The Global South of the Anglican Communion
21 August 2014
Announcement regarding the Diocese of South Carolina
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
The Global South of the Anglican Communion welcomes the unanimous request of The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, XIV Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, and the Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina to “accept the offer of the newly created Global South Primatial Oversight Council for pastoral oversight of our ministry as a diocese during the temporary period of our discernment of our final provincial affiliation.”
The decision of the Diocese of South Carolina was made in response to the meeting of the Global South Primates Steering Committee in Cairo, Egypt from 14-15 February 2014 [1]. A recommendation from that meeting stated that, “we decided to establish a Primatial Oversight Council, in following-through the recommendations taken at Dar es Salam in 2007, to provide pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to keep them within the Communion.”
Recognizing the faithfulness of Bishop Mark Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, and in appreciation for their contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, the Global South welcomes them as an active and faithful member within the Global South of the Anglican Communion, until such time as a permanent primatial affiliation can be found.
Yours in Christ,
+ Mouneer Egypt
The Most Revd Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis
Primate of Jerusalem & the Middle East
Bishop of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa
Chairman, Global South Primates Steering Committee
+ Ian Mauritius
The Most Revd Ian Ernest
Primate of the Indian Ocean
Bishop of Mauritius Hon. General Secretary, Global South Primates Steering Committee
_________________________________________________________________________
[1] The full statement of the Global South Primates Steering Committee held in Cairo, Egypt from 14-15 February 2014 may be found on the Global South Anglican website
You can see the original signed letter (a PDF file) here.
[received via email and posted with permission – the elves. Note this is also posted at the Diocese of South Carolina website, along with an accompanying note from Bishop Mark Lawrence.]
What primates make up the “Primatial Oversight Council”?
I recall Bishop Lawrence explaining that a single primate from the council would be assigned to oversee DioSC. Any idea which primate that is?
Jeff, if that’s the case then I imagine it will be Archbishop Mouneer.
#2, several names have been discussed.
I don’t think any decisions have been made yet. I am pretty sure if the decision had been made, it would have been announced. I agree with #3. Archbishop Mouneer Anis is one obvious choice among many good possibilities.
Excellent news! A diocesan official really ought to edit the DioSC Wikipedia page to reflect the absolute fact that the diocese is a full member of the Anglican Communion. Under this arrangement, a priest coming to DioSC from TEC ought receive letters dimissory, rather than deposition. If a TEC bishop were to take the latter action, I think it would be proper for DioSC’s primate to file a grievance.
#4, may I ask what names have been discussed? Is this public information? Who is discussing?
#7. The Global South leadership.
#7. I have no idea which primates are being discussed. It is just a guess that ++Mouneer Anis is a possibility simply because of his close ties to the diocese. I agree with #8. It must be the global south who is discussing the possibilities and even perhaps just the steering committee. I do hope that they will give us choices to vote on at our convention. I do know that our committee for our discernment process is beginning its work. What -if anything- they will have to report at our next convention I don’t know.
Here is the explanation and roster of [url=http://www.diosc.com/sys/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=580:task-force-for-provincial-affiliation&catid=172:provincial-affiliation&Itemid=261] task force/committee for our provincial affiliation[/url] as a diocese.
Bishops Mouneer and Ernest are the senior leadership of the GS. The meeting that +Welby attended when the matter was discussed was in Cairo. The ‘extra-provincial’ logic was adapted from the Dar es Salaam Primates Meeting, now for this new set of circumstances. Envisioned in that was a ‘primatial vicar.’ Lots of things–including basic logistics–will go into how the GS decides this role.
Dr. Seitz,
Someone who was mentioned as a possibility at one time was ++Tito Zavala (Southern Cone). Do you think that the GS leadership would consider a “Gafcon” member? In addition to demonstrating the essential doctrinal unity between GS and Gafcon, such an appointment would have the benefit of his being in a closer time zone. It might also have the benefit of narrowing the ecclesiological distance (although I suspect this distance is more a perception of liberals in the west who are trying to exploit it than any sort of actual division between GS and the subset of Gafcon churches) between the various conservative groupings within the Anglican Communion.
That said, there are any number of GS Primates who have been quite supportive of South Carolina in particular, and of traditional Anglicans in the US generally. So the above is just nosy conversation on my part. I am sure that whatever determination the GS comes to, the primatial oversight of the Diocese will be a vast improvement over their previous primate.
#11, as you will know, the Gafcon Primates are a subset of the larger GS. (The former has its own independent administrative wing.) ACI and TCI gathered the leaders of the GS, including +Kenya, in Toronto last year. The decision about a primatial vicar (or whatever language is chosen) will be taken, as noted above, by the GS leadership and any number of factors will come into play. All in all, a lot of careful work is represented here and SC will not be the only Diocese that in time may need to underscore their Communion association, given the direction of TEC at present.
#10, Dr. Seitz, Do I understand correctly that this matter (allowing a Diocese to come under the GS) was discussed when Archbishop Welby was present at the meeting in Cairo,Egypt? Or am I misunderstanding what you wrote? I agree, there may be more dioceses that will need this sort of provision as the situation worsens in TEC. Anyway, the decision is going to be made by the GS…. whether anyone will get any input is a matter of conjecture.
Bishop Zavalas 5 year term as primate of the Southern Cone ends in 2015 and a new primate will be elected by their College/ House of bishops. He is the only indigenous diocesan bishop in the Southern Cone. The next Primate will be chosen among 1 American, 1 Canadian, and 4 Brits. I don’t if this fact complicates the selection. I also don’t know if Tito is eligible for a second term or not and if so may be pressured to serve again.
#13, I’m not sure what your last sentence means. Re: Global South Cairo meeting in February 2014, any archive search can help you.