CANTERBURY: The weather here is dry and humid; the state of the Anglican Communion is equally dry and spiritually humid.

It is apparent to this writer that the liberals are doing their best to control the narrative here. All the press conferences are run by liberals from the West with token appearances from carefully selected Global South bishops. Nothing is left to chance. Welby is in complete control and his minions do his bidding.

The conference began with a publicity attention-getting march by a handful of homosexual bishops and their supporting friends across the Kent campus. It was designed to embarrass the Archbishop of Canterbury. Oddly enough it fizzled with no mainstream press picking it up.

There are two besetting issues: Eucharistic fellowship and the future of the Human Dignity "call".

The outliers are the Sudanese bishops who are proving to be the thorn in the flesh to Archbishop Justin Welby. He can't control them, as much as he would like too. (I will reveal more in the days that lie ahead.)

When I meet my African brothers and sisters, they are joyful, cheerful and greet with you with Jesus on their lips. By contrast the Americans and Brits look like they have been sterilized with needles. Liberalism is a spiritually bloodless business.

While media mingling is allowed it is not encouraged. In the open plenary sessions, we can be seated with the bishops, (in an allotted area), otherwise the bishops meet in closed session far from prying eyes.

EUCHARISTIC FELLOWSHIP

The Sudanese are leading the charge for an orthodox interpretation of human sexual behavior and full reaffirmation of Lambeth Resolution 1:10 -- straight sex no sodomy. On Sunday they refused to take Holy Communion in the cathedral, a fact that was announced early on in the service by Archbishop Welby.

The bishops were allowed to receive Communion away from the eyes of the media and the live-streaming video cameras. They were allowed that private moment of a deeply personal decision. The Lambeth Conference is bending over backwards to be as embracive and inclusive as humanly possible within a liturgical setting, wrote Mary Ann Mueller.

The Sudanese delegation almost didn't make it. VOL also learned that the Sudanese delegation almost didn't make it to Lambeth because they were asked to sign a document 'respecting' multiple sexualities in Britain.

Once they arrived on campus at the University of Kent, the bishops were presented with the four-page document about their conduct on campus including to respect those of diverse sexualities.

One bishop from South Sudan said he could not sign this as he did not respect people who behaved in such ways, rather he disagreed with them very profoundly. He was told that he would not be allowed to enter the conference unless he signed the undertaking. He consulted his fellow bishops who all took the same line. Then Bishop Anthony Poggo, the newly appointed secretary of the ACC, who is also from South Sudan, stepped in and pointed out to his fellow bishops that what was meant by this English word 'respect', and it was not that they should agree with their behavior, but that they should not attack people of diverse sexualities. Once that was clarified, the bishops and their wives all agreed they could sign the undertaking for the university.

Now why was I not given the same document to sign when I got to Kent University? One suspects racism lies at the root of this request of the Sudanese bishops.

But the Sudanese concerns are far from over. An American Episcopal reporter has been speculating (and that is all it is) about what is going on, causing a Lambeth Palace spokesperson to say:

"The Archbishop of Canterbury had a planned meeting on Saturday with Archbishop Justin Badi, Chair of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA), and some other Primates from the global South. This was one of several meetings that the archbishop is having with Primates and others during the Lambeth Conference. It was a constructive conversation in a spirit of mutual listening about the concerns that the GSFA has already publicly shared.

"We won't be commenting on speculation from unnamed sources not present at the meeting, other than to say that these should not be seen as reliable accounts of a conversation between primates conducted in the spirit of prayerful dialogue."

VOL will bring you breaking news about what is really going on in the next two days. Needless to say, the Global South bishops are not quiet nor will they be silenced by a revisionist vocal west bent on keeping the status quo.

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, did try in his speech to bridge the deep divide at the Lambeth Conference over sexual morality by calling on Anglican Communion bishops to show unity for the sake of evangelism.

In his address at the Mission and Evangelism Plenary on Saturday, Archbishop Cottrell told hundreds of bishops meeting at the University of Kent in Canterbury that "What the world needs is the knowledge that peace can be found even with disagreement. And, brothers and sisters, isn't this a particular opportunity before us this week to show the world that, despite profound disagreement, what we have in Christ is larger and deeper?" he said.

"And I want to say this: water is thicker than blood. It is our baptism that binds us together across the nations and tribes of our world." The water of baptism is more significant than the blood of Christ's atoning sacrifice? Not true. A person's submission to baptism is not more important than Christ's once and for all time redemption on the cross!

Speaking personally to yours truly, the archbishop said discipleship was key, not simply evangelism. He described himself to me as having an evangelical heart wanting to tell people about Jesus as his primary calling.

On the surface he is engaging and personable, but he is a team player who will not halt the steady homosexualization of the Church of England.

HUMAN DIGNITY "CALL"

The other issue is the Human Dignity "call."

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has decided to discontinue using electronic devices to record bishops' response to the Lambeth "Calls", a decision that was met with general applause. (You can guess who applauded the loudest).

Bishops were initially given two options: "this Call speaks for me. I add my voice to it and commit myself to take the action I can to implement it": or "This Call requires further discernment. I commit my voice to the ongoing process."

Then alarm bells went off when it was learned that one of the draft calls included a reaffirmation of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 from 1998 which forbade homosexual behavior. As a result, a third option was added; "This Call does not speak for me. I do not add my voice to this Call".

This did not go down well with the handful of homosexual and lesbian bishops present at the conference because it could have resulted in a split vote once again reaffirming marriage only between "a man and a woman."

Clearly feeling their pain, Archbishop Welby said the calls would continue to be discussed in small groups, with their observations being recorded by a facilitator with a few random groups giving feedback verbally on each call.

The initial draft which contained the reference to Resolution 1.10 was redrafted and appeared to eliminate Resolution 1:10, but was later found to be there. However, a group of Sudanese bishops believed there was a sleight of hand going on by the Archbishop of Canterbury and demanded that the 1998 resolution be fully included with its prohibition against homosexuality.

On Sunday afternoon, Archbishop Justin Welby said, "Having listened to the bishops, the electronic recording of the bishops' choices will not be in place for the remaining calls".

This issue will continue to simmer in the days that lie ahead.

Repeatedly, Archbishop Welby's called for "listening," "reconciliation," and "walking together" as his central theme for the conference which he hoped would end in "good disagreement." One other thing to bear in mind is that these are dog whistle words designed to give his liberal hearers room to breathe and to confuse orthodox Anglicans into thinking they believe what he is saying.

Many suspect it speaks more about himself and his own demons. Both his parents -- Gavin and Jane Welby -- were addicted to alcohol. They had eloped to America in April 1955 to marry in Baltimore, Maryland, with no friends or family to witness the event. Jane immediately realized she had "made the most terrible mistake". Welby was shocked to learn that the former private secretary to Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Montague Browne was his father.

By the age of two, Justin was living in a broken home. By the age of eight, he was sent away to prep school in Sussex and both his parents were deeply in the grip of drink, incapable of looking after him properly.

The archbishop has spoken this week of the crucial importance of the Christian faith, and the gospel of redemption, in turning lives of despair into hope. His mother is a brilliant example of that truth.

One must ask; how motivated is Welby to make or keep all the bishops together even as three emerging groups: The Lambeth Conference, the GSFA and GAFCON vie for dominance. Nobody is talking about the Jerusalem Declaration. It is not on Justin Welby's radar screen.

One truth is unassailable; the Anglican Communion is de facto split; the issue is will it be de jure; only time will tell.

I am posting all the stories that I and my associate Mary Ann Mueller have written that will give you the fullest picture of what is going on here at the 15th Lambeth Conference to date.

My lead story; Primates argue over what it means to be a family, is fast approaching 30,000 hits on Facebook. You can read it here:
https://virtueonline.org/canterbury-lambeth-primates-argue-over-what-it-means-be-christian-family

Here are the others: https://virtueonline.org/interview-archbishop-james-wong-we-will-never-leave-anglican-communion

https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-begins-your-face-gay-march

https://virtueonline.org/archbishop-canterbury-warns-against-exploiting-worlds-poorest-first-lambeth-conference-address

https://virtueonline.org/division-marks-sung-eucharist-canterbury-cathedral

https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-conference-failed-celebrate-dignified-sunday-eucharist

https://virtueonline.org/electronic-devices-record-bishops-responses-dumped-abc

https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-design-group-revises-marriage-definition-and-removes-resolution-110

https://virtueonline.org/will-global-south-bishops-find-support-lambeth-2022

https://virtueonline.org/archbishop-canterbury-meet-global-south-bishops-over-resolution-110

https://virtueonline.org/pride-filled-gay-bishops-fail-understand-true-love-canterbury

https://virtueonline.org/orthodox-bishops-offer-their-own-lambeth-resolution-reaffirming-lambeth-110

https://virtueonline.org/anglican-communion-squandering-its-riches-lambeth-2022

https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-conference-call-human-dignity-revamped

https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-2022-white-privilege-making-calls

https://virtueonline.org/why-global-south-bishops-are-not-weaponising-eucharist

https://virtueonline.org/does-bit-quiet-chuntering-count

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