This, the letter said, was “at the heart of our present divisions”.
In a statement also received yesterday, the President Bishop of Jerusalem, the Most Rev Clive Handford told how he had in no way given permission for his name to be associated with the letter.
In addition, at least two other conservative primates are understood to be furious that the letter had been publicly published without their prior knowledge.
According to Ekklesia, Bishop Handford said: “It is most regrettable, and in no way helpful to the Church’s mission, that a personal letter, which should have been confidential, was broadcast in this way.
“I attended the Global South Encounter in Egypt with some reluctance, but felt that it was appropriate to be there because the meeting was taking place in the Province of which I am President Bishop. I wished, further, to be supportive of my colleague, the Bishop in Egypt, who was the host of the Encounter.”Handford also gave the comment, “I was not able to be present for the whole of the programme, arriving after the early sessions and leaving before the end. While I saw a first draft of the letter, I was not involved in any subsequent discussion of it. Several other Primates shared my unease. In no way did I give permission for my name to be associated with the letter,” according to Ekklesia.
Lambeth Palace’s official response is recorded in full below:
“The Archbishop of Cantebrury has made it clear since before the time of his enthronement that neither he nor anyone else has a mandate to change the teaching of the Church by fiat. He is committed to the process to which all the primates committed themselves and their provinces in the Primates' response to the Windsor report, contained in the communiqué following the meeting in Dromantine.
“If this letter is a contribution to that process of debate, then it is to be welcomed, however robust. If it is an attempt to foreclose that debate, it would seem to serve very little purpose indeed.”
The full recording of the controversial letter released by the Global South Primates can also be viewed by clicking here.
