After-shocks from the earthquake rocking the worldwide Anglican Communion will be felt during the deliberations of the General Synod " or parliament " of the Australian Anglican Church this week.
In his presidential address on Saturday, the Primate advised General Synod to express their support for the Americans after, he believes, their Bishops complied with the Anglican Communion's requests to step back from their pro-homosexual agenda.
Yet in a firmly worded resolution, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney has already, last week, overwhelmingly made clear they do not agree with the Primate's assessment.
The Sydney Anglican leadership expressed their "profound concern' that the global Anglican Communion's top decision-making body believes the US Episcopal Church's response is "neither positive, adequate or appropriate'.
The resolution also gave support to Archbishop Jensen’s way forward, outlined a fortnight ago, which looked ‘steadfastly to a future in which the bonds of Communion have been permanently loosened’.
“The basic issue is no longer how can the Communion be kept together. It is, within the Communion as it has now become, how can biblical Anglicans help each other survive and mission effectively in the contemporary world?” Archbishop Jensen said.
Dr Mark Thompson, president of the Anglican Church League, who originally moved the Sydney Standing Committee resolution said his aim had been to ensure that "an evangelical assessment be heard'.
"If we don't speak, it’s easy for our concerns to be swamped… it gets painted as a marginal concern," he said.
Primate "positive' about US reaction
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall dedicated nearly half of his Presidential Address to the crisis in the Communion.
While Archbishop Aspinall acknowledged that it is "clear that a majority in The Episcopal Church is deeply convinced that it is right to include fully in the life of the church and gay and lesbian people', he believes the Americans have complied with the Primates' requests.
He believes that the "majority' of American bishops have "indicated that they will refuse consent in future to the consecration' of a "non-celibate gay and lesbian person'.
He added that the American bishops had resolved the "ambiguity' over local experiments with authorising the blessing of same-sex unions.
"Last month the House of Bishops pledged they would not authorise such rites," he said.
In regards to ensuring proper care for dissenting minorities in the United States, Archbishop Aspinall said the Episcopal Church "had legal advice that it could not implement the scheme proposed by the Primates'.
However he believes ‘there is a clear willingness to devise a scheme in conjunction with the wider Communion which responds to the substance of the Primates' request’.
In summary, Archbishop Aspinall said the American response was "positive', and although debate has not been resolved, their position ends the need for "further unilateral action'.
"On the basis of my participation in the meetings and my conversations with bishops of the Episcopal Church across the diversity of views, I believe their response is positive. I think the House of Bishops has complied with the requests of the Windsor report and, beyond what Windsor asked for, the substance of the requests from the Primates has also been met."
"Whether or not this Synod agrees with my assessment, clearly not all the issues in this debate have been resolved. Far from it."
"I believe that these recent responses from The Episcopal Church, through its House of Bishops, make it more possible for us to pursue discussion throughout the Communion without them being undermined by further unilateral action."
Further reactions
Later Saturday evening Archbishop Aspinall’s assessment was reinforced by Canon Kenneth Kearon, head of the Anglican Consulative Council, in a special after-dinner address.
“What I saw at the Primate’s meeting with the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the USA… was a genuine attempt by both to seriously repair the breeches of trust which have arisen,” he said.
However, Dr Mark Thompson from the ACL described Archbishop Aspinall's assessment as "a fudge'.
"At every single point [the Americans] have failed to do what Windsor asked and it is fudge to say they have."
"But the main problem is with those who consecrated Gene Robinson, including Bishop Schori" they have not repented of that."
