The Iranian bishop's decision to quit the Anglican Communion's "Standing Committee", formed by the merger of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Standing Committee of the Primates Meeting, is an acute blow to Williams as he struggles to keep orthodox and liberal wings of the Communion together. What is now clear is that the center is no longer holding. Williams is more isolated than ever, his power and authority increasingly diminished.

In addition to Bishop Marshall's vote of "no confidence" is the crisis surrounding the Episcopal Church's representative, Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas, who has doubled the pain on Williams with his insistence on staying and thus creating a new crisis over the legitimacy of the Standing Committee. Douglas could be voted off, but with a predominantly liberal leaning committee, that seems unlikely. (Douglas was elected to the ACC's Joint Standing Committee during the May 2009 meeting of the ACC when he was a professor of Missions at Episcopal Divinity School in Mass. When he became bishop, he lost that right.)

One wonders if there will be any discussion about all these embarrassing resignations as it points to the lie of any notion of impartiality by the Anglican Communion Office in dealing with such thorny issues as pansexual behavior, the Covenant and whether the farcical "listening process" has any further validity. Of course it does give leverage to the ABC in dealing with such recalcitrant bishops as Jefferts Schori (US) and Fred Hiltz (Canada), but whether he takes advantage of that remains to be seen. A sort of "see what you have done to the communion," would not be amiss.

In April of this year, Orombi wrote a letter to Williams expressing concerns that the Standing Committee had assumed "enhanced responsibility" and voicing his dismay that its membership includes representatives from the U.S.-based Episcopal Church. Orombi was elected in February 2007 by his fellow primates to represent Africa on the Standing Committee. Akrofi attended the committee's last meeting in December 2009 as Orombi's alternate.

When Middle East President Bishop Mouneer Anis resigned his membership in February, he said that his presence had "no value whatsoever" and that his voice was "like a useless cry in the wilderness."

The committee is made up of 15 members elected from among the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council, the communion's main policy-making body. The Primates Meeting also elects alternates who serve when the elected member is unable to attend.

The Anglican Communion Office release said that "the two new additions and the existing members face a packed agenda for their July meeting that includes reports on finance, mission, the Anglican Relief and Development Alliance, evangelism and church growth, and unity, faith and order including the progress of consideration of the Anglican Communion Covenant by the provinces."

The Anglican Communion Office announced two new members who will serve on the Standing Committee beginning with the July 23-27 meeting in London. They are Bishop Paul Sarker, moderator of the Church of Bangladesh and bishop of Dhaka; and the Rev. Canon Janet Trisk, rector of the parish of St. David, Prestbury, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Trisk was elected at the last Standing Committee meeting to replace Nomfundo Walaza, also from South Africa, and Sarker is the elected alternate for Middle East President Bishop Mouneer Anis.

The committee's 15 members who are elected from among the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council, the communion's main policy-making body, are mostly liberals.

The Standing Committee usually meets annually, but has been meeting biannually for the past three years. It oversees the day-to-day operations of the Anglican Communion Office and the programs and ministries of the four instruments of communion -- the archbishop of Canterbury, the ACC, the Primates Meeting, and the Lambeth Conference of bishops.

The Anglican Communion Office release stated that "the two new additions and the existing members face a packed agenda for their July meeting that includes reports on finance, mission, the Anglican Relief and Development Alliance, evangelism and church growth, and unity, faith and order including the progress of consideration of the Anglican Communion Covenant by the provinces."

The Anglican Covenant is a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion in light of recent disagreements over human sexuality issues and theological interpretation. The covenant is currently in its final draft and has been sent to the communion's 38 provinces for formal consideration.

Among the committee members is Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected by her fellow primates in February 2007 to represent the Americas on the Standing Committee.

It is expected that new committee members will be elected at the next Primates Meeting, tentatively set for January 2011 in Central America.

The current members of the Standing Committee are:

* Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (chair) (Affirming Catholic)
* Archbishop Philip Aspinall of Australia (Liberal)
* Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church (Liberal)
* Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales (Liberal)
* Bishop Paul Sarker of Bangladesh (Orthodox)
* Bishop James Tengatenga of Central Africa (ACC chair) (Orthodox)
* Canon Elizabeth Paver of England (ACC vice chair) (Liberal)
* Bishop Ian Douglas of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church (Liberal)
* Anthony Fitchett of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (Liberal)
* Dato Stanley Isaacs of the Province of South East Asia (Orthodox)
* Philippa Amable of West Africa (Orthodox)
* Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe of Ceylon (Unknown)
* The Rev. Canon Janet Trisk of South Africa (Liberal)

As one UK conservative Anglican blogger noted, "These resignations are to be welcomed. There is a cancer at the heart of Anglicanism. Denial will merely delay the necessity of invasive surgery to save the body. If the Standing Committee will not act, the Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans will."

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