Dr Williams plans to attend US General Convention in July: CEN 3.06.09 p 7.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams will travel to the United States in July and attend two days of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in Anaheim, California.

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Church of England Newspaper Dr Williams will visit the US General Convention from July 7-9 before returning for the start of General Synod in York. The Episcopal News Service has reported that Dr. Williams will participate in Bible Studies at the triennial meeting of the church’s synod and will be a keynote speaker at a global economic forum on July 8.

This will be Dr. Williams’ first visit to the US General Convention. However in 2007 he attended the New Orleans meeting of the US House of Bishops, garnering mixed reviews. While many bishops praised his efforts at stabilizing the communion, others on the left, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts, and the right, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, expressed their disappointment with Dr. Williams’ leadership.

On Sept 20, 2007 after addressing the American bishops in private sessions, Dr. Williams heard concerns and complaints from some two dozen bishops. Anglo-Catholic Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy told Dr. Williams that the changes of doctrine and discipline made over the past twenty years in the Episcopal Church no longer made it recognizably part of the catholic church.

The Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson attacked Dr. Williams saying that although he had supported him in the past, he could no longer do so as the archbishop’s juxtaposition of fidelity to the catholic faith and fidelity to the aspirations of gay clergy to higher office was one of the “most dehumanizing things” he had heard.

Other bishops rubbished Dr. Williams and his office as Archbishop of Canterbury, denigrating his motives and his knowledge of the American Church. They explained that the catholic faith meant not fidelity to theological norms, but to inclusion of all people. The bishops explained that the revision of the Baptismal service in the American 1979 Prayer Book had created a doctrine of a “baptismal covenant” that made inclusion and social activism the primary sacramental virtues.

Comments posted to the listserve for members of the House of Deputies of the General Convention indicate that past displeasure with Dr. Williams’ decisions will likely be raised afresh by delegates to this year’s General Convention. However, the weakening of the conservative bloc by secessions and retirements will likely see the majority of complaints come from one direction.