For Her Our Prayers Ascend

‘WE must preserve the Church of England,” a British elder statesman once remarked. “It’s our only defense against real religion.” Such affectionate cynicism has been under strain during the three weeks of the Lambeth Conference. Every ten years these conferences bring together the bishops of the worldwide Anglican communion, including Episcopalians from America. This year there were 750 bishops from 167 countries; the Archbishop of Canterbury presides, although he claims no juridical authority outside the Church of England itself.

For the first time bishops from the Third World formed a majority. In theory 70 million Anglicans were represented, but the blanket figure is misleading. Of the notional 26 million in Britain barely 1 million regularly go to church: about the same number as go to church in the United States out of a notional 2.5 million Episcopalians. In Nigeria there are 17.5 million Anglicans, most of whom go to church every week: the same is true of Uganda’s 8 million. But the Church of England has 114 bishops and the American Episcopal Church 300, while Nigeria has only 61 and Uganda 28.

AL

About the Author

Anthony Lejeune

Featured Tags

‘WE must preserve the Church of England,” a British elder statesman once remarked. “It’s our only defense against real religion.” Such affectionate cynicism has been under strain during the three weeks of the Lambeth Conference. Every ten years these conferences bring together the bishops of the worldwide Anglican communion, including Episcopalians from America. This year there were 750 bishops from 167 countries; the Archbishop of Canterbury presides, although he claims no juridical authority outside the Church of England itself.

For the first time bishops from the Third World formed a majority. In theory 70 million Anglicans were represented, but the blanket figure is misleading. Of the notional 26 million in Britain barely 1 million regularly go to church: about the same number as go to church in the United States out of a notional 2.5 million Episcopalians. In Nigeria there are 17.5 million Anglicans, most of whom go to church every week: the same is true of Uganda’s 8 million. But the Church of England has 114 bishops and the American Episcopal Church 300, while Nigeria has only 61 and Uganda 28.