Anglican global south primates say they will attend @JustinWelby's make-or-break summit in Canterbury in January
— John Bingham (@John_Bingham) October 18, 2015
Anglican global south primates say they will attend @JustinWelby's make-or-break summit in Canterbury in January
— John Bingham (@John_Bingham) October 18, 2015
Deeply regrettable, but hardly surprising.
#1,
Given that the ABoC dropped everything to jet to Cairo on short notice, I rather imagine that the GS Primates are attending on their terms, not the ACO/TEC terms. But we will see in January.
We’ll see as soon as the agenda is published.
And if their issues are not included, they can all decide they are too busy elsewhere to attend. They now know how to play hardball, and that they have to play hardball in order to be taken seriously.
Interesting. The statement by the Global South Primates is at item 3 of this communique: 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.
This begs the question, 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 Gafcon 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.
Another question: Apparently ACNA has been accepted as a full partner province in the Global South, and ++Beach has been given not only a voice but also a vote at Global South Primates meetings. That is extraordinary enough, but I am more interested in the timing – why now, in effect just before the January meeting?