Canterbury

By Allan Reeder
Lambeth Conference Communications

Of all the souvenirs, memories and reports of the Lambeth Conference that Anglican bishops will take home, there is one that is most likely to be displayed on a wall in the diocesan office for all to see.

Lambeth reports will be read and resolutions discussed. But bishops will point to official photograph of all the Lambeth bishops and say: "That was Lambeth."

Just as the 1998 Lambeth conference breaks new ground, the official photograph taken Wednesday also set a number of 'firsts' in its own right.

Holding the largest-ever Lambeth conference means that the photograph includes more people than ever before. Together with lay and clergy members of the Anglican Consultative Council attending the conference, around 900 church leaders from more than 160 countries took their place in the photograph. Female bishops and ecumenical observers from other major churches also were in the photograph for the first time.

A way to remember friends

Attending his first Lambeth conference, Capetown's Bishop Ed MacKenzie said later that the photo would be a reminder for him of new friends: "It's been wonderful to discover I have this many brothers and sisters around the world."

While there were rumors that traditionalist bishops opposed to the presence of female bishops at the conference might boycott the photograph, only one bishop, Noel Jones of the Diocese of Soder and Man (England), had specifically indicated beforehand he would not participate, according to Canon James Rosenthal, director of communications for the conference.

"The collegial spirit and the sense of absolute fun was quite evident" as the bishops took their places, Canon Rosenthal said. "It went off without a hitch."

For Secretary-General Canon John Peterson, the sheer differences among the faces in the photo was important: "Racial, ethnic, gender . . . It shows the inclusiveness, the vitality of the Anglican Communion."

The bishops filed quickly onto temporary metal bleachers erected specially for the 1-hour shoot. Stragglers arrived to good-humoured hoots from their colleagues already in place, and soon it was hard to see an empty space. Most of the Anglican bishops wore purple cassocks, but their head coverings ranged from bare heads to ecclesiastical zuchettos and Canterbury caps. Bishop Clyde Wood from North Queensland (Australia) sported an Australian bush hat.

Taking the shot

An organiser on a megaphone appealed: "Where is the Archbishop of New Guinea?" A wit among the bishops whispered: "He's the one in purple."

The last bishop to arrive, climbed the stand. Stewards chased the last TV crew back out of the way, and Chris Wyatt from the photography team barked out his last commands. The sharp shadows eased as a cloud moved across the sun. Photographer Derek Heath took his position behind the camera. In the climax of 18 months of preparation and planning, he gently squeezed the controls on the large-format camera, taking a number of extra shots just in case.

The main event over, the sea of bishops flowed off the seating and spread out across the grass.

"It all went very well," said Lady Christine Eames, world president of the Mothers Union, watching the event from the balcony of the Spouses' Conference platform. "They all did what they were told."

Oxford-based photography company Gillmann & Soame will have the first copy of the 40' x 8' print back at the university by Saturday.

Photo taken of women bishops

The Episcopal Women's Caucus, a feminist advocacy group from the United States, chose a nearby location to capture the image of the first 11 women bishops at Lambeth with the distant Canterbury Cathedral as a backdrop. The bishops came prepared with chairs and a change of robes, opting to replace purple cassocks with red and white rochets and chimeres for what clearly was an historic photograph.

For a second photograph, the women also walked slowly up the hillside with vestments billowing.

Other bishops with a region in common - South India, Australia, Cuba - and Americans with particular seminaries in common - Sewanee and Nashotah House - also stood together to be snapped.

Nan Cobbey, Katie Sherrod, David Skidmore and James Thrall contributed to this story.