GAFCON II set for Athens

November 13, 2012
by George Conger

The second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has been set for October 2013 in Athens, a spokesman for the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) in Sydney tells The Church of England Newspaper.

The church renewal movement spokesman said they were “aiming” for October in Athens, but plans for a second gathering had not yet been finalized.

At their meeting in Dar es Salaam last month, the FCA primates council discussed holding the meeting in Jerusalem, but bowed to pressure from Arab Anglicans not to seek a different site. One of the participants at the meeting told CEN that undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem held special importance in African Anglican church life. Given the heightened tensions around the Temple Mount between Muslims and Jews, and the deteriorating political situation, it would be inadvisable to hold a large gathering in Jerusalem at this time, they were told.

The suggestion of holding the meeting in Nicosia was discussed, but the archbishops settled on Athens instead. One person present at the discussion said the criteria used by the primates in selecting the site that it be related to a place in the Bible, that Anglicans from the developing world be able to obtain visas to attend the meeting, and that the costs not be prohibitive. the rest