Primates Pledge Solidarity After Meeting APO Diocese Leaders
11/22/2006

Representatives from eight dioceses of The Episcopal Church as well as clergy and lay leaders affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network met at an undisclosed location in Northern Virginia Nov. 15-17 with the Anglican primates of Kenya, Nigeria, West Africa and the West Indies.

A statement issued Nov. 8 by the Global South Steering Committee said the purpose of the private consultation was to “to investigate their appeal [for alternative primatial oversight] in greater detail and identify possible responses.” The primates moved the gathering to another location after an earlier published report named The Falls Church in suburban Washington, D.C., as the meeting's location.

Minimal information has been provided on the deliberations which were led by archbishops Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Justice Akrofi of West Africa and Drexel Gomez of the West Indies. U.S. participants in the gathering told TLC they had been asked to refrain from commenting and that all public statements would be made by the visitors, the Global South Steering Committee. Meeting participants did say the discussions included testimony about the problems of The Episcopal Church, and discussions of structural solutions to these problems that could implemented by overseas primates.the rest