Reconfiguring the Anglican Communion without Archbishop Welby’s input?

Oct 22, 2014
By Barbara Gauthier

On October 3rd, Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Anglican Church in North America was not Anglican and definitely not part of the Anglican Communion.  The next day, the Diocese of NW Australia recognized the ACNA “as a member church of the Anglican Communion, in full communion with Diocese of North West Australia.”  On October 9th, seven primates of the Anglican Communion welcomed Archbishop Foley Beach of the ACNA as “an archbishop and fellow primate of the Anglican Communion.”  A week later, the Diocese of Sydney’s Synod passed a resolution “without dissent” declaring that they intended to be in full communion with the ACNA.  This prompted a commenter to observe that ++Welby’s decision may not matter much at all in the long run — or, for that matter, in the short run either:

The dominos are starting to fall and I’ll bet they start picking up speed before the end of the year.  The ACNA issue is being taken out of Welby’s hands (and he essentially asked for that) and he’s going to soon be asking someone “what happened?”

I think the decision has been made globally and the ABC may eventually be asking if he and the CofE will be welcome in the “old” Anglican Communion. It could be that TEC, ACC and CofE may have to form the “new” Anglican Communion rather than the other way around. Look what’s happened in the last ten days…NW Australia and Sydney recognize ACNA as part of the communion and seven primates lay hands on Foley Beach and welcome him as a primate in the Anglican Communion.

Interestingly, I think when Welby made the comment that it would be up to the primates, he thought he would be a part of that process. It appears that he may not be included at all... the rest

Here’s the rub: The Anglican Communion is not going to re-align, it has re-aligned. It is true that the structures have not yet caught up with that reality, but the re-alignment has taken place. Increasingly, those who pursue the liberal agenda of TEC and insist on maintaining partnership with them are finding that the fruit of their actions will continue to be increased marginalization.