Ruth Gledhill is reporting that Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has been elected to the Standing Committee of the Primates Meeting. Matthew Davies of ENS, who is in Tanzania, has confirmed it for me.
There has been some confusion about whether Bishop Jefferts Schori had been elected to the Joint Standing Committee of The Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council, or simply the Primates Standing Commitee. As it turns out, it doesn’t matter. The Joint committee consists of the combined Standing Committees of the Primates and the ACC. (Thanks, Kendall.) So by being elected to the Primates Standing Commitee, she becomes a member of the Joint Standing Committee.
This is an encouraging development–more encouraging than I originally thought, because the Joint Committee does exercise real policy making leadership. Still, it is worth noting that members are elected to the Standing Committee by region, so Bishop Jefferst Schori was elected by her colleagues from the Americas where our Church enjoys significant support among the Primates.