Bishops call on Archbishop of Canterbury to be more decisive in leadership of Anglican Communion

Edelberto Behs, PORTO ALEGRE, Brasil, November 28, 2005

The Chamber of Bishops of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) sent an open Taxi Heathrow Airport letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, calling on him to take a firmer stand regarding the integrity of the Anglican Communion and the autonomy of the provinces.

Signed in Brasilia by the 12 Anglican Bishops that make up the Chamber, the letter expressed unanimous solidarity with the Brazilian Primate Orlando Santos de Oliveira in his confrontation with the former bishop of the Diocese of Recife Robinson Cavalcanti.

The letter was sent November 14 but it was not made public until the 24th due to the participation of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the South-South encounter held in Egypt in October. The event was organized by Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Akinola, considered ultra-conservative in the Anglican Communion, sent a letter to the IEAB in August, canceling its participation in the event, while Cavalcanti was invited to the meeting.

“We do not understand why the Archbishop of Canterbury did not comment publicly on our arbitrary exclusion,” said the Brazilian bishops. According to the letter, with his presence and intervention, he legitimized the declarations that aim to re-invent the Anglican Communion, turning it into a federation of Churches through the signing of a confessional declaration. 
In statements to ALC, Orlando Santos de Oliveira explained that the Archbishop of Canterbury was always a great liberal theologian. In an attempt to preserve the Anglican Communion and its leadership, Williams has not taken a clear position in the conflict in the Anglican Church about the issue of human sexuality, the autonomy of the Anglican provinces and the role of the Communion itself.

"This does not help. Historically, the Christian Church was always marked by controversy,” said Santos de Olivera, suggesting, between the lines, the need for a firmer stance on the part of Williams in this difficult time in the Anglican Communion.

The Superior Justice Tribunal of the Brazilian Province suspended  Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti from the Church ministry due to contempt against the Primate, bishops, the IEAB and for involving himself in the jurisdiction of other provinces in an irregular fashion.

The conflict between Cavalcanti and the IEAB and the primate dates back to the participation of the former bishop of Recife in a confirmation service in 2003 of 110 young people in a Church in the Orthodox Church of Ohio, United States, by five retired Anglican Bishops without the consent of the local diocesan bishop.

The celebration was requested by the young people, who were opposed to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, a declared homosexual, by the Episcopal Church of the United States. Cavalcanti participated in the celebration without the agreement of the IEAB leadership.

In an open letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chamber of Bishops of the IEAB mentioned the reception of Robinson Cavalcanti and 32 dissident clergy from the Diocese of Recife in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Montevideo.

“This contradicts the universal principal of the territorial nature of the provinces. This is an attempt to structure the Anglican Communion on ideological as opposed to territorial foundations,” said the Brazilian Bishops.