The Church Times, an independent british weekly news magazine, has excellent coverage and commentary on the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) meeting held last week. The commentary in particular discusses the way that the assembly worked its way through the construction of the communique, trying to adapt what, according the article, was drafted by “a western pen”, primarily that of Bishop Martyn Minns.
The commentary is written by Canon Edgar Ruddock
He writes:
How sad, though, that the fractures of the Communion’s struggles over sexuality kept appearing, in an attempt to persuade the meeting to adopt an entrenched line in response to the US Bishops’ statement from New Orleans (News, 28 September). How sad that whenever we looked at a document, we found it had been drafted by a Western pen. How sad that paragraphs appeared in the draft communiqué that spoke of matters that had not even been debated. And how encouraging it was that the meeting roundly threw them out, and left the issue of sexuality to the Primates.
And:
While there was a concerted attempt to get both the Council and the CAPA Primates to take a firm stand with the “Global South” and against Lambeth, this was clearly not the mood of the meeting. Their concern was an African agenda. Yes, the majority take a conservative view on the sexuality debate, but there was much talk over coffee and tea about the pressure being exerted by the US conservatives (who were very visibly present at the meeting) to “keep CAPA on board”. Many resented this, even those who would sympathise with the position.
And:
There were moments of excitement, too, as Archbishop Akinola preached simply at the dedication of a new outreach centre about the gift of Christian joy. Yet the mood of the meeting was expressed most strongly when the final communiqué, which, it appeared, had been drafted largely by the Rt Revd Martyn Minns, was discussed. Its many references to the sexuality debate, which had simply not been discussed, were voted off.
The final act of the meeting was to elect new officers, as the four-year term of the Most Revd Peter Akinola, the Primate of Nigeria, came to an end. After a closed debate, white smoke finally emerged, and the new chairman was announced: the Most Revd Ian Ernest, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, with the Most Revd Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop of Rwanda, as his vice-chairman.
The other newly-elected members of the standing committee indicate a subtle shift away from the fusion of Global South and CAPA agendas, to a group more concerned to focus on the needs of the continent and islands, and to offer a lead perhaps based more on reconciliation and dialogue than confrontation.
The Church Times news coverage of the meeting is found here.