Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield spoke of his own Christian faith and responded to questions from the media during a 45-minute session at the Lambeth Conference on July 30.
 
It was one of the few unscripted moments that the media have been able to observe to date at this event,  and Bishop Beckwith drew a large group that delayed the start of an official Episcopal News Service media briefing with bishops Leo Frade of Southeast Florida and Dean Wolfe of Kansas. Bishop Beckwith’s willingness to entertain questions was also notable in that he broke ranks with his colleagues who have http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/7/9/bishops-receive-media-handling-tips received training that encourages them to give the media “no more than they need or can use.”
 
Bishop Beckwith said he had been pleasantly surprised to discover that there were far more traditionalist bishops present at Lambeth than he initially expected. Within The Episcopal Church, he said bishops sharing theological views similar to his are a very small minority. Several times he referred to the gap between the traditionalist Christian theology and that held by the majority of his colleagues.
 
“It’s not just that we’re not on the same page,” he said. “We are not in the same book. We are in different libraries. I am dealing with interfaith relations within The Episcopal Church.
 
“The challenge of this conference is to make some pretty fundamental decisions. Is non-celibate homosexual activity a wholesome witness? It’s time that choice is made.”
 
The Lambeth Conference has four days remaining and Bishop Beckwith said it will be a challenge for the more than 600 Anglican bishops gathered to agree on a common statement.
 
Earlier in the afternoon at a Lambeth Conference media briefing, the second draft of the final reflections paper was distributed. It has grown to 14 pages of descriptive text. For example, under the heading evangelism there are two opening paragraphs, and then the third paragraph repeats the question that the bishops’ indaba discussion groups were asked to discuss earlier in the conference. The remaining three-and-a-half pages of that section seem to summarize what the 14 indaba groups submitted to the reflection drafting team.
 
The draft reflection document was discussed in an optional meeting for bishops, but there was not sufficient time to poll bishops as to what they thought about the second draft.
 
Steve Waring

 

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