GAFCON Primates will not be attending meeting called by Archbishop Welby

Jan 27, 2017 by Jill

by David W Virtue DD, VOL:

A meeting of the primates has been called by Archbishop Justin Welby for October, but the general consensus at this point in time is that the GAFCON primates will not attend, a GAFCON primate told VOL.

“I’m trying to consult with the others to see how things are going. The general mood is no,” a Primate, who asked not be named, told VOL.

Many of the GAFCON primates felt they got burned and blind-sided by Welby when he called the first such meeting in January in Canterbury and they don’t want to get humiliated again. They see no future for more talks with the ABC, especially as American Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be present and the issue of homosexual marriage remains unchanged in The Episcopal Church.

Last January, the Primates’ decided that TEC should be removed from any decision making on “issues pertaining to doctrine or polity” for three years. That promise has not been kept.

Another Primate told VOL that the GAFCON primates feel that Justin has failed to follow through the meeting in January 2016. Which is true. He has not. He personally invited Curry to Rome to meet the Pope, even as a group of orthodox primates, bishops and clergy met in Cairo for the 6th Global South Conference. Welby said he could not attend, citing other commitments.

This new meeting will take place in Canterbury Cathedral, from October 2-6 and will be the second time all the leaders of the different Anglican provinces will meet. The first extraordinary meeting took place in January 2016.

Rather than being an official “Primates’ meeting” the leaders of the different Anglican provinces will meet “only as Primates of the Communion in 2017”, Welby said.

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See also: Warring Anglican Primates summoned to new meeting in October, by Harry Farley, Christian Today