Who We Are in Communion Partners

From The Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson spoke about Communion Partners on Feb. 6 at Church of the Incarnation, Dallas. The text that follows is a condensed version of his remarks. — The Editors

Communion Partners is a growing international fellowship of Anglican and Episcopal primates, bishops, rectors, cathedral deans and theologians dedicated to mission partnership in the Anglican Communion and Christian theological formation in the Anglican Tradition. Communion Partners seeks to enable Episcopalians and Anglicans to emphasize Communion life and accountability as fundamental to our identity, particularly in those areas within the Episcopal Church that have torn the fabric of the Communion.

The vision of Communion Partners originated with a conversation over these very issues and concerns. In 2007, a group of 13 bishops — who are all committed to remaining in the Episcopal Church, but with a strong commitment to maintaining a continued relationship with the wider Communion — gathered to talk. Our concern was borne out of serious concern with the actions of the Episcopal Church and disregard of the Windsor Process and associated pronouncements of concern that were being made by portions of the Anglican Communion. Through all of our meetings and work dating back to General Convention 2003, we have been supported by leadership of the Anglican Communion Institute.

Out of continued concern for the state of the Episcopal Church as related to our place within the larger Communion, the Communion Partners plan was framed into an outline that ultimately four bishops — John Howe (Central Florida), Jim Stanton (Dallas), Michael Smith (North Dakota) and I — sought to share with the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2010/2/12/who-we-are-in-communion-partners