The 20 dioceses of Province IV are the owners of the University of the South in Tennessee, also known as "Sewanee". So our evening speaker was the Rev. William Stafford, newly-appointed dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee. The Central Florida deputation braced for the worst. We were wrong. He struck a powerful orthodox chord when he spoke. Among his comments was, "the community of the Holy Trinity should be shared with all people through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Now that should bring joy to believers throughout the land.

The synod's main speakers were both members of the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report. The first was the Most Rev. Josiah Idowun-Fearon, Archbishop of Kaduna in Nigeria. Among his credentials is a passion for reconciliation between Muslims and Christians, for the area of Nigeria where he serves is heavily Muslim. He began by warning of the dangers of "false witness" and said that he would speak truth and only truth. Referring to the crisis generated by the Robinson consecration, he also pled with the deputies present not to "...spread the hurt more, beyond our ability to be elastic."

He spoke humbly but powerfully. He described his own struggles with being a Lambeth commissioner and having to wrestle with others whose theology differs from his as an evangelical and charismatic Anglican. He spoke warmly of the reconciliation between him and Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, a New Zealander also on the Commission. He urged all to work in the spirit of Philippians 2:5-11, which describes Christ's humbling of himself in obedience to the Father. But he concluded with a plea to the American Episcopal Church: "I pray you will accept the Windsor Report without qualifying the conditions."

After lunch, the second keynote speaker was Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, a laywoman who heads St. John the Evangelist Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand. She was also a Lambeth commissioner. Her report was notable in that it omitted any reference to Scripture. She used the polarity of family vs. neighborhood in describing the Anglican Communion, concluding that neighborhood was a better description than family. She made much of the fact that in a family one cannot expel an offender, a conclusion not supported by either Scripture or experience: Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away at Sarah's behest; does modern divorce not separate in-laws from one another? In a gratuitous display of chauvinism, Dr. Te Paa extolled the glories of modern New Zealand while decrying "American arrogance" and mocking President Bush.

She went to a cogent explanation of the different parts of the Windsor Report. Beginning to wind up her hour-plus speech, she mentioned the Windsor Report's recommendations of a Council of Advice for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the development of an Anglican Covenant.

Dr. Te Paa, having concluded an intelligent if wordy summary of the Windsor Report, then startled her listeners. She said, "I want to draw attention to the dark underside of the Lambeth Commission." She said there were four issues to the underside. The first was the "abuse of power by male church leaders distracted by sexualities other than their own, and ignoring the real matters of mission and ministry." She gave no examples and named no names. The second was her "outrage at those who declared themselves in impaired communion with those who participated in the Robinson consecration" and "those who refuse to be in the same worship service as the Episcopal Presiding Bishop". Again, she named no names. The third was "Internet abuse, the irresponsible spreading of misinformation" by unnamed parties, which "we have to find a way to stop". The fourth was "internal corruption", which she defined as the "transfer of dollars, mostly from wealthy American conservatives, to buy influence in the Global South."

In the question and answer period that followed, Bishop Don Johnson of West Tennessee asked her to name those who were fostering the internal corruption. In a response worthy of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Dr. Te Paa replied that she knew who was doing it but that it had been told to her in confidence and she couldn't reveal the list. She thereby ducked the bishop's question.

Deputy John Liebler of Central Florida had eaten lunch with her. He had asked her directly about her support of the Windsor recommendations for action by the Episcopal Church. He recalled that she had said she thought it was wise for Americans to obey the report's call for a moratorium on consecrating actively gay priests as bishops, conducting same-sex unions, and bishops crossing diocesan boundaries. He had asked her to say that in her pending address. Her address did not do so. Confused by her omission, Fr. Liebler went to the microphone to remind her of their lunch conversation. He asked her to repeat her earlier statement that it would be "wise" for the Episcopal Church to obey the Windsor call for moratoria on actions certain to worsen the Anglican Communion's crisis. Again demonstrating a remarkable talent for evasion, she declined to answer the question, mumbled a half-response, and the chair rescued her by calling upon the next questioner.

Following that, deputies went to small groups as assigned to discuss the question, "how does the work of the Windsor Report challenge us spiritually?"

In one small group a deputy from Central Florida said that the question was imprecise and made no sense to him. He asked to whom the "us" referred? Was it the Episcopal Church as a whole? Was it each of us as individuals? And how would one describe the "spiritual" effect of a document which was primarily focused on how Anglicans define themselves as a church community? He suggested that the question should be "how can we implement the Windsor recommendations and move forward together?" His concerns were ignored as the group wanted to talk about how they felt in the middle of the current crisis and how they could get along. "How do you feel about that?" was the moderator's refrain. After the very special time of sharing was over, the deputy from Central Florida met with the Rev. Frederick Richardson from Tennessee, who asked for Central Florida's support for a resolution they intended to present that night.

After dinner the Diocese of Tennessee put forward that resolution with the promised backing of the Diocese of Central Florida. The resolution called upon the General Convention to implement the recommendations of the Windsor Report, specifically those which called for repentance by the Episcopal Church, and which counseled restraint against further aggravating actions. Deputy Tony Clark of Central Florida, with the consent of Tennessee, moved an amendment to balance the resolution's restraints by including the crossing of diocesan boundaries by outside bishops.

Despite having spent the entire day hearing about and discussing the report, the Synod adopted a motion to table the resolution. That motion passed by a 2 to 1 margin. That killed any hope of action on the report. The session was declared closed and the chair invited the chaplain to lead us in prayer.

Chaplain Jones had found her Book of Common Prayer and led us in the ancient office of Compline. She even used the name, "Jesus", and the honorific, "Lord".

But in the Wonderland which is the national Episcopal Church, the chair then reminded deputies that Dr. Te Paa and Archbishop Idowun-Fearon would be available for an hour after the evening session to discuss the Windsor Report.

It was not the Anglican Communion's finest hour.

D. Lorne Coyle, is Chairman of the Diocese of Central Florida Deputation.