Calm urged as Anglican split over sexuality threatens to deepen

From Premier-

Anglicans on both sides of the sexuality debate are being encouraged to calm the rhetoric ahead of a very important meeting next year.

Bishops from across the world are due to come together for the once a decade Lambeth Conference but there's concern many will boycott.

Conservative group GAFCON says its bishops won't attend due to the fact gay bishops will be permitted to attend.

Conservatives within the Church are also unhappy at how they've been portrayed by the Anglican Communion.

More here-

https://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Calm-urged-as-Anglican-split-over-sexuality-threatens-to-deepen

Anglican Consultative Council Digest: May 2 and 3

From ENS-

During the Anglican Consultative Council’s 17th meeting here, a number of things happen. In addition to Episcopal News Service’s other coverage, here are some additional highlights from May 2 and 3.

For the first time, this ACC meeting includes eight youth members from five regions across the Anglican Communion. The communion’s standing committee agreed to a request from ACC-16 to allow such membership.

On May 2, youth members Isaac Beach of New Zealand and Basetsana Makena of South Africa conducted a panel discussion with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Southern Africa Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Canadian Diocese of Edmonton Bishop Jane Alexander, posing questions the two said they distilled from conversations with their other youth colleagues.

Makena led off the session asking if the three were satisfied with the fact that the youth members plus three other young people who serve as province-specific members make up 14 percent of the council.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/05/03/anglican-consultative-council-digest-may-2-and-3/

Anglican Consultative Council Digest: May 1

From ENS-

During the Anglican Consultative Council’s 17th meeting here, a number of things happen. In addition to Episcopal News Service’s other coverage, here are some additional highlights.

Learning about the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith effort

On May 1, the ACC suspended its work, and members had the option of attending a 90-minute “consultation” on Living in Love and Faith, the Church of England’s new effort to think theologically about diverse opinions on human identity and sexuality. Its subtitle is “Christian Teaching & Learning about Human Identity, Sexuality & Marriage.” Slightly less than half the council attended.

Eeva John, who called herself the “enabling officer” of the project, said it is “large, ambitious and complex.” The work was begun in 2017 after the Church of England’s General Synod rejected a report on human sexuality from the House of Bishops.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/05/01/anglican-consultative-council-digest-may-1/

Anglicans must unite in service of peace, says Archbishop of Canterbury

From La Croix-

The congregation at St John's Cathedral, Hong Kong, for the official opening of ACC-17. (Photo courtesy Anglican Communion News Service) 

The Anglican Communion must not put its internal differences, disputes and issues above the pressing concerns of afflicted peoples and nations around the world, said the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"We cannot condemn whole nations to the absence of help, neglect of support, solitary suffering, through indulging in the luxury of disunity," Justin Welby told the Anglican Consultative Council on the opening day of ACC-17 in Hong Kong, according to churchtimes.co.uk.

"We exist for others, in the service of peace," he said in his presidential address, adding that all provinces in the Communion must continue to strike a balance between being both autonomous and interdependent.

More here-

https://international.la-croix.com/news/anglicans-must-unite-in-service-of-peace-says-archbishop-of-canterbury/9995 

also here-

https://www.christiantoday.com/article/archbishop-of-canterbury-calls-on-anglicans-to-be-peacemakers-in-time-of-global-uncertainty/132321.htm

ACC-17: GAFCON are not behaving as Anglicans, says Idowu-Fearon

From The Church Times-

THE crisis in the Anglican Communion is being caused largely by autocratic Primates and bishops in the Global South who do not behave as Anglicans, the Communion’s secretary-general, the Rt Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, suggested on Monday.

In a robust address to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), meeting in Hong Kong, Dr Idowu-Fearon asked directly: “How should we respond to GAFCON?” — the Global Anglican Fellowship of conservative Provinces that has been acting increasingly independently in recent years, after a split over sexuality. “How do we handle this to prevent a schism in our Communion?”

He spoke of “deliberate ignorance”: “When you see a Primate, when you see a bishop, who knows that this is what it means to be an Anglican Church . . . and he pretends that he doesn’t, that’s very frustrating.”

There was a more general lack of understanding, too, since Anglicanism was not even taught in many theological colleges and seminaries around the world, he said. “Where it is taught, it is not Anglicanism: it is self-made Anglicanism. . .

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/3-may/news/world/acc-17-gafcon-are-not-behaving-as-anglicans-says-idowu-fearon

ACC-17 opens with calls for Christian witness and intentional discipleship for a better, peaceful world

From ENS-

The Anglican Consultative Council’s 17th meeting officially opened April 28 with a combination of speeches and traditional Anglican liturgy spiced at the end with Chinese custom.

Near the end of the Eucharist which took place at St. John’s Cathedral in the heart of the financial district here, Archbishop of Hong Kong and ACC Chair Paul Kwong told the congregation that Hong Kong means “Fragrant Harbor,” a name it took because of the spice trade in its early days.

“I believe that a disciple gives off the ‘Fragrance of Christ’ in daily life,” he said. “My prayer is that ACC-17 can help our Anglican Communion to become a giver of the ‘Fragrance of Christ’ to the world.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby thanked God “that you have gathered your church from north and south, east and west,” and vigorously struck a ceremonial gong three times and declared ACC-17 open in the name of the Trinity. A video clip of the gong ceremony is below.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/04/29/acc-17-opens-with-calls-for-christian-witness-and-intentional-discipleship-for-a-better-peaceful-world/

Anglican Communion members head to Hong Kong for consultative council meeting

From ENS-

The members of the Anglican Consultative Council are arriving here for the start of an eight-day meeting that will examine the communion’s mission and ministry, and during which some of its internal differences might surface.

The three Episcopal Church members of the ACC say they hope the April 28-May 5 meeting will bind the communion closer together in its mission across the world.

Rosalie Ballentine from the Diocese of the Virgin Islands told Episcopal News Service that she hopes the meeting will focus on the “continuing effort to build relationships, to build the communion, and to deal with those things that are important to the people of the world.”

Those issues include relief and development work, women, families, domestic violence, human trafficking, poverty and hunger, climate change, and indigenous people, according to the draft agenda. Members will also consider more church-related topics such as faith and order work, liturgical consultations, ecumenical and interreligious relationships, theological education and prayer initiatives.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/04/26/anglican-communion-members-head-to-hong-kong-for-consultative-council-meeting/

Anglican Consultative Council: ‘Give us more say in running Anglican Communion’

From The Church Times-

MEMBERS of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) who are travelling to Hong Kong for its 17th meeting, which begins on Sunday, believe that they should have more say in the running of the Anglican Communion.

A Church Times questionnaire to a selection of ACC members elicited a mixed response. For example, on the question how well known the ACC was in their province, answers ranged from “Not very well known” (the majority) to “Well known”.

There was greatest agreement in answer to the question: “Should the ACC have more say in the running of the Communion?” Almost all those who responded agreed. Two respondents, Dr Heather Payne (Church in Wales) and the Very Revd Hosam Naoum (Jerusalem and the Middle East), spoke of achieving a good balance with the Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Two dissenting voices came from Africa. Canon Anthony Eiwuley (Kenya) said: “I believe that most of the decisions taken at its meeting are enough. The policies are made for the ACC to administer.” And Peter Gachuhi (Kenya) said that the ACC’s “visibility and mandate needs to be understood first before one can cede any rights or powers to it”.

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/26-april/news/world/anglican-consultative-council-give-us-more-say-in-running-anglican-communion

Draft agenda for the Anglican Consultative Council – ACC-17 – in Hong Kong published

From ACNS-

The seventeenth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council – ACC-17 – begins in a month in Hong Kong. The ACC, one of four Instruments of the Anglican Communion, includes Archbishops, bishops, priests, and laity from the 40 autonomous churches of the Anglican Communion. The draft agenda for the meeting has just been published. ACC members will be asked to approve the agenda as their first item of business.

The gathering begins on Sunday 28 April with a Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby at the main ACC-17 venue, the Gold Coast Hotel. It is followed by an opening service at St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong. Both events will be live streamed on the Anglican Communion’s YouTube channel.

The report by the Anglican Communion’s Secretary General, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, on Monday 29 April will also be live streamed. Then ACC members will discuss the resolutions agreed at the last ACC meeting, in Lusaka, Zambia, in April 2016, and hear an update on the progress of these and earlier resolutions.

More here-

https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2019/03/draft-agenda-for-the-anglican-consultative-council-acc17-in-hong-kong-published.aspx 

and here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/29-march/news/world/anglican-consultative-council-agenda-to-include-church-of-england-s-sexuality-review

The ACC: A spurned Instrument of Communion

From The Church Times-

NOT that long ago, meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meant something.
In 1971, at its first meeting, delegates to the Council narrowly passed a resolution that broadly approved of the ordination of women to the priesthood. That resolution gave important momentum to canonical change permitting precisely such ordinations in several Provinces, including Canada.

At a meeting in 1984, a committee of the ACC drafted the basis of what became known as the Five Marks of Mission: a definition of mission which many Anglicans have used in recent years to think about how Christians are to engage with the world. In 2005, in the midst of a fraught moment in the life of the Anglican Communion, the ACC was the body to which Americans and Canadians made genuine and searching presentations about how they understood the actions of their Churches in blessing same-sex unions and consecrating an openly partnered gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop.

It makes sense that the ACC would be the locus for such work. It is one of four “Instruments of Communion” which help to bring order to the common life of Anglicans around the world. It is the only one of those Instruments — the others are the Primates’ Meeting, the Lambeth Conference, and the Archbishop of Canterbury himself — that includes Anglicans who are not bishops. In general, each Anglican Province sends a bishop, priest, and lay person to the ACC.

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/15-march/comment/opinion/the-acc-a-spurned-instrument-of-communion

Anglican Consultative Council Chair expresses hope of Provincial status for Chile

From ACNS-

A delegation from the Anglican Consultative Council has concluded its fact-finding visit to the Diocese of Chile, with its Chair, Archbishop Paul Kwong of Hong Kong, expressing his hope that it will become the 40th Province of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church in Chile is currently a Diocese in the Province of the Church of South America; but has been moving towards becoming one of the Communion’s independent-but-interdependent autonomous Provinces. The delegation will report its findings to the ACC’s Standing Committee next month. If they give the go-ahead, and if that decision is ratified by a majority of the Communion’s Primates, the Province of Chile could be operational by the end of the year.

The delegation were in Chile from 7 to 13 August to investigate the current state of the Anglican Church in the country and to determine whether it is ready and meets the criteria to become an Anglican Province. They took part in an intense programme of meetings and visits to churches and institutions linked to the diocese; including its theological seminary and the Permanent Commission – a group made up of bishops, clergy and laity.

More here-

http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2018/08/anglican-consultative-council-chair-expresses-hope-of-provincial-status-for-chile.aspx 

and here-

https://livingchurch.org/2018/08/15/abp-praises-chilean-church/

Anglican Church Endorses Vatican's Call for Prayers for South Sudan, DRC

From VOA-

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, secretary-general of the Anglican consultative council, is appealing to the leaders of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to end violence and restore peace.

Idowu-Fearon said the Anglican Communion will join Catholics’ peace efforts on Friday.

“With these countries, No. 1, you will see that, the extent of the loss of lives, the extent of the suffering in these two countries, honestly, it is an embarrassment to Africa in general and the powers that be in the world in particular,” Idowu-Fearon said.

He said the conflict in the two countries is because of power struggle, adding, “It has to do with an epidemic problem on the continent of Africa. ... Tribalism, corruption (and) power.”

More here-

https://www.voanews.com/a/anglican-church-endorses-vatican-call-for-prayers-for-south-sudan/4266617.html

Oklahoma Episcopal bishop named to special council

From Oklahoma-

The leader of Oklahoma Episcopalians recently was elected to be part of a team representing the Episcopal Church USA on a prestigious council of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Rt. Rev. Edward J. Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, was elected by the Episcopal Church USA's Executive Council to serve as its bishop member on the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).

According to a news release from the denomination's public affairs office, the Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four instruments of communion in the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is one of the 39 province members. The Episcopal Church USA is the American arm of the Anglican Communion.
More here-

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-episcopal-bishop-named-to-special-council/article/5581756

Instruments of Communion: The Primates’ Meeting, the ACC, and their predecessors

From The Living Church-

One reason why the issues that have divided Anglicans over the last 50 years have proved so difficult is that they stir up ecclesiological questions. Which body or bodies (if any) have moral authority to speak on behalf of the Communion to its individual churches? What deference (if any) should be accorded to their pronouncements?

The 1997 Virginia Report commented positively on the ACC as including laypeople, but noted that its existence “raises questions,” whereas the Primates’ Meetings “have an inherent authority by virtue of the office which they hold as chief pastors.” It emphasized the bishop’s role as “one who represents the part to the whole and the whole to the part, the particularity of each diocese to the whole Communion and the Communion to each diocese.” In 2008 the Windsor Continuation Group observed, “Not all believe that a representative body is the best way to express the contribution of the whole people of God at a worldwide level.”

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2017/09/11/instruments-of-communion-the-primates-meeting-the-acc-and-their-predecessors/

Group of ACC members, secretary general dispute meaning of resolution

From ENS-

Two Anglican Communion leaders and some outgoing members of the Anglican Consultative Council are at odds about what exactly happened on the last full day of last month’s ACC-16 meeting in Lusaka, Zambia.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said that the council passed a resolution accepting the so-called “consequences” called for in January by a majority of the primates – leaders of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces – for the Episcopal Church’s decision to allow same-sex marriage. However, some ACC members dispute that interpretation.

The latest two chapters in the continuing disagreement opened May 6 when six outgoing ACC and Standing Committee members released a statement saying the council did not accept or endorse those consequences.  The statement also said that the ACC imposed no additional consequences.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/05/09/group-of-acc-members-secretary-general-dispute-meaning-of-resolution/

Anglican chief counters accusations of 'Lusaka six'

From Christian Today-

Further Anglican divisions have emerged after six delegates to a recent influential meeting last month of church leaders denied that they had either endorsed or affirmed the actions of the Anglican Communion primates in January.

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, rejected criticism from six delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council's meeting in Lusaka, Zambia.

The six outgoing members of the council and its insisted their meeting had "neither endorsed nor affirmed" the consequences contained in the primates' communiqué from their meeting at Canterbury cathedral.

Christian Today was among the news outlets that reported the Anglican Consultative Council had unanimously backed the primates in outlining "consequences" to the decision by The Episcopal Church to back gay marriage. The primates had voted to limit participation of The Episcopal Church for three years.

More here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/anglican.chief.counters.accusations.of.lusaka.six/85682.htm

Holding together in diversity – reflections on the ACC meeting in Lusaka

Justin Welby via ACNS-

Having come back from Lusaka on 20 April, after 16 days in Zambia and Zimbabwe, once again the experience of a big Anglican Communion meeting has had an impact on my thinking about the Communion.

As usual, the impact is largely positive. Any time the Communion gets together, especially the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) which has representatives from most Provinces who are bishops, priests and laity, I am more and more struck that we hold together, more or less, despite our diversity, because of the work of God among us. God is at work in the Anglican Communion, and my awareness of that has grown a lot in the last month. There are plenty of problems, I’ll come to those in a moment, but the central news is that if God, by his Spirit, is working among us, that the future is one of hope, of purpose and of blessing in our call to fulfil the mission of God in the world.

More here-

http://www.anglicannews.org/comment/2016/04/holding-together-in-diversity-reflections-on-the-acc-meeting-in-lusaka.aspx

'Consequences' imposed on US church by Anglican primates have been 'fully implemented' says Archbishop

From Christian Today-

The Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that the "consequences" imposed on the US Episcopal Church by leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion have been "fully implemented".

Archbishop Welby posted on Facebook in the days after this month's meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka, Zambia. Two provinces, Uganda and Nigeria, boycotted the meeting because of the attendance of delegates from the Episcopal Church.

However, for constitutional reasons those delegates were legally entitled to attend.

Archbishop Welby said the Primates' Meeting decisions had been "clearly" supported and accepted.

"No member of the Episcopal Church stood for office in the ACC or Standing Committee. The consequences of the Primates meeting have been fully implemented," he wrote.

More here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/consequences.imposed.on.us.church.by.anglican.primates.have.been.fully.implemented.says.archbishop/84427.htm

ACC members depart with stories of unity

From The Church Times-

MEMBERS of the Anglican Consultative Council left Lusaka this week full of praise for the unity on display, despite taking with them differing interpretations about what had been agreed.

A letter to members of the Episcopal Church in the United States, published by its representatives, spoke of a meeting “filled with joy, grace, and love” that “visibly demonstrated, once again, our unity in diversity as the provinces of the Anglican Communion”.

The outgoing chairman, the Rt Revd James Tengatenga, sought permission to be “a little smug” in his closing sermon, asserting: “The rumour about the Anglican Communion’s demise is greatly exaggerated.”

It was clear from members’ responses to a request to list the most pressing issues in their provinces, that ecology, evangelism, migration, and violence were of far greater concern to them than issues of human sexuality (News, 15 April). Among the other 44 resolutions passed was a call for Anglicans to take “pastoral, priestly and prophetic action” on climate change. There were also a number of expressions of solidarity with Burundi, South Sudan, South Africa, and Pakistan — and with Asia Bibi, held in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy since 2009 (News, 24 July).

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2016/22-april/news/world/acc-members-depart-with-stories-of-unity

A Letter from Lusaka: Episcopal Church’s ACC members write to the church

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church‘s three members on the Anglican Consultative Council have written the following letter to the church at the conclusion ACC-16 in Lusaka, Zambia.

April 19, 2016

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ in The Episcopal Church:

The 16th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council concluded today at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka, Zambia, and tonight and tomorrow, we are saying farewell to our fellow ACC members from across the Anglican Communion and making our way home.

ACC16 was filled with joy, grace and love as close to seventy Anglican sisters and brothers in Christ, laypeople, priests and bishops, came together in prayer, Bible study, and worship.  Our time together over the last thirteen days has visibly demonstrated, once again, our unity in diversity as the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Meeting fellow Anglicans from around the world in discussions, around the altar, in tea breaks, and at meals, we learned from each other what intentional discipleship across our differences means as the Body of Christ in the world today.  We are thankful to God and to The Episcopal Church for this privilege of representing our church on the Anglican Consultative Council.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/04/19/a-letter-from-lusaka-episcopal-church-team-writes-to-the-church-at-conclusion-of-acc-meeting/