Posted on 04/12/2005 9:15:33 AM PDT by sionnsar
Letters of invitation to the Anglican Consultative Council were sent out two weeks ago, according to the Anglican Communion Office in London. Those invitations were to all the delegates eligible to attend, including those from America and Canada.
The Dromantine Communique requests both churches to voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council in paragraph 14:
Within the ambit of the issues discussed in the Windsor Report and in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, we request that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference. During that same period we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion.
Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria recently stated that this request was an expectation. He wrote:
I have noted with disappointment that there are those in ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada who are suggesting that these Provinces should defy the Primates’ request that they voluntarily withdraw their members from the next meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council. I would urge the appointed leadership of these Provinces to weigh seriously the consequences of such actions if indeed there is to be any hope of the reconciliation and healing that we all seek. Moreover I believe that it is an accurate sense of our meeting to say that the Primates do not expect ECUSA and the Canadian church to participate in ANY of the structures of the Communion until they have chosen to respect the mind of the Communion. Until they decide to return - something for which we earnestly pray – the sad truth is that they have walked away from the Communion.
Tomorrow the Executive Council of ECUSA will decide its response to this request. Anglican Communion insiders in London believe that America will honour the request, they are less sure about Canada.
It must be said however that issuing invitations will not have helped. In fact they will have sent out a signal to both the American and Canadian delegates that the ACC or at least its bureaucracy are at odds with the will the Primates Meeting.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Nobody with an IQ over room temperature could have been working there and NOT heard about this . . . although I suppose it could have been an automated mailing list that somebody forgot to check until after the mailbag was picked up . . .
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