Archbishop of Canterbury’s Concluding Presidential Address to the Lambeth Conference 2008

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I began the second of these plenary addresses with a reminder of the question, ‘What is Lambeth ’08 going to say?’ And I suggested that we also needed to ask ‘Where are we going to speak from?’ I hope that in recent days there has been some growing clarity about both of these questions and how we answer them : but today there is no avoiding the question of the central message, and I have the rather dangerous task of trying to discern some of what that message might be and to share with you what I perceive. I’ll do this by moving from the obvious and more superficial level to what I hope is a more fully theological perspective, so bear with me on the journey - even in the middle of a summer afternoon!

The first thing to say about this Conference - and I say it with gratitude and admiration to all of you - is that it has been a time when everyone has taken responsibility for everyone else. People have been loyal to the process devised - even when they have had serious difficulties and objections to it; and in so doing they have been loyal to one another. The level of commitment has been shown not only in people’s steady involvement in the work of the groups but also in their reluctance to step outside the Conference and look for a platform or an audience elsewhere. The rest at StandFirm