Anglican Primates Convene With Different Expectations, Appeals

January 11, 2016
by Jeffrey Walton

Clues as to what transpired during Monday’s gathering of Anglican Communion Primates are few: reportedly no one walked out, and all 38 primates, plus Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), attended the public evensong service at Canterbury Cathedral following an initial meeting in the afternoon.

Unlike previous official Primates’ Meetings, there will be no press conferences and all sessions are to be conducted in private. Even the agenda is unknown, with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stating that the Primates themselves will determine the topics of discussion.

Background on the gathering, which Welby announced in September, can be found here.

But while there are few official communications from the gathering, different groups of church officials have been communicating with their churches. Both ACNA — and the broader Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) group with which it is affiliated — have shared prayer requests and created web sites around the gathering, as has Welby via an official web site operated by the London-based Anglican Communion Office... the rest