Northern Ireland Anglican Bishop expresses public concerns about Lambeth agenda

BB NOTE: Northern Ireland Bishop Harold Miller has gone public on his concerns regarding the agenda of the Lambeth Conference. While willing to give Lambeth "one more chance," at a recent Synod gathering the Diocese of Down and Dromore, the bishop expressed his dismay with Lambeth's "recasting" by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

George Conger's article at Religious Intelligence is here. Here is an excerpt:

Dublin: Irish evangelical leader Bishop Harold Miller of Down and Dromore conceded his decision to attend the Anglican Lambeth Conference “did not make sense” in light of the agenda and invitation list put forward by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but it was important to “give it one more chance” so as to preserve the gathering’s “moral authority.”

In his Presidential Address to the Synod of the Diocese of Down and Dromore on June 19, Bishop Miller noted this month’s Lambeth Conference would be marked by the absence of a “quarter of our bishops." He was “deeply saddened” by their decision as it would undermine the “moral authority” of the Conference, as well as excluding the voices of the most vibrant churches in the Communion.

However, he also expressed concerns about the conference as planned, noting it had been recast into a “retreat-come-training-conference and a meeting and listening place for bishops.”

The agenda “bothers me,” he said, asking “Who is doing the ‘training’ and how is it going to be ‘slanted?”

He also asked what “listening” meant when the Episcopal Church “does not seem to have listened? Does it mean ‘you must keep on listening till you come round to a particular point of view?’

Read the rest here.