Primates’ Meeting opens in ‘fog of confusion’

Monday, 2nd February 2009
By George Conger

The 2009 Primates’ Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, has opened in a fog of confusion with little expectation the five day meeting will resolve the Anglican crisis.

In their fourth meeting since the 2003 emergency session called by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams to respond to the consecration of V Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, the primates appear exhausted and frustrated, unsure of their authority within the Anglican Communion and the purpose of the meeting.

The viability of the Primates’ Meeting as one of the communion’s four “instruments of unity” is also under question. Archbishop Peter Akinola has urged primates to be consistent and not abandon the undertakings and pledges made at past gatherings. Others have voiced frustration with the Communion’s current ecclesial structures, suggesting that Alexandria and the May meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Jamaica may be the last pan-Anglican global gatherings. the rest