wfn.org | [ENS] Anglican Provincial Secretaries Conference opens in

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Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

August 27, 2004 -- Friday Forum: Voices on Topics in the News

Anglican Provincial Secretaries Conference opens in Johannesburg

By Jan Nunley

[ENS, New York, August 27, 2004] - South African archbishop emeritus 
Desmond Tutu was once asked what holds the Anglican Communion together. "We 
meet," he replied.

And while they represent provinces that may disagree with one another on 
specific issues, 33 of the Anglican Communion's 38 provincial secretaries 
are meeting August 26-September 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to share 
stories, information and resources, and to help one another understand 
those differences.

The conference constitutes one of the Anglican Communion's many informal 
and unofficial networks, said the Rev. Patrick Mauney, director of the 
Episcopal Church's office of Anglican and Global Relations. Mauney, along 
with the Rev. Anthony Jewiss, deputy executive officer for the General 
Convention, represent the Episcopal Church at the meeting.

The Provincial Secretaries Conference has been meeting since the mid-1980s 
-- even though appointment of the network was authorized by the Lambeth 
Conference in 1948. Mauney has been to four of the five meetings so far.

"We see it as a network, even though it's not official and probably doesn't 
need to be," Mauney explained. "It strengthens the 'bonds of affection,' 
which are considerable, regardless of the things that pull us apart."

Since the group only meets every four or five years, "we usually have quite 
a bit of turnover," Mauney said. "But that's good too, because you have new 
people coming on, seeing that they are part of a community with similar and 
sometimes widely disparate responsibilities. There's a sort of 'getting on 
board' for some people who are very isolated in their provinces."

The agenda, he said, is "all very general at this point: communications, 
the financial viability of provincial secretariats, the Anglican Communion 
and how we function together, particularly now because of the strains. I 
suspect that at this meeting some of the disarray in the Communion will 
find its way on to the agenda."

Financial sustainability will be a critical issue, particularly with some 
of the Global South provinces refusing funds from provinces with which they 
have declared themselves in "impaired communion." "There has been a lot of 
noise about that, but when you get right down to it, there are very few who 
are really carrying that out," observed Mauney, noting that there are 
"strains" within some of the abstaining provinces on how far to go in 
refusing assistance.

Only two provinces, Nigeria and Uganda, have officially declined to attend 
because of American and Canadian participation in the meeting. Illness, 
retirements, and travel complications could account for the other absences, 
Mauney said. At least one secretary is prevented from attending because of 
a simultaneously scheduled provincial synod meeting.

Meanwhile, despite instances of impaired relations, the Anglican Communion 
continues to hold together on the basis of each province's ties directly to 
the Archbishop of Canterbury -- not primarily on the basis of 
interrelationships with one another, the Communion's secretary general, the 
Rev. John Peterson, has confirmed.

The provincial secretaries' meeting is also an opportunity to see and 
understand how churches work in different parts of the Communion. "That's 
particularly important for us, because one of the things I and many other 
people have discovered is that many people in the Communion have no idea 
how [New Hampshire's openly gay bishop] Gene Robinson got to be a bishop -- 
or they may have had an idea, but it was the wrong idea," said Mauney. "So 
a chance to talk about how our church makes decisions is important."

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News Service.

- - - - -

Note to ENS readers: For reference, the 38 self-governing member churches 
or provinces of the Anglican Communion are:

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia
The Anglican Church of Australia
The Church of Bangladesh
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
The Episcopal Church of Burundi
The Anglican Church of Canada
The Church of the Province of Central Africa
Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America
Province de L'Eglise Anglicane Du Congo
The Church of England
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
The Church of Ireland
The Nippon Sei Ko Kai (The Anglican Communion in Japan)
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East
The Anglican Church of Kenya
The Anglican Church of Korea
The Church of the Province of Melanesia
La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico
The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Church of North India (United)
The Church of Pakistan (United)
The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
The Episcopal Church in the Philippines
L'Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda
The Scottish Episcopal Church
Church of the Province of South East Asia
The Church of South India (United)
The Church of the Province of Southern Africa
Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan
The Anglican Church of Tanzania
The Church of the Province of Uganda
The Episcopal Church in the USA
The Church in Wales
The Church of the Province of West Africa
The Church in the Province of the West Indies

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