I have resisted the temptation to contribute anything about The Lambeth Conference as there is probably too much being written about by people who are not there and do not know what is actually happening.
It is after all a private gathering for the Bishops of the Anglican Communion and I am happy for them to be afforded the privilege which, in good times and in bad, has throughout history been of benefit to the wider Church.
Some reflections mainly on the external commentary however have come to mind:
1. I am hugely impressed with the sheer energy which must be going into the simple participation in the Conference - days starting at 6am and then working none-stop throughout the day and the need to keep this up for 3 weeks- I can't help wondering given the length of the conference whether some space and relief from the treadmill would not be helpful. A least one blogging Bishop has acknowledged the exhaustion.
2. I am delighted that the press seem to have been fairly comprehensively excluded from so much of the conference. Sadly they seem to have only one agenda and that is to over-hype and focus on the gay issue. The standard of reporting from the religious correspondents has been frankly tabloid and the petty complaints about facilities and exclusion has become tiresome. Thank goodness that the Lambeth Media team are reminding them that they are there to report what is happening - not as contributors.
3. A particular low point in the standard of religious journalism was The Times stunt interview with Archbishop Deng Primate of the Sudan - who was coaxed into making controversial statements on the gay issue and his brother Bishop. This is journalism of the lowest and most exploitative kind where an individual of the greatest integrity (but only recently moving into the role and with relatively little understanding of the press in the UK) is used to pursue personal agendas. The presence of Chris Sugden in the background only confirms the the sense of revulsion. In the end I suppose there is something about the integrity of those involved - and having spent so much money and time on the junket at Canterbury the need to justify it with a story for one's Editor.
4. I understand that at a recent press conference where journalists were complaining about the lack of absence access (a privilege rather than a right surely) a frustrated journalist asked the question " so what was the point of us coming? to which the Lambeth spokesperson wonderfully replied "well you asked to come" The answer is of course In the days of the internet and blogging Bishops it is perfectly possible to obtain accurate views (across a range of perspectives) of how the Conference feels - so who needs the tabloids anyway. Perhaps the Editors will see sense in the future.
5. The best bit of ill-informed writing comes from The Tablet - The British Catholic weekly which I read each week because of its normally high standards of journalism.However they seem to have lost the plot a little when it comes to coverage of Lambeth and perhaps from sharing a press tent with The Times and Telegraph have succumbed to their obsession with the gay issue. The normally intelligent Victoria Combe writes in today's issue:
Dr Williams had sought to avoid a public spat between his (a very papal notion?) Bishops over homosexuality by enclosing them in a three-day retreat and reordering the Conference so that Bishops were in small listening groups . . rather than open debates.
Surely the whole point of the Conference design and the retreat was the precise reverse - to provide our Bishops with a context where the real issues could be brought before God and where the differing voices and experiences could be heard.
The presence of Brian McLaren at the same conference as Cardinal Ivan Dias simply illustrates the diversity of the Anglican Communion and its ecumenical relationships. The Tablet struggles however with the identity of the former:
On Monday night the speaker, very warmly introduced by Dr Williams, was an American called Brian McLaren who comes from the "emerging church" movement which is critical of traditional structures, and is keen to develop a less rigid form of evangelism that can speak to young unchurched people."
6. Congratulations to all involved in yesterdays London march for poverty - a brilliant bit of PR - but again taxing on the participants who were forced by the timetable to walk in cassocks and in the case of women spouses the clothing chosen for a Buckingham Palace Garden party which range from national dress to traditional Garden party hats and dresses. It was good to see and hear of a flash of genuine passion from Gordon Brown as well.
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