Episcopal Church Dominates Communion's Standing Committee

BY ROBERT H. LUNDY, EDITOR
posted August 13, 2010

The Anglican Communion's Standing Committee met in London from July 23-27 for what proved to be a telling event. As the meeting progressed and information from sources inside and outside the meeting emerged, the dominance of biblical revisionists and Episcopal Church allies within the committee was made clearer and clearer.

Before the meeting began, the orthodox voice and witness on the committee had already been diminished by the resignations of the Bishop of Iran, Azad Marshall, and the Archbishop of West Africa, Justice Akrofi. These two resignations from the 14-member group only compounded the effect of the earlier resignations of Archbishops Henry Orombi (Uganda) in December, 2009 and Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem and the Middle East) in February of this year. These resignations were not the only concerns going into this meeting.

At its last meeting in December of 2009, the Standing Committee violated its own constitution in electing a priest, the Rev. Canon Janet Trisk (South Africa), as a replacement for a lay representative to the committee.

The Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) and others openly asked whether or not the Standing Committee would rectify this violation of their canons by re-selecting a suitable lay representative. Also, it was not lost on the ACI that Canon Trisk at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Jamaica in 2009 supported, along with TEC, leaving out the enforcement section of the proposed Anglican Covenant. the rest