July 10, 2009
By Pat McCaughan

DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES – Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles welcomed primates of the Anglican Communion, local and international guests and volunteer General Convention supervisors July 9 to a special appreciation dinner at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California.

"We see hands of healing and the presence of the holy in this world and especially in this diocese, and as you know we do things a little differently in the Diocese of Los Angeles," Bruno told the gathering, amid laughter and applause. "We've learned from our Middle Eastern sisters and brothers to do hospitality beyond expectation. That is to say, if we have something, it belongs to you."

He noted the presence of Anglican partners from across the globe – places such as Pakistan, Japan, the Congo, Canada, Australia and many others.

Also welcomed were Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, founder of the Broadcom Co., representatives of Habitat for Humanity, and Harvard University economist Richard Parker, who addressed the gathering.

The Rev. Canon John Taylor, vicar of St. John Chrysostom Church in Rancho Santa Margarita and former director of the Nixon library, said the facility, which opened in 1990, was a wonderful setting for the gathering because like Anglicans, Nixon, the 37th U.S. President, was "a centrist. He was betwixt and between … what Nixon called enlightened realism or pragmatic idealism" is possibly a way forward for the church as well, with our polarized politics."

Taylor noted that Nixon was between two poles in American politics. "He was not welcomed by the far right of the Republican Party" because of his opening to China, improving relations with the Soviet Union and establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as relatively enlightened views on civil rights in the 1950s and forward, Taylor said.

Nor was he welcome "on the left in American politics because of the Vietnam War and his especially aggressive anti-communism early in his career."

Also present at the gathering was Dr. Henry Nicholas, founder of Broadcom, and representatives of Habitat for Humanity, who announced a $100,000 gift toward completion of the construction of Gordon's House, named in memory of Orange County priest the Rev. Gordon A. Yeaton.

Economist Parker calls for church to become a modern force for change

Richard Parker called upon the gathering to get back to the church's roots of progressive moderation "with a sense of obligation to the whole, not just to the few" in order to move forward together to end poverty and become a modern force for change.

Specifically, the Episcopal Church's focus on the United Nations millennium development goals needs to trickle down to the pew.

"It's no longer enough to talk about being committed to the MDGs," said Parker, whose late father, the Rev. Canon Richard I.S. Parker was rector of St. Cross Church in Hermosa Beach for 42 years. "We now have to talk in numerical terms, about how many parishes have pledged themselves to those goals, how many dioceses, what are the programs, how many people are involved, who knows and doesn't know in the pew what the MDGs are and what do they know. How do they see them acting in their own lives and how do they see acting on those goals in their own lives?"

He called for creation of "structural opportunities in particular for young people" to connect domestically throughout the Episcopal Church and internationally through the worldwide Anglican Communion and offer Christian service, a kind of peace corps. He also called upon church officials to engage with government in faith-based initiatives, like Lutheran World Services or Roman Catholic Charities.

Citing United Nations statistics that 100 million men, women and children fell into malnutrition (less than 1,700 calories per day) last year with another 100 million likely to do so again this year, he said it's time for the church to stop focusing its voice on each other and to shift it toward creating a network throughout the Anglican Communion, the "largest organized Protestant religious body in the world," as a force for change.

"The Episcopal Church has crossed a line in terms of its commitments here. Those lines are clear. We are going to move forward and we now need to put this issue behind us to focus on one Christ calls us to manifestly be concerned about—poverty, hunger, suffering and inequity.

"How can we not turn ourselves toward what we're being called if in fact we plan to be Christian?"

"It is reasonable to think that we can end poverty around the planet, but we're not doing it, and in many parts of the world, rather than going forward, we're slipping backwards. To know we could and are not doing it, to know that 10 million children a year are dying of preventable disease and malnutrition, who are we?" asked Parker.

"When an institution like the church speaks up and rallies other churches with it, the White House and Congress will listen," he continued. "We have a voice more powerful than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. We've turned our voices on each other for the last 20 years rather than speaking directly out into the public world. It's time to start doing that. We have a moral and enormous opportunity—one I don't remember in my adult life or before in the church."

Hospitality is overwhelming, primates say

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Australia said he was overwhelmed by Los Angeles-style hospitality and the warm reception he has received as a General Convention international visitor.

He said Anglican Communion partners are discovering relationships, "their importance, their power and significance afresh. To be here, face-to-face with people is really important.

"Some of the mistakes we've made in the Communion over recent years are because we've communicated via the Internet and writing rather than sitting down face to face. The Episcopal Church has invested a lot of time and energy in bringing a lot of people here to enable face to face communication and the primates in particular are saying I never really understood the way the Episcopal Church worked.

"To be here and see the General Convention in action helps us to understand at a much greater depth decisions the church has made and what has driven that. We've seen to a much greater extent the mission of the Episcopal Church in parts of the world. The commitment to the MDGs is very impressive."

Echoing Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' mention of "hopes and anxieties" during his morning meditation, Aspinall said they are "pretty widely shared throughout the communion.

"The Instruments of Communion have called for gracious restraint and I think to a large extent the Episcopal Church, at a cost to itself and to a lot of people in the Episcopal Church, have accommodated that call. If they could find a way to continue doing that it will be a huge gift to the Communion — which is not to say that the agenda which is very strong in the life of the Episcopal church should be set aside.

"It means ways need to be found to pursue it in conjunction with the rest of the Communion, not apart from it."

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Pat McCaughan is senior correspondent for The Episcopal News, Diocese of Los Angeles.