ACC14: Moratorium on property disputes fails to win support
By George Conger, CEN
ACC-14 has reaffirmed the Anglican Communion’s moratoria on gay bishops and blessings, and the integrity of diocesan boundaries, but has turned aside a plea to back a ban on further property litigation in the US and Canada.
Meeting at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica delegates to the 14th triennial meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council voted to maintain the status quo, rejecting pleas from the Episcopal Church to relax the ban on gay bishops and blessings, while also turning aside a request to condemn the Episcopal Church’s litigation campaign against breakaway dioceses and congregations.
By affirming the recommendations of the WCG, ACC 14 have asked the Primates, the ACC, Dr. Williams and the Lambeth Conference to “commit themselves to the renewal of the Listening Process, and a real seeking of a common mind upon the issues which threaten to divide us.”
It asked Dr. Williams to “revisit the idea of a bishop, appointed from a wider Communion, to work closely with him and act on his behalf in Communion affairs;” revise the schedules, agenda and guest lists of the Lambeth Conferences; clarify the role of the Primates Meeting; study how the ACC’s “effectiveness and confidence in its work can be enhanced;” and give the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for Unity, Faith and Order a mandate to “produce a concise statement on the Instruments of Communion, their several roles and the authority inherent in them and to offer recommendations for developing the effectiveness of the instruments.”
The WCG further recommended the creation of a “Pastoral Forum” and a “Pastoral Visitors” programme to assist in “any given situation of tension;” establish a scheme of professionally mediated conversation to deal with the issue of parallel jurisdictions; and back an Anglican Covenant “as an essential element in rebuilding the confidence in our common life.”
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
