by Susie Erdey
Lambeth Conference Communications

Bishops leading the Lambeth Conference's Section One, titled "Called to Full Humanity," outlined their small-group conversations so far to journalists attending the daily press briefing Wednesday.

As the three-week Lambeth reaches its mid-point, a "sense of community is emerging" among the 730 Anglican bishops, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of Episcopal Church in the United States told journalists. "This is due largely to the worship and the Bible studies, which grow not only out of Scripture but out of our own lives and experiences," he said.

According to Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndugane of Cape Town, primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, the key themes are issues "that will be before us for the next millennium, whether we want to play 'ostrich theology' or not. The world is waiting to hear what emanates from our deliberations."

Euthanasia emerges as issue

The recent overturning of euthanasia legislation in Australia has surfaced as bishops discussed that issue.

Archbishop Peter Hollingworth, whose church province includes the Northern Territory where euthanasia laws were introduced and then overturned, is chairing the group working on a Lambeth statement on that issue.

Archbishop Hollingworth told reporters today that a key part of his sub-group's work was drawing a distinction between allowing a terminally ill patient to die and actively causing that death.

However, he said, the use of increased dosages of analgesics which may indirectly hasten the death of a terminally ill patient would not fall under the definition of euthanasia.

The use of "gradual increases of dosages" (of analgesics) was now a "widespread and well-accepted practice," Archbishop Hollingworth said.

The archbishop of Brisbane said there were "huge cultural differences" in views of death and dying between those held by indigenous peoples, in the developing world, and in the developed world. The archbishop said he hoped that the final statement approved by the Lambeth conference include mention of palliative care.

Differing views on technology

Atlanta's Bishop Frank Allan (USA) told reporters that the widely varying backgrounds of the world's Anglican bishops are reflected in discussion on the impact of modern technology.

"The Year 2000 computer bug is an issue for the North. The South is more concerned with technology's effect on feeding people, on war, and how technology displaces people," Bishop Allan said.

"We need to be aware of the effect and the price of technology. The theology of dominion and the technology involved in tilling the soil and caring for the earth are all stewardship issues," he said. "We have seen the disastrous effects of technology gone awry, but we have also seen the wonderful benefits."

A meeting in London, Tuesday, in which Anglican bishops from the conference talked with government officials, including the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as key bankers and representatives of international aid organizations is another sign of growing momentum in the campaign to cancel international debt, the press conference heard.

"Christian churches have pushed debts to the top of the agenda in a way that would not otherwise be possible," Worcester's Bishop Peter Selby (England) told reporters.

Bishop Selby, who's chairing this theme at the conference, said three key issues were emerging in the bishops' discussion so far:

• some debts should not be considered debts because they were "immorally assumed" by dictatorial governments;
• any new international forum formed to deal with debt reduction and cancellation must include voices from the developing world;
• the present initiatives for debt cancellation are too slow and cumbersome and must be speeded up if the goal of halving the number of people living in poverty world-wide by 2015 is to be met.

Any criticism of a nation's human rights record coming from the Lambeth conference will have to be handled with "sensitivity" where a tough stand might put some bishops in danger, the chair of the Lambeth Human Rights section said.

Columbo's Bishop Kenneth Fernando (Ceylon) said as the bishops discussed human rights abuses they had been "horrified by the stories from around the world," especially from the Sudan, Rwanda, Myanmar, and his native Sri Lanka.

However, "We will not publish sensitive points without permission of the bishops of the countries involved," Bishop Fernando said. "We are concentrating on the widening gap between rich and poor, on violence against women and children, on the effects of guns and landmines, on racism and caste systems, on fundamentalism, and on refugees and asylum seekers."

Spotlight on church's record on the environment

Bishop George Browning, from the diocese of Canberra and Goulburn (Australia), believes the church's involvement in environmental issues today seems less than it was 10 years ago. In some cases, he said, "the church has been seen as the problem rather than the solution," because of the perception that "Christian faith is anthropocentric with no interest in the created order."

Bishop Browning suggested that environmental groups may call for the Anglican Communion to set up an worldwide environmental network- "not necessarily based in the United Kingdom or the United States, in fact, preferably not"-that would link Anglican concerns with the concerns of other faith communities.