The Archbishop of Canterbury calls primates meetings, and at the most recent several primates stayed away because they’ve not been able to use past meetings to make their will stick. What is the purpose of the primates meeting anyway?, asks the Guardian’s Savitri Hensman:
The primates’ meeting is now regarded as one of the instruments of communion uniting Anglicans internationally. Yet it is relatively new – when I was a child, there was no such thing. That was a time when ordinary people’s views were valued in church and society. The 1968 Lambeth Conference recommended “that no major issue in the life of the church should be decided without the full participation of the laity in discussion and in decision“. In other churches, too, it was recognised that not only bishops but also ordinary churchgoers and parish priests trying to live out God’s love in their neighbourhoods, as well as scholars and scientists, might have valuable insights.
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Archbishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East was one of those who stayed away because the leader of the most inclusive province was not banned. He called for “another Reformation within the Anglican Communion”, which “needs to give the Lambeth Conference and the primates’ meeting a conciliar authority in matters of faith and order, including the area of interpretation of the scriptures”. Anis does admirable work in difficult circumstances. But should he, and others who think like him, have power to block developments in Boston, Birmingham and Brasilia?
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The primates together “seek continuity and coherence in faith, order, and ethics” and “provide guidance for the communion”, declared the [most recent] meeting’s final statement, while “acknowledging diversity and giving space for difference”. How this will work remains uncertain.
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