Conservative Bishops Laud Outcome of Meeting, Archbishop’s Leadership

February 5, 2009
The Living Church

High marks have been awarded to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the 2009 primates’ meeting by conservative archbishops, who report that consensus was reached following four days of intense talks in Alexandria, Egypt.

“Archbishop Peter Akinola is pleased, I’m pleased, Henry [Orombi] is pleased” with the outcome of the meeting, the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, told The Living Church.

“Something like the freshness of the Holy Spirit” descended upon the meeting, Bishop Venables explained. There was “something different here, something special,” he said. “Without a doubt there was a lot of anger and tension,” he added, but the “orthodox had a calmness and peace” that Bishop Venables attributed to divine intervention.

While the divisions over doctrine and discipline that have led to an impairment of Eucharistic fellowship remain, Bishop Venables felt the Feb. 1-5 meeting featured honest conversation between the liberal and conservative camps that recognized a division exists. the rest