The Archbishop of Nigeria has indicated he will not attend the annual meeting of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which meets in Canterbury from today.
The Most Revd Peter Akinola is unable to meet with the members of the joint committee because of the presence of a representative of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA).
Archbishop Akinola said - in a statement emailed to the Anglican Communion Office in London from his staff last week - that he would not sit at any meeting with representatives of ECUSA as that Province had allowed the consecration of the Rt Revd Gene Robinson to be Bishop of New Hampshire last year. Bishop Robinson is the first openly gay cleric to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion. By attending such meetings, the Archbishop added, he would "undermine the Nigerian Church's position" as stated in recent communiqués from the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA).
"Archbishop Akinola is baffled that the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) continues to act as if what ECUSA did does not really matter," said the Venerable Oluranti Odubogun, the General Secretary of the Church of Nigeria, who also re-affirmed earlier statements from the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) that condemned the US Church for Bishop Robinson's consecration. "By carrying out the consecration of Bishop Robinson ECUSA has 'removed itself from the fellowship of the Communion.'"
The annual Joint Standing Committee meeting of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council is being held in Canterbury and is the interim body that oversees the day-to-day operations of the Anglican Communion Office in London and the programmes and ministries of the instruments of unity, including the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council.
The agenda for the Canterbury meeting is expected to look at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the ACC Meeting in 2005 and the appointment of a new Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, as Canon John L. Peterson retires at the end of 2004.
The Primates' Standing Committee members are the Most Revd Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, with regional elected members, the Most Revd Bernard Malango, the Archbishop of Central Africa, the Most Revd Peter Kwong, the Archbishop of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, the Most Revd Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Most Revd Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, and the Most Revd Zechariah James Terom, the Moderator and Bishop of Chotanagpur, who will be unable to attend for personal reasons.
The elected members of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council are the Rt Revd John Paterson, the Presiding Bishop and Primate of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia, ACC chairman, the Rt Revd James Tengatenga, the Bishop of South Malawi, the Very Revd John Henry Moses, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, London, the Rt Revd Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, the Bishop in Jerusalem, the Revd Robert Thompson of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, Mrs Jolly Babirukamu of the Church in the Province of Uganda, Mrs Fung-yi Wong of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, and Professor George Koshy of the Church of South India, ACC Vice-Chairman. The chairman of the Inter-Anglican Finance Committee is The Most Revd Robert Eames, the Archbishop of All Ireland. Archbishop Akinola is an elected ACC member to the Standing Committee.
Speaking of the forthcoming meeting, Bishop Paterson said, "This meeting is one that will help shape the work of the Communion in the next few years. It is a very a timely and important gathering of elected persons charged by their fellow Anglicans to address significant matters for us all on behalf of the whole Communion.”
The Standing Committee will attend the Blessing of the new Anglican Communion Office at St Andrew's House, Westbourne Park, London on 5 March. ACC Chairman Bishop John Paterson will preach and Archbishop Rowan Williams will preside at the Solemn Eucharist, attended by friends and donors from around the Communion.
St Andrew's House was the home of the Community of Saint Andrew and has now been renovated to become the new Anglican Communion Office.