ACNS has published an interview with Robin Eames about the work of the Lambeth Commission. You can read it here. All of it is interesting, but in particular further contributions are still welcome:
5. There has been criticism that only certain voices are being heard by the commission. Is this the case? What were the guidelines that decided who was allowed to present directly to its members?
Well, as I’ve said, very few people have actually had the opportunity to speak to the Commission in person. But I must say that there has been absolutely no intention of listening only to particular voices, or even the loudest voices. From the first, we sent out an open invitation for people to submit evidence to the Commission. Some groups appear to have been waiting for us to take the initiative to contact them. That has not been possible. But can I say again, that we don’t want any voice to go unheard – the opportunity is there for all to make a submission to the Commission. And of course, the individual members of the Commission are listening all the time to the people they encounter in their ministries across the globe.
6. Is the commission still receiving evidence/presentations?
Yes. All are invited, without exception, to make written submissions to the Commission by means of the process set out on our website in the advisory of 18th December last year. Many groups and individuals have already elected to do so, and it is my understanding that all submissions made by this method have been acknowledged and processed for the consideration of the Commission. If anyone feels that any particular voice is going unheard by the Commission, then I urge them to make a submission by this route, bearing in mind the questions with which the Commission has been charged as they are set out in that advisory.
CEN has published a news report Tensions hit Eames Commission. Extracts:
In the wake of claims that the Eames Commission has excluded the voices of gays and lesbians from its deliberations [CEN June 27] comes new word that internal tensions centering round its Steering Committee and staff may divide the Commission.
Some members object to a perceived pursuit by the Commission’s Steering Committee of “enlightened expediency” at the expense of truth. Non-Western members of the Commission are troubled that the steering committee has privileged a European worldview that allows canon law to trump doctrine.
…Archbishop Eames’ press officer, the Rev Brian Parker, said reports of tensions between the staff and members have been overstated. Bishop Tom Wright of Durham, while declining to discuss the internal workings of the Commission, confirmed to us that the second plenary session had been “very frank, very friendly, very cordial and hard-working”.
“Canon Cameron was authorized to speak to the Canadian General Synod by the chair and steering committee,” Mr Parker told us. “The words were his own but the broad outline was discussed at the steering committee.”
Update
Here is a further report on this from the Living Church, via Kendall Harmon:
Lambeth Commission Hears Divergent Reports on U.S. Church’s Health.