Bp. David Bena: Church Faces a Critical Moment

Thursday, Jul 17, 2008
By DAVID BENA
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

ALBANY, N.Y. There is no question that we have reached a critical juncture within the international Anglican Communion. Each step forward from this point will inevitably affect even the smallest Episcopal and orthodox Anglican parishes in Virginia.

With Lambeth, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops starting this week in England, the future of Anglicanism will once again be a topic of conversation. However, it's unfortunate that when the Anglican Communion is in such dire need of action, the Lambeth gathering is poised to deliver nothing more than two weeks of conversation.

The organizers of the conference have stated as much, making it abundantly clear that they have no plans to pass any resolutions or take any action at all that would help repair the Communion.

While Lambeth is poised to disappoint, I cannot help but contrast the event with a very different meeting. the rest