One more member of the Crown Nominations Commission to choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury has been announced by the Anglican Communion News Service.
Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan elected to the Crown Nominations Commission
Posted On : May 9, 2012 4:40 PMThe Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan, Primate of The Church in Wales, has been elected to serve on the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury, the body that will nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
Archbishop Morgan was elected by members of the Standing Committee. They had been asked to nominate one Primate to represent the Anglican Communion on the Commission and their chosen Primates were grouped according to the five regions of the Communion. The Standing Committee then voted by single transferable vote—the method agreed by the Anglican Consultative Council for all its elections—and the name of Abp Morgan emerged.
The vote took place by email and was overseen by the Chair and Vice Chair of the Standing Committee with advice from its legal advisor.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
This is the first time that a Primate of the Anglican Communion has been invited to serve on the Crown Nominations Commission.
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Canon Kenneth Kearon is a ex-officio member of the Crown Nominations Commission.
The Standing Committee comprises members elected by the Anglican Consultative Council together with the Primates Standing Committee whose members are themselves elected at the Primates’ Meetings.
The five regions of the Anglican Communion are Africa; Central, North and South Americas & the Caribbean; East Asia & Oceania; Europe; Middle East & West Asia
Archbishop Morgan is, of course, an excellent chap and I’m sure he will bring his great personal wisdom and insight to the CNC. I do rather wonder, however, who is likely to be pleased by this appointment. For anti-Covenanters who fear the scarlet peril of Anglo-Papalism, the presence of any ‘Communion’ primate on the commission looks like creeping imperialism. For those who do want the daughter-churches of the communion to have a greater say in the process, inviting the Welsh primate to sit on the CNC looks little short of incestuous. Personally , I think it’s a noble gesture, but… Read more »
Nothing to do with ‘creeping imperialism’ but a chance to hear an outside perspective. This person doesn’t have a casting vote and is not in the majority so surely this represents just a small opportunity to hear from another part of the Communion. What was intended as a move toward openness by the C of E is now viewed as an attempt at world domination! But, then it is easier to assume bad motives in those whose opinions differ from ours. The process of choosing the ABC, like the unlucky person chosen, is going to be damned by one side… Read more »
Wasn’t Akinola or Jensen available then?
The current members of the Standing Committee are (with their countries of residence): Abp Rowan Williams (President, England), Bp James Tengatenga (Chair, Malawi), Canon Elizabeth Paver (Vice-Chair, England), Bp David Chillingworth (Scotland), Abp Paul Kwong (Hong Kong), Bp Samuel Azariah (Pakistan), Abp Daniel Deng Bul Yak (Sudan), Bp Katharine Jefferts Schori (USA), Mrs Philippa Amable (Ghana), Bp Ian Douglas (USA), Dr Anthony Fitchett (New Zealand), Dato Stanley Isaacs (Malaysia), Canon Janet Trisk (South Africa), The Revd Maria Cristina Borges Alvarez (Cuba). The GAFCON primates and members have either withdrawn from the processes which would have given them greater representation, or… Read more »
Sadly yet another appointment from the “first” world. I would have been much more encouraged, nay, I believe it critical for the future ABC to have a credible role in the AC for there to have been an appointment from the Global South.
We who live and minister in the Global South long for some real geographical diversity, not another member of the western Anglican establishment. IMHO I expect attendance at the next ACC meeting will reflect this lack of courageous vision and dominance of the western Provinces.
Ian, the Western Provinces are only dominating the selection of a bishop and primate of a Western Province. They are doing and want to do absolutely nothing in or to the Global South (in this particular context). It’s the Global South that wants the right to do things in and to the Western Provinces in this context.
I think it used to be the case that the Secretary General from the ACO also attended but did not have a vote.
Is Archbishop Morgan’s appointment a replacement for this arrangement?
Jonathan, it is additional, not a replacement.
This is one of those things that looks like a good idea on paper, but… By all means take soundings from the Standing Committee, just as one would take soundings from here and there and all kinds of people in doing the preparation for the candidate profile for a diocesan appointment. But the trouble with giving the Communion (whatever that may be) a voting place on the committee to choose an English diocesan bishop (with knobs on granted) is that is muddles things. It pushes them in a more grandiose and universal direction – just at a point when I… Read more »
A Safe Bet I would say – especially at the present time when the GAFCON crowd seems about to swamp the liberal voices in the Anglican Communion. At least, Wales is a friendly Province to Canterbury – while yet being canonically separate from the Church of England, whose leadership responsibility lies with the See Canterbury.
It is possible that the British Churches would prefer that the next ABC have more of a pastoral role in his own Diocese and Province – rather than being expected to act as a referee elsewhere.
Why should faroff provinces have any say about who is to be the ABC, when he/she exercises no authority over them?