bishop Roskam noted. “As we make our own presentation, my hope is that people will listen to us with open hearts and open minds.”

Tully’s involvement as a member of the Committee is based on her extensive work with CFLAG, a national network of Clergy Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

“I’m deeply honored to be part of the process,” Tully told ENY. “As the mother of a gay son and member of CFLAG, I welcome the chance to share the experience of families who love their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children as our church seeks to remain one family under God.”

A Celebration of Ministry

As the ACC meeting nears, there will be a celebration of ministry and preparation for Bishop Roskam on Wednesday, June 8 at 7 pm at St. John’s Getty Square, Yonkers. This corresponds with Bishop Roskam’s 10th anniversary of election as Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.