It appears, given this from Canterbury and the refusal by Iker et alia to stay within the discussion, more and more likely that APO will not be provided to US Dioceses wishing it through Canterbury, but through some other Primate's intervention. How Canterbury and the other Primates will respond to this breach of the Windsor Process remains to be seen. Surely the bulk of the Primates will be cautious of the "Sauce For Goose = Sauce For Gander" possibilities.

Cautious as these words are, I hope the clergy and lay delegates in San Joaquin who are beginning to meet right now read them carefully, as well as the people in the other dioceses who think that a request for APO can be cover for forming a parallel jurisdiction in North America.

They should take heed, because it is clear that taking the route of simply pulling up stakes or trying to get ones who diocese under the jurisdiction of a foreign primate is not the preferred method of the ABC.

The preferred response is to accept the Primatial Vicar and/or DEPO, to remain in dialogue and to remain accountable.

++Rowan Cantuar could have ended this kind of nonsense once and for all by taking a firm supportive stand in support of Kenneth Kearon and +Dorsey Henderson, members of the drafting committee of the PV proposal. A lawyer and specialist in TEC canon law, the Bishop of Upper South Carolina should be taken very seriously. He knows what compromise is possible under TEC's Constitution and Canons, without reconvening - at enormous monetary cost - a special session of the General Convention to legally and canonically provide for Alternative Primatial Oversight (AlPO).

Why does ++Rowan Cantuar have to continue the "jelly fish" game? The CofE is badly served by the 104th AofC, as are all Anglicans who take a dim view of the two-year-old temper tantrums of ++Peter Abuja, Jack Leo Iker, John-David Schofield and Bob Duncan.

Now that the Anglican Church of South Africa, has said, it is up to ministers, if they choose to avail themselves, of the new Marriage Legislation, which explicitly includes same gender Marriage, signed into Law on 30th Nov. 2006 -- doesn't this change the position in the Anglican Communion as a whole ?
Some Church Weddings are taking place as soon as - today!
The door is open !

BTW

Congratulations South Africa !
SA is ahead of Britain on this too....

Accurately to reflect the ACNS headline, Simon, should not your headline to this be '...gives a cautious welcome to...', rather than '...welcomes...'? This is a important distinction.

Slavish following of press release wording is not always best, Graham.
I did toy with:
"Canterbury glad to see" which would have been a direct quote from Rowan.

I am disappointed that the Archbishop describes these proposals as "imaginative" when it appears that they differ little in substance from previous offers that had been rejected by the applicants for APO.

The diplomacy is very complex.

The future shape of the “Anglican Communion” looks ever more fragile as the “War of the Primates” plays itself out in the Americas.

Rowan’s attempt to wrench back the initiative has twice been thwarted, first by Durham, “Windsor Bishops” and the like and now by a group of GS Primates.

Yet once more we see the upcoming meeting of a Primates Group as representing some form of dénouement as they come together for hand-to-hand combat.

Brinkmanship from some is attempting to force the pace once again, the long term solutions including the Covenant are now thought too unreliable and far away even in the “safe” hands of Drexel. The ACI bleats, but probably makes matters worse as it tries to be part of the solution.

With the offer of a “Primatial Vicar” each Province can see this Primatial War having profound consequences on its order and how these new arrangements might impact on how they manage their own internal differences.