Last week, I linked to a news article by George Conger that appeared in the Church of England Newspaper.
This week, both the Church of England Newspaper and the Church Times have further reports on the matter.
In the former, George Conger’s story is headlined No plans to cancel Dublin Primates’ Meeting, ACC says.
There are no plans to cancel the Dublin primates meeting, ACC secretary general Canon Kenneth Kearon has declared.
In a statement released via Twitter on Nov 11 in response to a story last week in the Church of England Newspaper about the Jan 25-31 meeting, ACC spokesman Jan Butter wrote: “Am afraid this story is not accurate. Communion Sec. Gen. Canon Kearon adamant: never any plans to cancel Primates’ Mtg.”
…The report in the CEN, however, did not claim the archbishop’s Oct 7 letter called for the cancellation of the primates meeting.
In response to a request for clarification, the spokesman for the ACC stated there had been a “slip of the pen”’ in the Twitter message in saying there were never any plans to “cancel” the meeting. “The point I was trying to get across was that there have never been any plans to suspend the upcoming Primates’ Meeting in Dublin next January,” Mr. Butter wrote.
However, behind the scenes conversations between Dr. Williams and the primates remain on-going, CEN has been told. While reservations and supplies have been laid on by the ACC staff for the 38 primates and the Archbishop of York to meet at the Emmaus Conference Centre outside of Dublin, it is not clear how many primates will attend the gathering…
The Church Times news report on this is only available to paid subscribers until next week, but the story does quote Canon Kearon as saying there is:
“a suggestion that this be a different kind of Primates’ Meeting, driven by the need for discernment and dialogue around issues affecting the life of the Communion”.
“The proposal is that it begins with a number of different conversations taking place simultaneously at first. This is to provide a safe space where dialogue can begin and progress together in a spirit of discernment.”
Is this a Primates’ Meeting? Or is it a Israeli-Palestinian peace conference? As I said on November 12: ‘So now Kearon tries to walk this back. . . . ‘And of course, how are we to read the tweet? ‘One can decide not to “cancel a meeting,” but instead hold it in several different places at the same time. ‘So if the issue is whether this Primates’ Meeting will happen in one place or in several places, the tweet doesn’t really settle that question, does it? ‘What a bunch of incompetents at Lambeth Palace. Sure they’ve been dealt a bad… Read more »
“Lambeth should call the meeting without preconditions. And make very clear that it will publicize the list of who shows up, and who doesn’t.”
“Then we will all know exactly who is unwilling to be in communion with whom.”
But that’s way too sensible, and way too transparent! The pouters would have to show up or shut up, and shutting up is not something they are good at.
What they are planning sounds more and more like The Lobster’s Quadrille than a meeting of church leaders.
“The proposal is that it begins with a number of different conversations taking place simultaneously at first. This is to provide a safe space where dialogue can begin and progress together in a spirit of discernment.”
“Safe” from differing opinions (and girl cooties!).
When is a Primates Meeting not a Primates Meeting? When it’s Primates-Subset Meeting 1, and Primates-Subset Meeting 2 . Alas, Lord have mercy…
“The need for discernment and dialogue” This little piece by Canon Kearon ought to have categorised the whole process before allowing anyone to set up a disciplinary process through the Covenant, surely? What will go on behind the scenes at any of these local meetings of selected Primates is anyone’s guess. However, I would suspect that it has long been a process favoured by the Global South Primates – even before they set up their very own faux-Communion at Jerusalem. It certainly happened before the restrictive ethic of Lambeth 1:10 in 1988 – not to mention the decision to perform… Read more »
“The proposal is that it begins with a number of different conversations taking place simultaneously at first. This is to provide a safe space where dialogue can begin and progress together in a spirit of discernment.”
Priceless! The Primates meet together in separate places to provide a safe space for dialogue. Are the powers expecting fisticuffs? Only the ACO could devise such a daft arrangement.
As others have said, invite all the Primates and whoever comes is in communion.
Mimi
everybody knows that true discernment can only happen in a room full of likeminded people.
And we all know how violent those liberals are, they oppose you with strong words!
Scary stuff indeed.
“Lambeth should call the meeting without preconditions. And make very clear that it will publicize the list of who shows up, and who doesn’t. Then we will all know exactly who is unwilling to be in communion with whom.” – Posted by: Jeremy on Friday – It seems that many of us ‘Thinking Anglicans’ are with you here, Jeremy. In contrast, the very suggestion that Primates *in Communion* should meet in separate claques is a bit of an oxymoronic development – hardly conducive to collegiality in the ‘Communion’. One supsects that the whole time in some of those groups would… Read more »