Here are media reports this morning:
RTE Anglican split over gay bishops deepens
At least seven archbishops who oppose the ordination of gay and lesbian bishops will boycott a meeting of the world’s Anglican leadership, which begins in Dublin today…
BBC Anglican archbishops to boycott primate meeting
A meeting of Anglican leaders in Dublin is expected to be boycotted by up to a third of those invited.
ENI Several leaders will boycott Anglican summit
At least seven of the leaders representing 38 Anglican provinces worldwide will not attend a key meeting in Dublin from 25-30 January. Their absence comes at a time when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is under mounting pressure from two wings of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion on the subject of human sexuality.
ENS Primates set to meet in Dublin, with a few absentees
…But according to the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, at least seven primates have indicated they will not be attending the meeting at the Emmaus Retreat & Conference Centre because of Jefferts Schori’s presence and recent developments concerning human sexuality issues in the Episcopal Church.
Christian Today Anglican Primates meeting in Dublin despite absences
…The Primates of the Indian Ocean, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, the Southern Cone of Latin America, and South East Asia are all boycotting the meeting in protest against the attendance of Katharine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in the US.
Christian Post Anglican Primates Meeting to Take Place Despite Boycott
…As many as ten of the leaders of the Communion’s 38 provinces will not attend the meeting because of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori, who represents the Episcopal Church and a supporter of gay bishops and same-sex marriage.
Episcopal Café has a statement from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
I wonder if they are still going to meet in two different rooms?
The Anglican Communion is over.
The Presiding Bishop’s letter was a breath of fresh air; and both Christian and credible — how often can one say that amid all the obscurantist pap from defensive RCs and ACs.
She inspires faith in her vision and its embodiment in deeds and projects.
@Counterlight – “The Anglican Communion is over.”
How so? As long as there are provinces in communion with the See of Canterbury, with seats at the ACC, Primates Meeting, and Lambeth Conference there will be an Anglican Communion. There is no optimum ‘size’ below which it ceases to exist.
Being in the AC doesn’t necessarily mean being in full communion with each other all the time (although it helps!). Orthodox Churches regularly excommunicate and/or cease to recognise each other.
“Their protest is at the inclusion of the head of the American Episcopal Church. Her church has ordained gay bishops and blesses same sex couples.”
The statements of why primates stay away take my breath away – because of the INCLUSION of the PB of the Episcopal Church. As though none of the other provinces have gay bishops and never bless same sex couples! And despite the reasons given, I wonder how much the objections to the presence of Bishop Katharine have to do with the mere fact that she is a woman.
“She has angered orthodox Anglicans, particularly in developing countries, by [being a woman and by] allowing the ordination of gay and lesbian bishops.” — There, now the RTE article reads more accurately, 😉 Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori didn’t “allow” anything. The General Convention voted for these practices. But I strongly suspect that, for some of the primates, the democratic nature of TEC is itself part of the problem. If only Jefferts-Schori would wave her magic crozier and make all problems in TEC go away! And, forgive me my brothers and sisters, but every time the Anglican primates meet, I think of… Read more »
I concur with E.A. on this one. The Anglican Communion is changing, perhaps not as radically as some seem to think; as are the member churches / provinces individually. I see this as one more stage in the evolution of the WWAC, and I am not prepared to say what exact form it will take. Looking at the history, however, I think it possible to observe periods in which the formal interrelationships have differed. 1700-1850: The Age of Innocence. The historical reality of the spread of Anglicanism fostered by missionary efforts and necessitated by civil division. 1850-1920: A Mother and… Read more »
When bishops (or anyone else) refuse fellowship with each other, especially fellowship at the Altar, then there is no communion or Communion.
I think peterpi has it about right. At heart, the issues is TEC’s (and the ACoC’s) democratic polity. The primates who come from provinces where the nature of polity seems closer to the Roman model–a heirarchy that essentially chooses its own leaders from among itself and that listens to the laity only occasionally–simply do not understand why our PB cannot wave away the things she does not like (presuming that to be the case).
In my reckoning, in value for money and worth, One Primate from North America is probably worth Seven from GAFCON – at least, she will be in attendance at Dublin, and therefore willing to rmain a part of the Anglican Communion.
Without the ten boycotting primates the meeting should be quite sane and constructive. The Anglican Communion might even find a new lease of life.
As Ecclesia Anglica says – “Orthodox Churches regularly excommunicate and/or cease to recognise each other.”
I have heard that in doing so they simply omit the name of the patriarch with whom they disagree from the list of those mentioned in the litany of prayer. If so – let’s pray all the more heartily for the Primate of All England and the titular head of the Anglican Communion.
To paraphrase the opening verse of Psalm 132 – “Lord, remember Rowan : and all his trouble.”
Well perhaps, we’re moving from “No Communion” to “New Communion”? (This time, everyone who will be there WILL partake—Praise Christ!)
To quote the Presiding Bishop: ‘realizing that the body of God’s creation will only be healed when all members of the body of Christ are working together’. The sentiment expressed echoes St. Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 12 ‘And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.’ (1 Cor. 12:21). In which case, one Primate from North America has the same worth as another from GAFCON. I would hope that resentment aroused by the current impasse never diminishes the sense of loss… Read more »