Press release from
the Bishop of Durham

For immediate release

As a member of the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report, I have been dismayed to see the misrepresentation, in some newspapers, of the views of the Chairman, Archbishop Robin Eames.

Archbishop Eames has now issued a statement in which he has put the matter straight. Having worked with him closely for the last year, I can say with full assurance that this new statement, rather than the misleading reports, represents his true mind.

The Lambeth Commission was not a think-tank representing a pressure group. It represented the wide range both of geography and opinion in the Anglican Communion, and its recommendations were unanimous. The Report urgently requires, not more leisured debate, but action.

I strongly support the Archbishop in saying that the Primates, at their meeting in February, must not only take forward further discussion of the Report's longer-term proposals, but must actually implement the recommendations which address the immediate problems we have been facing.

+THOMAS DUNELM:

Auckland Castle
Bishop Auckland
Co Durham, DL14 7NR

Noon, Friday 10 December 2004