During the meeting, the Anglican Church in North America was declared to be an official partner province of the Global South. In addition, Archbishop Foley Beach, who earlier in the week had preached at All Saints Anglican Cathedral in Cairo, was seated as a member of the Global South Primates Council with both voice and vote; participating fully in the meeting.
This is a step in the right direction. What happened in the discussion about whether to attend +Welby’s London meeting in January?
Hi Katherine,
The Global South Primates decided that they will attend – see item 3 at http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/images/uploads/CommGSPCairo2015.pdf. It leaves a great deal unsaid, but note the words “our meeting”.
The Chairman of Gafcon issued a statement a few days later: http://gafcon.org/news/chairmans-october-pastoral-letter-2015
Note the words:
[blockquote] “Last week it was a joy and privilege to share in a meeting of Global South Primates in Cairo which enabled the GAFCON Primates to consider how to respond to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation. Noting the unique nature of this proposed meeting, we are agreed to go and I am confident that in doing so we will not compromise the biblical principles for which we stand.” [/blockquote]
The “unique nature” of the meeting is pregnant with some sort of meaning, but no explanation given.
Something I am very interested in is: Will the Presiding Bishops of TEC and ACoC be present at the meeting or not? If they are, then Gafcon and indeed the Primates generally will have departed from their historic statements. For example, last month they issued this statement:
[blockquote] “It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.
“Consistent with this position, they have previously advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.” [/blockquote]
See http://gafcon.org/news/gafcon-calls-for-truth-on-the-table
I wonder if there might be two separate meetings planned, across the hallway from each other.
I wonder, MichaelA, if they view this as not another “Anglican Communion Primates Meeting” like the ones before, but a new effort at which they will finally determine the agenda and make effective their response. This would seem to me the only rationale for going at all. This idea would be consistent with “the unique nature” of the meeting.