… Tea has begun and the Bishops and Archbishops are gathering in the side yard of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore under the big white tent. The first press briefing has closed and we were informed that seven people may not arrive, most due to the Iceland volcano debacle in London. So far, Mrs. Susan Grayson, London, Church of England; the Venerable Michael Lawson, Church of England, Diocese of London, Archdeacon of Hampstead; the Rt. Rev. David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham, Church of England. Archbishop Henry Orombi, Uganda is still trying to make arrangements to arrive. Please keep praying that God will find and provide a way.
The Bishop of Malaita, Solomon Islands, The Right Reverend Sam Sahu sent regrets as well as the Rt. Rev. Mike Murphy from the United States, Anglican Mission in America. The Archbishop of Canterbury was invited, but declined due to a full “diary.”
Interesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury declined to attend this gathering, which may be crucial for his Communion. (On the other hand, had he intended to be there, he might not have arrived because of the volcano.)
It sounds as if the Archbishop of Canterbury was simply asked too late and had prior commitments by the time he was invited. It is a pity that he could not go but, as you say, no-one can get from the UK to Singapore at the moment anyway.
Key fact re: Rowan will be if he sends a letter of greeting to the meeting and what it says. Personally, I don’t think he likes them all that much and is wont to display passive-aggressive behaviors towards them.
Sorry, badman, but on another thread it was stated quite definitively, “by one who is supposed to know such things” that the ABC [i]had[/i] planned to attend. He certainly knew from the beginning of the planning (more than a year ago) that this event was coming up. In terms of “one’s diary” — one reschedules the less important in favor of the more important.
If the Global South is not of utmost importance to the ABC then the unravelling of the Communion is not a priority either.
At the very least he missed a chance to mend fences. In reality he is signaling that these are people he just doesn’t have time for.
Yes, numerous people supposedly “in the know” have been saying the ABoC would attend. Regardless of his reasoning, it is quite apparent that the conference is held in disdain by the “powers that be” in the ACO office and ACNS- if you go to anglicancommunion.org, you would not know that the conference was in session, or that 20 Primates and representatives had gathered. Much less what they were there to talk about.
After all, the Primates at the conference only represent 60-70% of the Communion, so the ACO does not see it as something important, like the ABC lecturing Wall Street on “basic economics.”
One rather suspects that the ABoC called around to the moderate GS Primates, found that the attempted overthrow of the episcopacy by the so-called Standing Committee was dead in the water, and that the revisions of the Covenant that he had so carefully crafted to remove any hindrances for TEC was dead in the water as well. So not much point in his showing up, since he has done absolutely nothing to salvage the Communion.
#4. Lumen, Are you claiming that the ABC’s beardtrimming appointment was not really so important?
Perhaps, with Abp. Orombi stuck in London as well, the ABoC could find some time in that jam packed diary of his for a brief meeting with Abp. Orombi-
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2817
You might want to copy that to your desktop now, before Kearon gets around to filling in the blank 3 weeks in the middle of it. I am sure ++Rowan has all manner of meetings and such. But one would think it would take some major public duties to keep him away from the most important Anglican event since Dar.
TJ (#7),
Great comeback. But my guess is that somehow or other, ++Orombi will find a way to get there, for where there’s a will, there often is a way. But clearly, ++RW had little desire to come, and it doesn’t take much to keep him away.
OTOH, it’s stunningly significant that Cantaur has declined to attend. We can all speculate endlessly about why he chose not to come after all, but since he did attend and speak at the 3rd South to South Encounter in 2005 (in Egypt), his absence from this crucial meeting is aptly symbolic of the great (and growing) distance between the official and unofficial powers that be in the AC.
But this surprising development may prove to be a blessing in disguise. It may allow the GS leaders to take a bolder stance, without the need for spending part of their precious week together showing respect for the office of Canterbury even when they don’t always feel respect for the man occupying that role. It may faciliate a more vigourous response to the Covenant that might have been more difficult to obtain consensus for if ++RW had been there.
Whatever is keeping the ABoC away, the absence of Cantaur from Singapore is almost as powerful a symbol as the absence of over 200 GS bishops from Lambeth in 2008.
David Handy+
#6 Take any way you like, CANA
The Office of Canterbury is by no means negligible, but the current incumbent is rendering it irrelevant.