The Anglican Communion Office has issued a report, purportedly from the Joint Standing Committee of Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council essentially affirming the US House of Bishops statement of last week. In an astonishing piece of manipulation the one conservative (Mouneer Anis) who had attended the meeting in New Orleans was squeezed out of the drafting process whereas the US Presiding Bishop was included. The ACO is heavily funded by the US Episcopal Church and has for a long time been considered to be manipulating agendas and events in order to promote the revisionist cause. This latest move adds weight to the concerns and destroys any credibility the report might have had.
The report has been posted on the ACO website should anyone think it worth reading. As we predicted beforehand it is taking the view that the US Bishops did just enough (which they didn’t) in order to satisfy the requirements made of them. Clearly it had already been agreed what the report would say and how the US Bishops would have to phrase their response in order to match it.
It’s time to disband the ACO. It is expensive and surplus to requirements.
The report does say at the end that there is a growing Anglican consensus that it is “inappropriate” to ordain bishops in same-sex relationships or to bless such in public. Given that inappropriate behavior is the great Anglican sin, we can expect such things to stop yesterday.
Tom Rightmyer in Asheville, NC
But it is beyond obvious Tom that they are not stopping as the article about Vermont (to pick just one example) posted recently indicates. So what do you propose be done about it?
“So what do you propose be done about it?”
I know it is much simpler for me, in so many ways. Let go and move on. Though a Christian from the age of 10, I was looking for a denomination 35 years ago and found TEC….I am now looking for a new denomination. Hopefully it will be Anglican….Please note I use the word “denomination”, for that is what TEC is, or was, of the Church. God Bless you Fr. Kendall. Your path is much harder than mine…….thank you for all you have shared and done.
“It’s time to disband the ACO” —Vincent Coles
Agreed. The ACO is and has been beholden to ECUSA, the Anglican Communion’s most recalcitrant member.
Worse than that, the ACO has on key occasions worked closely with ECUSA to hobble the primates.
— In 2003, after Canterbury had called an emergency primates’ meeting, ACC secretary general John Peterson met at Virginia Seminary with ECUSA reappraisers to develop a joint plan to make sure the primates did nothing.
— The ACO planned the primates’ Dromantine meeting so as to fill the schedule with busywork and allow only a couple of hours to discuss the Windsor Report.
The Anglican Communion needs a small central staff to facilitate meetings and communication. It doesn’t need a lordly bureaucracy with a will and agenda of its own.
The ACO’s manipulation is obviously directed by 815 — and that’s very old news. ACO (and the ABC) are $$$ dependent upon 815. 815 is gearing up for property battles in the courts, and wants it on record that TEC and ONLY TEC is part of the AC; that the orthodox are merely a bunch of weird schismatics and are not recognized as Anglicans by the AC or the ABC.
Irenaeus, you are RIGHT ON in your analysis of the ACO’s total bias. This reeks, and one can only hope that the Primates see through it. However, so many of them are so overworked and underfunded (and respect the authority of the ABC) that I am terribly pessimistic that they will reject TEC’s Response.
Ah, so it’s the Anglican Communion Office to blame …..
I thought it was the same secretariat that produced
The Windsor Report
Aren’t these the same people who serve the Primates and have drafted their Communiqués?
Surely these are the same team who supported the ACC 13 at Nottingham and helped form their resolutions.
Didn’t I see the same names on those servicing the Covenant Design Group that produced the Draft Covenant?
And by the way – aren’t these the same people at the heart of IARCUM and ARCIC, AOCICC, IASCER, IATDC etc etc who were key in drafting The Cyprus Agreed Statement with the Orthodox Church etc etc
Any who have visited the ACO offices in London would find:
“a small†very warm and welcoming, “central staff to facilitate meetings and communication.â€
“It doesn’t need a lordly bureaucracy†– and unless I’ve missed something – it doesn’t appear to have one.
As to “a will and agenda of its own†, now let me tell you about the two secretaries I had in this parish they had a will …………..
Martin [#7]: The ACO has disserved the primates and attempted to subvert their decisions. Comment #5 provides examples. I’ll bet Global South leaders can provide a lot more.
PS: Sorry I can’t help you with those secretaries.
PS to #8: If I knew the people in question, as Martin does, I’d like them and probably take a more nuanced view of their role. But their deeds speak for themselves.
Haven’t ECUSA’s deeds (which the ACO has helped enable) pretty much killed off ARCIC?
Kendall asks,” So what do you propose be done about it?” This is, of course,the one question tht needs an answer, and I would hope that this blog would turn its attention to the answer. AS to the HOB and TEC and the rest, the right phrase is “shooting fish in a barrel.” It’s too easy to be worth continuing. The HOB and TEC will learn nothing, change nothing, so the bulk of the comments here, day after day, are largely working off steam. We need to focus on where to go and how.
My first suggestion is for all conservatives to write to the ABC and tell him he has failed and that he needs to be replaced. In short, he needs to challenged directly. Question: Can one remove an ABC? If so, who has the authority? The Queen?
My second suggestion is that the conservative churches actually talk to each other to this end, the need to create a new “ABC” to supplant the one in England. We need a leader – not a pope, but a leader. And I mean here, in the US. I am, I suppose, suggesting a federation, a new HOB that will be, in fact, a collection of dissenting voices, but a federation allows for that disunity as long as it shares a common goal, and the common goal should be scripture and its integrity. There will be all sorts of disagreement, but the INTENT to preserve should be central, not a single interpretation. But there needs something else – ah, here we come to the sticky place – and that is, it needs a “House of Commons” as well and it needs a Supreme Court to which all consent to submit. In America, we have needed a House of Commons for all Anglicanism for a long time, a place where laity has a real voice. In short, we will never have any sort of unification, no resolution of identity, until the laity can speak with authority. Will this compromise the strengthof the bishops? It will, it cannot help it. But will the laity become the sole interpreters of scripture? No indeed; this is what the supreme court is for. Like it or not, this is the way America thinks. It may not be the best system, but it will be better than all the alternatives. Larry
Larry [#10]: If we need a substitute for Canterbury, let’s not seek it in the United States. American unilateralism has helped get us into our current problems. Better a Global South cleric.
PS: As for an American Anglican leader, Bp. Duncan is good enough for me any day, any time.
..Sorry Irenaeus can’t help me with those wilful secretaries …….
Yes, I do know the staff there, and if you ever visit London you can get to know them too as they work in a building that is also a hostel (reasonable for London), always someone interesting staying and breakfasts are great occasions meeting fellow Anglicans from all over the world.
I know many large diocese and one or two mega parishes that have a bigger staff than the ACO! It always astonishes me who covers what and the range of skills they need to do their jobs well.
I feel the stories of disserving a little vague and more gossip than anything else.
From what I can see and observe (remember they produce material I do not much like too!) they take instruction from the boss and carry out their duties impeccably – the boss does not live in the US
…..