Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has cautioned the Episcopal Church not to end the House of Bishops' moratorium on consecrating non-celibate homosexual priests to the episcopate, until the Communion is of common mind.

“I believe if there is ever to be a change in the discipline and teaching of the Anglican Communion on this matter it should not be the decision of one Church alone,” Archbishop Williams said on Feb. 17 at the World Council of Churches assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The actions of the 74th General Convention in affirming the election of the Bishop of New Hampshire and recognizing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions as within the bounds of Church life had violated the tenets of the catholic faith and are “seen in the Communion as the decision of one Church which has consequences and repercussions for others that they have not fully owned themselves,” Archbishop Williams said.

The debate, “rightly or wrongly” has been seen “as an issue between those who want to hold to an essentially traditional view of doctrine over all, and those who believe that the entire Christian pattern, if you like, is open for revision.” That the debate had come to be “represented in these terms indicates how very polarized and divided the situation has become,” he observed.

Archbishop Williams said the Anglican Communion “will expect reaction to what has been said around the Communion” from the General Convention in June. “On a matter where traditionally there has been a very clear teaching,” there must be “the highest degree of consensus for such a radical change.”

At the Primates' meeting in Northern Ireland in February 2005, Archbishop Williams said the position of the Anglican Communion on the issues of human sexuality had been spelled out at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. The Anglican Communion “does not see itself free to sanction same-sex blessing and the ordination of persons in same sex-relationships,” he said.

(The Rev.) George Conger reported for The Living Church from the World Council of Churches assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

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