Via Media USA affirms Eames Report Call for Reconciliation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From Via Media USA
(Pittsburgh, PA, October 18, 2004)

Contact: Dr. Christopher Wilkins, Facilitator, Via Media USA,
Voice: 412/831-1737 and 412/760-8817 (cell)
Email: ciwilkins@juno.com,

Contact: Leslie Poole, Public Relations Committee, Via Media USA,
Voice: 407/647-3492
Email: Lespoole@cfl.rr.com

The Windsor Report of the Lambeth Commission is a very complex and rich document, which requires and deserves much prayerful study. We thank the Lambeth Commission members for their careful and lengthy work. We are encouraged that the report's ultimate goals are to reach reconciliation within the Anglican Communion through dialogue and to bring an end to the divisions that now plague both church and communion.

We are pleased that The Episcopal Church, along with the Anglican Church in Canada, is invited to participate in serious theological reflection and discussion with the rest of the communion in order to share our understandings of God’s call. Via Media USA is committed to fostering that dialogue, reaching out to all Episcopalians to encourage mutual respect, with Christian charity and grace, in the process.

Via Media USA, an organization of 13 groups in 12 dioceses across the United States, has members with a wide range of understandings of sexuality issues in the church. However, we stand firm in our goal of seeking unity within The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We hope that the Windsor Report will serve as a means by which we can resolve our differences while remaining united in the love of Christ and committed to care for each other as sisters and brothers. It has indeed affirmed the 'via media' tradition of the Anglican Communion. We encourage everyone to
read the 93-page report, as well as our Presiding Bishop’s thoughtful initial reflections on it, prayerfully and charitably. There is much wisdom here.

Via Media USA also hopes that, in the wake of this report, efforts by extremists to foster schism and exacerbate tensions within The Episcopal Church will cease, as requested by the Commission. Rather than offering a
new theology, the covenant proposed in the report reinforces the traditional Anglican essentials as found in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, and proposes a decision-making process and relationship to move us forward. As
part of our baptismal covenant, we Episcopalians promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. May this report and our responses to it lead us into a deeper renewal of this promise, seeking common ground and strengthening the ties that bind us, joyfully and as one, in Christ.