The Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the General Synod of the Church of England earlier today. He discusses the background to the Primate’s Meeting in Tanzania and the thinking that was used to guide the decision making process.

He has this to say specifically about the requests to the Episcopal Church:

“We have asked for more clarity as to whether a moratorium has indeed been agreed on the election of bishops in active sexual partnerships outside marriage; and we have suggested a similar voluntary moratorium by the bishops on licensing any kind of liturgical order for same-sex blessings (the understanding of the Meeting was certainly that this should be a comprehensive abstention from any public rites), at least for the period during which the wider discussion of the Covenant goes forward. And to try and encourage an internal North American solution to the bitter disputes now raging, we suggested a structure for some kind of supplementary oversight, and an agreement on both sides to back away from litigation – the explicit hope being that this would remove what some see as the need for interventions from other provinces, and would begin to do away with what all agree is the anomaly of diversity of foreign jurisdictions in the USA.”

Read the rest here: Archbishop of Canterbury | Sermons and Speeches