One cannot help gain the impression of an unfair lack of even handedness while making up the rules as they go along.

The unseating of Rev Ashey is linked with the decision to be made about who can adhere to the Covenant. Those who have consistently defied the Communion for the last five years are in a position to lobby and vote to exclude provisions in the Ridley Draft Covenant whereby other entities ( dioceses in TEC or ACNA) can sign up to the Covenant while TEC itself wants to spend 5 years considering the question. They are also allowed to retake their seats in order to engage in such lobbying while in defiance of requests of the communion about abandoning lawsuits, while those who have defied the request on cross border jurisdiction (soon to become a dead letter when ACNA is formed in six weeks time), are denied the right to exercise their own choice of who their delegate at the meeting is.

We see here what appears to be a lack of fairness, evenhandedness and consistency applied to the advantage of those who have caused the current problems by departing from the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals and to the disadvantage of those who have adhered to the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals. And the former will this week try to prevent the latter from even being able to adhere to the Covenant process.

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Canon Kearon also spoke at the press briefing on 4th May.

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The primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, has written a strongly-worded letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, protesting the decision by the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) not to allow an American priest who was appointed as the clerical representative of the Ugandan church to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting here.

Archbishop Orombi called the decision “unjust, unbiblical, unconstitutional, ”¦short of imperialistic,” and appealed to Archbishop Williams in his capacity as president of the ACC “to help the Joint Standing Committee understand the limits of their authority.”He asked Archbishop Williams to recognize the appointment of Philip Ashey, a former priest of The Episcopal Church, who is now the chief operating officer of the Anglican American Council (AAC). The AAC is part of the Common Cause Partnership, which is advocating for recognition as a separate province in North America.

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On Sunday May 3rd, the second day of the Anglican Consultative Council the laity clergy and Bishops had an opportunity to see the “big picture” of the work of the Anglican Communion. The representatives of the Anglican Communion Networks shared something of their goals, activities and plans for the future. Other Communion-wide mission initiatives were also represented in the fair-like atmosphere as many stories and experiences about mission were exchanged.

The press conference today (4th May) presented two of the Networks and a portion of their story. Dr. Jenny Te Paa from New Zealand spoke about her work on the Peace and Justice Network and the retired bishop of Canberra and Goldburn George Browning shared the story of The Anglican Environmental Network.

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The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting in Jamaica began May 2 under protest when the credentials of the Rev. Philip Ashey, the clergy representative designated by the Church of Uganda, were rejected by the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) of the primates and the ACC.

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Archbishop Drexel Gomez, chair of the Covenant Design Group (CDG), Monday urged delegates of the 14th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) to send out “for consideration and adoption” the third and final draft of the proposed Anglican Covenant to the member churches of the Anglican Communion, saying “what is decided here is likely to make or break the communion.”

Archbishop Gomez, who recently retired as primate of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, warned that while at least three provinces have questioned whether there was a need for a common covenant among Anglican churches worldwide, “I have to say to you in all seriousness, the communion is close to the point of breaking up.” He did not identify which provinces are cold to the idea of a covenant, which was recommended by the Lambeth Commission on Communion as a way to address deep fissures among Anglican churches worldwide triggered by the issue of homosexuality.

Archbishop Gomez added: “If we are not able to commit ourselves to this sort of being a communion, the break up of its life is staring us in the face. Either we are a family, which means that each member of the family has care for and respect for the other members of the family, or we will have to learn to go our separate ways. The question is, do we wish to remain a communion?”

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“The Communion is close to the point of breaking up”, Archbishop Drexel Gomez told ACC-14 in Kingston Jamaica this morning “If we cannot state clearly and simply what holds us together, and speak clearly at this meeting, then I fear there will be clear breaks in the Communion in the period following this meeting. Many of our Churches are asking to know where they stand ”“ what can be relied on as central to the Anglican Communion; and how can disputes be settled without the wrangle and confusion that we have seen for the last seven years or more.”

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Delegates of the 14th Anglican Consultative Council Sunday joined thousands of Jamaican Anglicans in a service that showcased this island nation’s prodigious musical gifts and liturgical expressions, including pulsating reggae music made popular worldwide by its most famous son, Bob Marley.

“It was a great service. I just wish I had more room to dance,” said Bishop Sue Moxley of the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, who is one of the Anglican Church of Canada’s three delegates to the ACC meeting here. “I loved the music and it all flowed together without any people quite obviously running around and getting all anxious about whether it was going to happen or not.”

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Archbishop Williams’ sermon, delivered with energy and passion, was drawn from Acts 4:23-37; 1 John 3:1-8 and St John 10:1-16. He focused on the statement that “there was not a needy person among them”. He nicely focused on the charge to the church to address human needs, which encompass needs far beyond “bread alone”. But finally all those needs were to be met as “The Holy Spirit comes in as our actions are caught up in the action of God in Jesus Christ. To give ourselves means letting go of what makes us feel safe”. Again there was a focus on the horizontal element of the challenge to us which seemed to fail to draw on the excellent material in John 10 on the role of the shepherd who is also the gate through whom the sheep go in and out and find pasture and life. This theme was suggested in a well known Caribbean hymn in the service: “I for Jesus, you for Jesus, all for Jesus/ fall for Jesus, come to Jesus/ Jesus come for one, he come for all” and in a haunting song “Jesus set me for all eternity/ when his wounded hands touched me”. An African participant remarked that had a member of their church been preaching, there would have been an emphasis on the challenge to commit our lives to Christ followed by an altar call. After all, 10,000 people had come to hear the preacher, whose sermon was live on television also.

The service “set” was magnificent and specially lit – a large cross framed by stained glass windows fronted by two classical columns and a profusion of wonderful flowers. It is only to be hoped that some of it can be brought to the conference meeting room in the hotel which completely lacks any imagination, being just a dais against a grey backdrop of partition walls under reduced lighting. Grey about sums it up for Saturday evening’s opening meeting – a series of greetings, introductions and information. No wonder the Presiding Bishop of the United States concentrated on her embroidery. The highlight was however a fascinating video of the life of the Diocese of Jamaica.

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The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-14) began on May 2,2009 in Kingston Jamaica. A quiet morning session was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which concluded with a noonday Eucharist. The delegates next met in discernment groups to begin their discussions about the issues before the council. In the opening plenary session three bishops- the Dean of the Province Bishop Errol Brookes, the Diocesan Bishop Alfred Reid and Bishop of the host city Robert Thompson extended a warm welcome to the delegates.

The ACC has both a chair (Bishop John Paterson) and a president (The Archbishop of Canterbury) and their opening remarks are presented in this podcast.

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Delegates to the 14th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) will make the momentous decision at their meeting here on whether to recommend the third (Ridley-Cambridge) draft of the proposed Anglican Covenant for consideration by member churches of the Anglican Communion.

The ACC “is charged with the decision as to whether it (Ridley-Cambridge draft) goes forward at this point and is referred to member churches of the Communion,” said Bishop John Patterson, ACC chair and bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, at a press briefing.

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Today’s podcast the first from the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica featured Canon Kenneth Kearon, the Secretary General of The Anglican Communion and Bishop John Paterson of Auckland, New Zealand the chair of ACC-14. They discussed the agenda of the meeting including the mission of the Anglican Communion, the Covenant for the Provinces of the Anglican Communion, the reception of the final report of the Windsor Continuation Process and how the council members will engage in the life and vitality of the local Church.

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Bishop John Paterson of Auckland New Zealand, the chair of ACC -14, hoped that the conference would “build on the experience of how people worked together to achieve understanding if not a common mind on everything at Lambeth 2008 and… come to some decisions in the best interests of the Communion.” The management of ACC-14 is hoping for a common mind at the conference that will help the delegates make critical decisions. However, it is ironic that the managers of the Lambeth Conference, a three-week Conference designed to make no decisions, will be the same ones overseeing the processes of the 10 day meeting of the ACC. How they make the shift from a process designed not to make decisions to one that does will be interesting to see. It is also interesting that, according to its managers, the ACC can make decisions while we note that Lambeth Bishops were not allowed to.

The conference will also consider the report of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG). While organizers did not say what the delegates would be considering, Canon Kearon said that the report’s view of the three moratoria was that the moratorium on the consent to the consecration of a bishop in a same sex relationship had held, that the moratorium on the public rites of same-sex blessings had held by and large, but that cross-border interventions had not ceased but had gotten worse. It was not expected that the meeting would consider the development of a new Anglican province in North America.

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