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CANTERBURY: GAFCON Primates weigh walking out of Anglican Summit
By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
October 3, 2017
A group of orthodox Anglican Archbishops hinted they might walk out of an Anglican summit being held by the Archbishop of Canterbury over the issue of same-sex marriage, but stopped short of saying they would formally break with the Anglican Communion.
At a press conference today, a spokesman for the orthodox Anglican GAFCON primates said the Scottish Episcopal Church would have to repent over its decision last June to let clergy perform same sex weddings.
The Rev. Andrew Gross said if there's no repentance, "I'm not sure if they can remain in the room", but he said it's up to the conscience of the individual Primate on what his reaction would be.
Recounting the long history of same sex violations in both the US Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, Gross said reconciliation was little more than compromise and that was unacceptable to the GAFCON primates.
Failure to repent meant that they "could not share in fellowship together," he said. He likened it to walking through a minefield.
The sanctioning of the Episcopal Church for its violation by changing its canons to accept same sex marriage was supposed to have resulted in keeping TEC from participating in formal decisions of the communion and on issues of doctrine. While the primates demanded and obtained a three-year sanction on TEC's participation in the communion at the last Primates' meeting, they were never applied or acted upon, further tearing the fabric of the communion.
Late today, the Scottish Episcopal Church was sanctioned by the primates over its decision to allow same-sex marriage. It will be excluded from ecumenical and leadership roles in the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury said.
Welby announced the decision in a news conference mid-way through a week-long meeting of Anglican primates.
The Archbishops of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda have refused to attend this week's Anglican Primates' Meeting. Together, they represent more than a third of all practicing Anglicans in the communion.
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