A “lot has been happening behind the scenes,” according to the Most Rev. Peter Carnley despite the fact that the panel of reference still has not received any referrals from the Archbishop of Canterbury more than eight months after the primates unanimously called on the Most Rev. Rowan Williams to appoint “as a matter of urgency” a panel “to supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions” made by any churches for “groups in serious theological disagreement.” Archbishop Carnley, chair of the panel and the retired Primate of Australia, was recently interviewed by the Anglican Communion News Service.
“I understand from the chief of staff at Lambeth Palace that at the moment there are a number of cases that have been drawn to the attention of the Archbishop [of Canterbury], and those involved have been invited to collate the material necessary in order to enable the panel to begin its work,” Archbishop Carnley said. “There are some very substantial reasons why the work of the panel has taken time, but we should see some positive action very shortly.”
The panel has “deliberately” chosen to do its work discreetly and confidentially, believing that “high- level courting of publicity” exacerbates differences. Another difficulty, Archbishop Carnley said, is the difficulty of determining the “objective reality” of the situation.
“There is always the danger of a distorted view, and the panel has to bring some independence and objectivity to that kind of situation, which involves detailed investigation,” he said. “The panel of reference believes, as does, I think, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that a sense of trust and fair play must prevail...The idea of a panel is really to introduce a sense of objectivity, a sense of fair play, and a degree of legitimate protection for those who hold minority views in a particular situation, but views which are nevertheless in harmony with the current standard of teaching adopted in the Anglican Communion.”
If the panel is to be successful, Archbishop Carnley said it will require “good will” from all sides in a particular dispute.
“The panel has no authority to enforce its views or adjudications on parties,” he explained. “However, I think there’s a very real sense that if the panel can produce a serious and fairly objective assessment of a situation and a clear recommendation of a way forward so as to move a situation from one of conflict to one of fairness, then that very recommendation will itself carry an implicit authority which will be hard to resist. I hope the panel might be able to get to the heart of a matter, to the truth of a situation, and that, as a third party arbitrating between two conflicting sides, it may be able to discern a positive and helpful way forward.
“I need to stress again that the panel doesn’t act on its own authority; it awaits referral to it from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The way in which that process is triggered is fully set out on the web site pages, and these pages should be read and considered with great care by anyone who wants to invoke the panel procedures. What we can assure the Communion is that once those channels have been followed, then we will be doing our utmost to support those who approach us in an even-handed, fair and just way.”
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