American Anglican Council Responds to Global South Communiqué

The American Anglican Council (AAC) has welcomed the Kigali communiqué issued by the Global South Primates earlier this week which criticised the 75th General Convention's response to the Windsor Report.

The communiqué issued at their meeting from 19 to 22 September in Kigali, Rwanda, announced that "some of us will not be able to recognise" the Episcopal Church's next Presiding Bishop "as a Primate at the table with us" at the next Anglican Primates' Meeting, set for February 2007 in Tanzania.

In particular it was expressed that the Convention has "no clear embrace of the minimal recommendations of the Windsor Report".

Noting the "slow response from the Panel of Reference" for congregations and dioceses requesting alternative oversight, Global South Primates agreed to a three-pronged action plan to support "biblically faithful" Anglican dioceses and congregations in North America, which they commended for their "courage and consistent witness".

The communiqué outlined further plans for alternative primatial oversight, as well as alternative arrangements for the Anglican Communion Primates meeting in February 2007, and the formation of a new ecclesiastical structure in the United States.

According to the communiqué, the Global South Steering Committee has been charged to "investigate their appeal in greater detail and to develop a proposal identifying the ways by which the requested Primatial oversight can be adequately provided".

Noting that some Primates will not recognise Katharine Jefferts Schori as a Primate and that others will be "in impaired communion with her as a representative of The Episcopal Church," the Global South Primates propose that another bishop be chosen by traditional dioceses, congregations and clergy to represent them at the 2007 Primates meeting.

The Global South Steering Committee, in consultation with the Anglican Instruments of Unity, will also develop a proposal for formation of "what will be recognised as a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA".

The AAC commended the Global South Primates for what it called their "bold intervention" to address the crisis over homosexuality within the Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, AAC President and CEO, said, "The Kigali Communiqué is an action plan attesting to the Global South's visionary leadership in a time of chaos and crisis in our beloved Communion.

"It is sure to inspire and encourage biblically faithful Anglicans in North America - this is what we have hoped and prayed for since 2003."