See this announcement:
The Lambeth Conference reschedules to 2022
In March it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global restrictions on travel and mass gatherings, the Lambeth Conference of 2020 would need to be rescheduled to the British summer of 2021.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has now taken the important decision to reschedule the Lambeth Conference by a further year to the British summer of 2022. The conference will meet in 2022 in Canterbury. In the above filmed message to the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop has also announced that a wider programme will be developed before and after the event delivered virtually and through other meetings.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Archbishop of Canterbury and conference planning teams have been monitoring the situation, following relevant advice from public and global health authorities as it becomes available. They have also undertaken ongoing consultation with Primates, bishops and spouses – about the impact of COVID-19 in their countries.
As with most large scale events and conferences of this nature – planning for events in such an unstable climate is difficult. As an international gathering (the Lambeth Conference invites bishops and spouses from over 165 countries) there are a significant number of uncertainties that make preparations for a 2021 meeting challenging.
Whilst some lock down measures are starting to ease in some countries, social distancing measures, travel restrictions and quarantine measures could impede logistics and delegates’ travel planning for the foreseeable future. There are also the risks of a potential second wave of the virus and the reality that there are different phases in how the pandemic is spreading around the world – with no vaccine yet available….
So does that mean that LFL will now be published before the Lambeth Conference – or will there be an announcement to put that on the back burner again?
LLF has been on the back burner since it was first announced. I don’t expect any change there. The question is whether it can be deferred until after the retirement of Justin Welby and then quietly forgotten.
Am I missing something? I thought it had been announced that it will be released in November of this year. See CofE website.
If it must happen then postponement to 2022 is sensible, but if we can worship over Zoom, surely there is no need for a physical gathering of bishops which will have a huge carbon impact.
In spite of increased electronic communications, there remains a number of dioceses for which such communication is unreliable or even inaccessible. The inevitable sterility of this medium for a multi lingual audience excludes many while, for all, the opportunity of physical fellowship which embodies the internationality of the Anglican communion would be lost. While some feel that the ABC behaves as the CEO of an international corporation, the spiritual riches and their exchange is as important the Reports and Commissions!
There must now be considerable doubt whether there will ever be another Lambeth Conference. By 2022, the divisions between member Churches are likely to be so great that little could be achieved. If there is one thing that Justin Welby wants to avoid, it is a big flop. My guess is that it will continue to be deferred.