Updated Saturday evening
See previous articles:
Martyn Percy calls on Archbishop Welby to issue an apology and follow up.
GAFCON prepares for the gathering of Primates
Two more articles about the primates gathering (updated earlier today)
The official website of the meeting is here.
Here is some more coverage that has recently appeared. No doubt there is a lot more to follow…
The Church Times has:
From Canada the Anglican Journal has Hiltz calls for spirit of openness at Primates’ Meeting.
UK national media coverage:
Telegraph
John Bingham
Justin Welby summit to tackle Anglican break up
‘Dire’ split looms as Anglican rivals use separate rooms at summit
Guardian
Harriet Sherwood Church of England fears gay rights talks could end global Anglican communion
and also How issue of gay rights has racked Anglican churches for decades
Andrew Brown The Anglican schism over sexuality marks the end of a global church
Economist
Resurrection?
Rowing, not rowing
Update
Mail on Sunday Jonathan Petre Senior Church liberals pile pressure on Archbishop to stop the ‘vilification’ of gay Christians
Ruth Gledhill Church must repent of “second class” treatment of gays, Anglican leaders warn Primates
For further details of this letter see next article.
And there is this article at Christianity Today written by David Ison Dean of St Paul’s: Anglicans need each other despite deep split over homosexuality.
Good for the Canadian Archbishop, Fred Hiltz. He really sounds like the charitable and healing voice of reason.
The article by our Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, is standard diplomatic and pastoral fare. There is nothing wrong with that as far as it goes. I note from his article that he takes hope that Jean Vanier will be a guest at the gathering. It is always a good thing to hear from Jean Vainer. I had an opportunity to attend a liturgy conducted by a L’Arche group at which Vanier spoke. He is wonderful. However, one of the politcal considerations in any framework for problem solving is who gets a seat at the table and who does not, who… Read more »
Fascinating. From the Guardian news article: “There’s going to be a lot of drama,” said a senior C of E source. “It’s 90% likely that the six will walk out. If we get past Tuesday, we’ll be doing well.” Looks to me as though CofE officials are reading the tea leaves correctly–walkout 90 percent likely. The officials are even distinguishing between two kinds of walkouts. And they are, quite rightly, trying to deprive the walkers-out of any element of surprise, and are trying to set expectations low. Andrew Brown can’t quite seem to figure out what he thinks of it… Read more »
The articles by Madeleine Davies, Spectre of walkout by Primates haunts Canterbury talks, and
Mark Chapman, Try deep consultation not rushed decisions, are both really good. However, I’m surprised Chapman’s piece didn’t say something about the role of The Scottish Episcopal Church in the formation of what became The Anglican Communion, given SEC’s important contribution to TEC and even the liturgical evolution of the Canadian Church.
The more I ponder it, the more I wonder whether Sherwood’s article may suggest that Archbishop Welby is calling the GAFCON conservatives’ bluff. The senior source seems to be predicting that six primates will walk out. This prediction would not be made if there were a serious risk of more primates walking out. If that were to happen, after this article, Welby would look really bad. So the story will be that six primates walk out, but that the provinces that remain will be free, in the best Anglican tradition, to order their prayer books and liturgies as local circumstances… Read more »
if they are not sure that the meeting will last beyond Tuesday, I’m looking forward to Wednesday morning immensely.
“There are gay/lesbian bishops in The Communion. There are openly gay priests, some of whom are married, in The Church of England. Yet there is no opportunity for them to be in conversation with the hierarchy even though the meeting turns on their very existence. No amount of pre-meeting public relations announcements about guest speakers or broadening of the agenda can distract from this fact. Conflict resolution that does not include all stake holders seldom gets very far; but then the meeting is not really any type of negotiation, is it.” – Rod Gillis Even if a gay bishop or… Read more »