Report from the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC

General Convention / Religion

The report on the response of the House of Bishops Communiqué has been released is posted in HTML form on Episcopal Cafe:

“The Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates of the Anglican Communion has submitted its Report on The Episcopal Church House of Bishops of Meeting in New Orleans. The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent the Report to all the Primates and to all members of the Anglican Consultative Council and asked them to consult in their Provinces on the Report, and respond to him by the end of October.”

A printer-friendly pdf formated version is posted here on the Anglican Communion Website.

In a nutshell, it appears that the Episcopal Church remains in the Communion. What happens next is up to the Global South Primates and the departing(?) dioceses of the Common Cause Partnership.

Do notice particularly the text found on page 14 of the pdf version:

“As a Joint Standing Committee, we do not see how certain primates can in good conscience call upon The Episcopal Church to meet the recommendations of the Windsor Report while they find reasons to exempt themselves from paying regard to them. We recommend that the Archbishop remind them of their own words and undertakings:

“… we are committed as Primates … to respect the integrity of each other’s provinces and dioceses …” (Pastoral Letter, Gramado, May 2003)

“… we reaffirm the teaching of successive Lambeth Conferences that bishops must respect the autonomy and territorial integrity of dioceses and provinces other than their own.” (Statement of the Primates, Lambeth, October 2003)

“… for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference … we commit ourselves neither to encourage nor to initiate cross-boundary interventions.” (Communiqué, Dromantine, February 2005)

“There is an urgent need to embrace the recommendations of the Windsor Report and to bring an end to all interventions.” (Communiqué, Dar es Salaam, February 2007)

Read the rest: The Lead

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2 Comments

  1. One thing I haven’t seen addressed anywhere is what of the episcopal oversight for those Episcopalians in Network dioceses? Who provides their pastoral care if their bishop throws his hand (and his diocese) in with the CCCP (or CANA or AMiA or any other group)? Much is made of providing adequate oversight for Anglicans in Episcopal dioceses but what of the flip side of the coin? Are there any plans or actual mechanisms in place for them?

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