Analysis: Primates Offer Support, Warnings to Both Sides

From the Living Church

In addition to a six-page communiqué and closing press conference by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the primates of 35 of the Anglican Communion’s 38 autonomous provinces made available a wealth of reports and other written communication at the conclusion of their meeting Feb. 1-5 in Alexandria, Egypt.

As was anticipated in recent weeks, the meeting produced no decisive resolution, but it would be inaccurate to state that the primates have given up trying to bring about reconciliation. The reasoned and well-documented statements they produced provide significant insight into the additional incremental steps toward a global understanding of what constitutes an appropriate level of mutual accountability among an autonomous Communion of churches.

In perhaps the most thorough and impartial communication from the primates in recent years, a report by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Windsor Continuation Group described the increasing number of “fractured relationships” that have occurred since the consecration of the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire in 2003.

The final press conference perhaps may be best understood as an attempt by Archbishop Rowan Williams to highlight some of what the majority felt were the most widely shared priorities. The archbishop released two documents: a communiqué titled “Deeper Communion: Gracious Restraint,” and the Windsor Continuation Group’s (WCG) “Report to the Archbishop of Canterbury."

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/2/9/analysis-primates-offer-support-warnings-to-both-sides