Human sexuality issue sparks "good energy", "robust debate" at ACC

Basetsana Makena (centre) with Joyce Liundi and Dean Hosam Naoum. 

Archbishop Thabo wraps up his reporting on the 17th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Hong Kong: 

The final closure of ACC-17 happened yesterday, Saturday.

In the morning, three new members were elected to the ACC's standing committee, a body which meets between the three-yearly sessions of the full ACC.

The three were Joyce Haji Liundi from Tanzania, Hosam Elias Naoum, Dean of St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, and our own Basetsana Makena, who represented Africa as one of the new regional youth members of the ACC. She is the first ever to be elected to this high office. Congratulations to all, especially Basetsana.

Otherwise, the final day's proceedings mainly concerned finance, preparations for next year's worldwide Lambeth Conference of bishops, and then resolutions.

A resolution calling for affirmation of those who feel discriminated against because of their sexuality, and calling for feedback on the section of Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference in which the Church committed itself to listening to gay and lesbian members, created good energy and a robust debate – a feature which had been missing until now. 

This was the best part: we argued, we shared real emotions and the issues briefly became real. It was a deeply touching and proud moment for me which was not “manicured”. The Archbishop of Canterbury and a team suggested an alternative motion to that originally presented, which was broad and referred to human dignity instead of human sexuality. This was a safe alternative and was passed without much debate. [See the text at the end of this report.]

The next motion, which called for a theological study of the identity and limits of the Anglican Communion because of the absence of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda from the Communion’s common life was defeated. My sense is that it was limited in scope and did not relate to the other “Instruments of Communion” (the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference and the Primates' Meeting), nor did it take cognizance of what the Communion is currently engaged in. The resolution assumed that we had already concluded that the absence of these three Provinces was a theological matter, and passing it would have meant spending energy and time on Communion navel-gazing and internal problems instead of prioritizing the poor, the marginal etc.

We ended with a fanfare, a big reception and good byes, as Archbishop Paul Kwong of Hong Kong, the chair, declared that “ACC-17 is dissolved.” Then we held the first meeting of the new ACC standing committee, affirmed certain matters and agreed on September 19th as the date of the next standing committee meeting.

Later today, Sunday, we will go to different parishes. I go to St. Andrew's Church, Kowloon. Then we will go to the Cathedral for the final closing service and a meal afterwards. After that I have a meal and meeting with Paul Yung from Trinity Wall Street to talk about our building projects, following which I head for the airport.

Thank you for reading my prayers of recent days, bringing our Province to Hong Kong and the Communion to our Province. Thank you for your prayers for us. To South Africans, happy voting on Wednesday May 8th. In the coming days, pause to think: what values are key in making South Africa the best it could be in service to the poor? Then vote.