Dr Williams hopes for 'Lambeth-lite'
By Bill Bowder

THE SHAPE of the next Lambeth Conference could be decided at a key meeting in London on 6 December.

A group of eight Primates, bishops, and lay people from across the Communion make up the Lambeth design group. With Dr Williams, they will consider radical changes to the conference which could lower the chances of conflict.

Dr Williams is already on record as saying that he wants a "Lambeth-lite", with fewer resolutions, Sue Parks, manager of the conference, said this week. She also thought it likely that the design group would drop the idea of preliminary regional meetings. Meetings were held in the run-up to the 1998 Lambeth Conference to air agenda issues, but were not seen as effective.
If the regional meetings are dropped, and with no further meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council until after the conference, the 2007 Primates' Meeting will be one of the last chances to affect the agenda.

One way for people to air their views will be on the new website http://www.lambethconference.org/. It goes live for the new conference during Advent. "People can make any comments they want to about the conference there," Ms Parks said.

Commentators suggested that Dr Williams had to hold his ground concerning the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Communion. Global South leaders last week argued that the American and Canadian provinces should not be invited unless they "truly repent".
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