Anglican Communion Institute (ACI)

The Meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion just concluded in Dublin might well mark the breakdown and consequent breakup of what has been the Anglican Communion. Up to a dozen Primates who come from the most populous areas of the Anglican Communion refused to attend. They did so because the Archbishop of Canterbury, ignoring his pledge that there would be "consequences" resulting from the actions of The Episcopal Church (TEC), insisted nonetheless on inviting its Presiding Bishop.

Paul Bagshaw has published an essay entitled "End Game" that requires a response. Citing a report by George Conger, he agrees that we are at the "end of the Communion we once thought we knew;" and he has provided a very credible sketch of what Anglicanism will look like going forward. What he has not done is point out what a disaster this ending and this future are. Indeed, there is something almost surreal about his failure to make clear the true import of the likely course of events he presents.

It has been reported that on two occasions Primates of the Global South advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend the current Primates' Meeting if the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church were present. Of the fourteen Primates who made this representation, it appears that only one will be attending any part of the meeting. In this light, the defensive explanations of why Primates are not attending offered by the Secretary General and the Communion Office (e.g. visa problems, diary conflicts, etc.) must raise eyebrows.

Co-published with Fulcrum Summary: Reflecting on Fulcrum's call not to invite the Presiding Bishop to the Primates' Meeting in Ireland, the consequences of inviting her are highlighted: the widespread principled absence of many Global South primates. As it is still unclear why the Presiding Bishop was invited after the breach of the moratorium and the Pentecost Letter, three possible scenarios are outlined in the hope that the rationale for this decision may be made clear.

The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz The Reverend Dr. Philip Turner The Reverend Dr. Ephraim Radner Mark McCall, Esq. The Dublin gathering of Primates"”is it a "Primates' Meeting" when so many are not attending?"”is soon to happen. Many are the views on whether conservative Primates should attend, and the reasons pro and con equally many.

As we move into a new year, there is a special spur to pose the question, "what hope is there for the future of the Anglican Communion?". To which I would answer: "from God, there is much hope indeed; but not from women and men". With mortals, it is impossible, but with God all things are possible (cf. Mark 10: 27). "Put not your trust in any child of earth, for there is no help in them When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish. Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!" (Ps.

This is the third in a series of essays on the proposed Anglican Covenant." The first, entitled "Communion, Order and Dissent," attempted to present what might be called the inner logic of the covenant--a logic that rests upon a commitment by all the provinces to "mutual subjection within the body of Christ." The second had the subtitle "On How To Dissent within a Communion of Churches." Its purpose was to show that communion, as understood by Anglicans, must have as a part of its ideation an understanding of how to dissent from common belief and practice.

The purpose of this essay is to address a question to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, The Anglican Communion Office (ACO) and to the upcoming Meeting of the Primates. How are they, and indeed how is the Anglican Communion as a whole, to address the question of dissent? The issue has become important for Anglicans because of the crisis that has been brought on by the recent innovations in sexual ethics in both The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC).

Too much is being made, in the run up to the General Synod, of the fact that the Anglican Covenant's future is tied to the Church of England's vote on the matter: if the Synod does not vote to take the Covenant up for further diocesan approval, the Covenant's own life, many say, will be over.