The episcopal leaders of the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran Churches in the US and Canada have been holding annual meetings since 2010. This however, was the final meeting of the four that the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC), would attend. +Katharine and the Most Revd Fred Hiltz, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), the Revd Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA) and the Revd Canon Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCiC) gathered in Washington DC over 24 & 25 SEP.
TEC and the ELCA maintain a joint policy office in DC. The meeting was an opportunity for the Canadian bishops to observe first-hand how the office handles US and international policy issues, as well as, the coordination of the two churches advocacy in the US seat of government. The two Canadian churches are in the trial stages of developing an effective public voice in Canada. The churches hope to learn from their US counterparts.
The primary topic for the conversation of the bishops was to be lay presidency at eucharist in the ELCiC. The ELCiC approved limited lay presidency at it’s recent national assembly. TEC and the ELCA have previously dealt with lay presidency in the lead up to full communion between the two churches. The US bishops hopefully were able to share insight from that experience with the Canadian prelates.
Even though their meeting placed the four leaders in Washington DC at the same time as the Roman Pontiff, they did not meet with Pope Francis.
The image is a file photo from anglicanjournal.com
This story was first reported in the Anglican Journal.