Codrington College, Barbados, which is the oldest dedicated Anglican theological College in the Western Hemisphere and serves the Province of the West Indies, hosted a Theological Hub meeting for the Continuing Indaba project from the 23rd to the 25th March 2010.
Seventeen priests, lay leaders and theologians from the province's eight dioceses spent two and a half days in searching conversation. By the end of the gathering the group had refined ten specific topics on which group members will work in teams over the coming months to provide resources to help inform the initial Conversations planned between representatives of different parts of the Anglican Communion as part of the Continuing Indaba project.
"The varying views that were expressed were particularly interesting," said Cleo-Antoinette Hampson, a secondary school teacher in Antigua. "Sometimes we feel we work in isolation in the various dioceses, and this gave us a different level of solidarity. We need to hear the voices of others in other parts of the Anglican Communion."
Topics focus on how Anglicans in the Church of the Province of the West Indies have addressed a variety of tensions and conflicts in their shared life, including matters such as gender and power, church leadership, holistic human sexuality, liturgical enculturation, inclusion of non-nationals, and the church's status in society. Short papers will be collected with papers from other "theological hub" consultations as resources for the five pilot inter-diocesan Indaba Conversations that are currently planned to take place around the Anglican Communion later this year and in 2011.
"I was very impressed by the full participation of all these people from across the province and of all age groups," said the Rev. Dr. Evie Vernon, director of the Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies (Birmingham, UK) and co-facilitator of the consultation. "It gave me hope that here was a group of Anglicans, both lay and clergy, who were excited by their faith and looking to have similar processes of their own within the province." Vernon, herself a Jamaican and former lecturer at United Theological College in Kingston, added, "The other thing I found exciting was the unanimous embrace for the full participation of women in the church – that's a big move."
"I liked the integration of bringing people from the other territories, and I got a feeling for the challenges facing others in the Caribbean," said the Rev. Angela Phillips.
"I never before had the opportunity to consult with people from across the province," said Phillips, who is rector of St. Patrick's Church in Christ Church, Barbados. "It would be good if we can continue that pattern in some form or fashion in the future. The consultation helped me see the value of continuing dialogue to see how others are dealing with the same problems so that collectively we can pool our ideas and suggestions."
While the current tensions in the worldwide Anglican Communion chiefly concern the sexuality controversy, papers from the various hubs deal with diverse conflicts that both arise out of particular contexts and have the potential to assist others working through issues in their own settings. The Indaba Project as a whole is designed to build into Anglican life fruitful patterns for addressing conflict that will be useful in the indefinite future, potentially long beyond the current turmoil.
"I think the consultation went very well," said Dr. Vincent Lawrence, a civil engineer in Jamaica. "The scope and range of the discussion was greater than I thought it would be. The consultation worked to strengthen the Province of the West Indies. By the time we got to the end, I found we were communicating with each other very well, even better than in our own synods."
"The consultation did not just work on a recipe," said the Rev. Dr. Knolly Clarke, theologian in Trinidad and associate general secretary of the Caribbean Conference of Churches. "We were able to open up ourselves to talk about issues that affect the church in the Caribbean, like religion and culture, leadership, and ecumenism."
During their time together, the group met with the House of Bishops of the province and attended the recognition service in St. Michael's Cathedral, Bridgetown, for the new archbishop, the Most Rev. Dr. John Holder. Conferees participated in the daily liturgical schedule of St. Barnabas Chapel and interacted with students and faculty in the refectory.
"The vigor of the conversations was exciting," said the Rev. Dr. Canon Titus Presler, co-facilitator of the consultation and a missiologist in the Episcopal Church USA. "Often very different viewpoints were being expressed about particular issues, and it was a joy to see how understanding was enhanced by listening and conversation amid diversity. Papers coming out of the Barbados consultation will be an important contribution to wider Anglican discussion about how to address conflict."
Participants in the consultation included, with their dioceses: Barbados: the Ven. Eric Lynch, the Rev. Angela Phillips, the Rev. John Rogers; Belize: the Rev. Canon Jerris Valentine; Codrington College: the Rev. Dr. Ian Rock; Guyana: the Rev. Raymond Coxall, Mr. Kelvin Saul; Jamaica and the Cayman Islands: the Rev. Kenute Francis, Dr. Vincent Lawrence; Nassau and Bahamas: Ms. Odia Richardson and Mr. Leroy Thompson; Northeast Caribbean and Aruba: the Rev. Julian Campbell, Ms. Cleo-Antoinette Hampson; Trinidad and Tobago: the Rev. Dr. Knolly Clarke, Mr. Ashton Gomez; Windward Islands: Ms. Meryl Lord, the Very Rev. Patrick McIntosh.