My Canterbury tale begins

As promised, some news from Canterbury, where I arrived yesterday. While not exactly quiet, things here at the Lambeth Conference are still in preparatory mode. The bishops really don’t start arriving until tomorrow, and even then their program begins with a pretty low-key, three-day retreat led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (who I actually just bumped into strolling across campus a few minutes ago).

The main venue for the conference is the campus of the University of Kent, which is on the outskirts of Canterbury. That can occasionally seem a little inconvenient, but on the bright side, its location does afford one of the best views around of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ (a.k.a. Canterbury Cathedral). On a sunny day it’s rather spectacular, although as you can see above, we’re getting some typically grey English weather at the moment.

Sizeable though it is, even the university’s largest space can’t accommodate the hundreds of people who will be gathered in one place for some of the conference’s bigger events, like worship and plenary sessions. So conference organizers have erected a large tent to accommodate the conference’s larger gatherings. The tent is officially known as “The Big Top” (above). You can insert your own crack here.

While the bishops are in retreat, many of us with particular tasks at the conference will be getting more familiar with what exactly those tasks entail. I’m here as one of about a dozen “rapporteurs” who will serve as kind of recording secretaries for the bishops as they gather regularly into groups of about 50 to discuss everything from evangelism, social injustice, mission, the environment, interfaith relations and, yes, human sexuality. What we record from our group’s deliberations will, it is the organizers’ hope, eventually form a coherent message that can be transmitted to the wider conference and beyond. As our job description puts it, we rapporteurs have “a unique privilege and a unique responsibility.” Indeed.

But that particular work doesn’t begin for a few more days. In the meantime, I’m able to spend some time getting reacquainted with Canterbury, where I spent a month in 2002 participating in a course for seminarians offered by the cathedral’s International Study Centre. Part of that reacquainting was attending evensong at the cathedral yesterday, where I bumped into no fewer than three fellow Canadian Anglicans: the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews, former bishop of Edmonton and bishop-elect of Christchurch, New Zealand; the Ven. Paul Feheley, principal secretary to the primate of Canada; and the Rev. Mia Anderson, rector of St. Michael, Sillery, in my own Diocese of Quebec. Who knew cathedral evensong was the place to see and be seen?

In fact, there promises to be a respectable Canadian contingent here at Lambeth: 30+ bishops, about a half-dozen staff, volunteers, and more. Perhaps I’ll try and introduce you to some of them in the days ahead.