Anglicans: Lambeth Exceeded Expectations, Says Williams

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday hailed the recent Lambeth conference as a success while at the same time acknowledging the difficulties that lie ahead for the Anglican Communion.

In a 1,500-word pastoral letter, sent by post over the bank holiday weekend to the 650 bishops who were in Canterbury last month for the once-a-decade meeting, the Right Rev Rowan Williams set out his personal reflections on the 17-day summit.

He wrote that Lambeth had succeeded "to a remarkable degree, more than most people expected" in allowing all of the bishops to be heard. There was no doubt that nearly all those attending wanted the Communion to stay together.

The conference, Lambeth 2008, was designed to maintain unity in the face of global rifts over the ordination of gay bishops, blessings of same-sex unions and cross-border interventions.

About 230 bishops, mostly from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, boycotted the event. Many of these absentees were at the launch of a breakaway movement, the Global Anglican Future Conference, which is aimed at traditionalists.

Williams also had to deal with discontent at home over the decision to ordain women as bishops with no special measures for objectors, and he arrived in Canterbury bruised by a divisive meeting of the general synod.

Williams uses the letter to illustrate the Communion's common goals. It also reiterates the official position on homosexuality - which is that it is incompatible with Scripture - and notes that "premature" or "unilateral" local change is "risky and divisive".