A Statement by the Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Cynthia P. Brust
202-412-8721
The following is a statement in response to the Anglican Communion Primates’ Communiqué, released February 24, 2005:
A Statement of the Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh
The clarity with which the Primates have spoken is breathtaking. Individual provinces do have the freedom to act as they see fit under their various constitutions, but the exercise of that freedom beyond agreed teaching and practice will imperil their standing and participation in the Communion. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have been asked to withdraw their representatives from the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) effectively immediately. This suspension of relationship continues until the constitutional assemblies of each church indicate their willingness to conform to what was asked of them in the Windsor Report.
The teaching of the Communion is sustained. The authority of Scripture is upheld. “Autonomy in Communion” is defined. Moratoria are called for Communion-wide. The need to turn our global attention to the great social crises of disease and poverty is reasserted.
Provision for the “integrity and legitimate needs” of theological minorities is guaranteed by the creation of an international “panel of reference.” This is an extraordinary and essential development. The Anglican Communion Network, together with the much wider circle of orthodox believers in the United States and Canada (including especially the Common Cause movement) now has an international promise and an Anglican Communion provision that should stem the flow of three decades of believing lifeblood.
For some months now, I have maintained that the 2005 Primates Meeting would prove a defining moment in Anglican history. So it has proved. As the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD decided for unity with the universal Christian Church in matters of worship and church order, so the 2005 Primates meeting has decided for unity with the universal Christian Church in matters of doctrine and morals. The decisions taken at Newry in Northern Ireland are epochal.
For all of this, we should be profoundly grateful to Almighty God and to the godly leaders of the Anglican Communion for a new day dawning for Anglicanism and for us.
Posted at 12:00 am 2.25.2005 | Permalink