Updated with Chicago Public Radio's brief report on the consultation.

Readers of the Café are going to be hearing a lot about The Chicago Consultation in the days ahead. The Consultation, held at Seabury-Western Seminary, Dec. 5 thru 7, was a meeting of some 50 Anglicans from around the world committed to advancing the full inclusion of gays and lesbains within the Communion and to resisting those who seek to split the Communion by setting one group of marginalized people against another.

Mark Harris, Susan Russell and Tobias Haller were on hand, and they have the first reports.

From Bishop John Bryson Chane's op-ed column in today's issue of The Guardian:

Archbishop Rowan Williams has tried to take the issue of gay marriage off the table at the Lambeth Conference, which begins in three weeks. But the celebration of a gay relationship at one of London’s oldest churches last month, and the well-publicised gathering of anti-gay Anglicans in Jerusalem this week, suggest the controversy must eventually be faced squarely.

Conservative Christians say opening marriage to gay couples would undermine an immutable institution founded on divine revelation. Archbishop Henry Orombi, the excitable primate of the Church of Uganda, calls it blasphemy. But, theologically, support for same-sex marriage is not a dramatic break with tradition, but a recognition that the church’s understanding of marriage has changed dramatically over 2,000 years.

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The Chicago Consultation's Web site went live yesterday. It includes the first of several videos about the group, and resources to help visitors "make the case" for the full inclusion of all baptized Anglicans in the life and leadership of the Communion.

Update: Some users are having trouble accessing the site. The problem should be fixed soon.

The Anglican Theological Review has made its Summer 2008 issue available online, thanks in part to a grant from the Chicago Consultation.

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From The Chicago Consultation:

CHICAGO CONSULTATION URGES COMMITMENT
TO EPISCOPAL CHURCH POLITY AND TRADITION

CHICAGO--April 23—The Chicago Consultation issued this statement from its co-convener Ruth Meyers in response to the recent statement of a group of bishops associated with the Anglican Communion Institute:

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The Chicago Consultation released a statement today from its co-convener the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers in response to the Anglican Consultative Council’s affirmation of the recommendations made by the Windsor Continuation Group and its decision to postpone the release of the Anglican Covenant for consideration by provinces. To read the statement, click Read more at the end of this item.

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You will be hearing from individuals who have attended gatherings of the Chicago Consultation on the video blog for the next few weeks, so allow a few of them to introduce themselves.

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Episcopal News Service carries this story about the Chicago Consultation and its new study guide on same-sex relationships.

The guide was unveiled at a reception at the Hilton last night, and the most striking thing about the evening to me was how many primates came and stayed, including our own Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

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One of the major players in the months leading up to General Convention, and during the actual meeting was a group that is called "The Chicago Consultation". The decisions that were made at Convention were influenced by the work of the Consultation, in part through the words of members of the Anglican Global South that spoke to the bishops and deputies.

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CHICAGO, IL, November 20, 2009—The Chicago Consultation today asked the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Dr. Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies; and the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda, to speak out against draconian anti-gay legislation introduced in the Ugandan Parliament last month.

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BBC Radio 4's "Sunday" program has looked into the situation in the Ugandan Parliament with a bill promoting anti-gay measures and found more of the "deafening silence" within the Anglican Communion that has many asking for a voice of intercession or appeal.

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Earlier this week, the Chicago Consultation sent the following email to its mailing list. It is reprinted here with permission:

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