The primates council of GAFCON meeting in Nairobi has issued a communiqué including a statement on the participation of Episcopal Church members of the Anglican Communion Council in the recently concluded ACC-16 in Lusaka:
This week we made progress on a wide variety of initiatives to build up the body of Christ. … We have also paid careful attention to the facts that have arisen from the Anglican Consultative Council’s meeting in Lusaka.
…
We went to Canterbury out of a desire for unity. In our hearts we desire to see the tear in the fabric of the communion mended. The sanctions passed at that meeting were the mildest possible rebuke to only the worst of the offenders, but they were one step in the right direction. Regrettably, these sanctions have not been upheld. This is disappointing, but sadly not surprising. A more comprehensive statement appears in the appendix to this document.
From the appendix,
Delegates from the Episcopal Church, by their own admission, voted on matters that pertained to polity and doctrine, in defiance of the Primates. This action has damaged the standing of the Anglican Consultative Council as an instrument of unity, increased levels of distrust, and further torn the fabric of the Communion.
Read the communiqué, and the Appendix “From Canterbury to Lasaka,” here.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby said at the conclusion of ACC-16: “the consequences of the Primates meeting have been fully implemented.” See our previous coverage.
The communiqué also announced that the new chairman of the Primates’ Council is the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of All Nigeria. Joining Okoh is the new vice-chair, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda.
Attendees were: The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala (Kenya), The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria), The Most Rev. Foley Beach (ACNA), The Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje (Rwanda), The Most Rev. Jacob Chimeledya (Tanzania), The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali (Uganda).
The conservative blogosphere is in an uproar about a comment conservation on the Episcopal Café here.
… the primates’ communique said, among other things, that Episcopal Church representatives “will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.” Our members voted on everything at this meeting, including resolutions concerning doctrine, and no one ever suggested that they shouldn’t. The consequences did not stand because the primates did not have the authority to impose them and the ACC declined to do so.
Rebecca: perhaps you could name a resolution on doctrine that they voted on?
-Resolution C13 on the “Agreed Statement on Christology”
-Resolution C14 on “Buffalo Statement of the International Commission for Anglican Orthodox
Theological Dialogue, In the Image and Likeness of God: A Hope-Filled Anthropology”
-Resolution C16 on “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification”
Wilson reported from Lusaka for House of Deputies News.
ACNS has ACC adopts 44 resolutions by assent. Whatever the meaning of “by assent,” the members of the ACC from the Episcopal Church were equal participants with all other members of the ACC. The 44 resolutions include resolutions on polity and doctrine.