wfn.org | ACNS3713 The Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3713     |     ANGLICAN COMMUNION	   |	 18 DECEMBER 2003

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission

The full Commission will meet as a whole on three occasions: in February;
June; and September 2004. It intends to complete its initial report on the
nature, extent and consequences of Impaired Communion in the Anglican
Communion as a result of recent developments by the end of September 2004
for submission to the Archbishop of Canterbury in October. Intensive work
will also be commissioned from individual members of the Commission and
others, and undertaken beyond the main sessions set out above.

As required by its mandate, the Commission will begin by considering recent
work elsewhere on the issue of Communion. It will give primary consideration
to the resolutions of the Lambeth Conferences of 1988 and 1998 on this
issue, together with a consideration of what has been achieved in the
Grindrod, Eames and Virginia Reports, which addressed matters of Communion,
particularly in relation then to the issue of the ordination of women to the
episcopate. It will also wish to give especial attention to the recent work
of the Inter Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission on the
theological nature of Communion, and the various statements and pastoral
letters issued by the Primates at their recent meetings.

There are no plans at this stage to hold sessions of the Commission in
public, but it is felt that it will be important for the work of the
Commission to be as open as possible. For this reason, evidence considered
by the Commission will generally be published on the web site associated
with the Commission, and it is intended to publish interim reports of the
work of the Commission following each plenary session. Specific submissions
to the Commission will be invited from particular groups or individuals,
both in written form and by the reception of evidence in interview, either
at plenary sessions, or at subsidiary meetings and sub-committees. The
Initial Report in its final form will not be published until it has been
received formally by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Submissions of evidence may be forwarded unsolicited for the consideration
of the Commission, provided that the following criteria are met:

Submissions must relate strictly to the terms of reference of the Commission
(key questions are set out below), and be sent in electronic format to the
email address of the Commissions Secretary set out below.
Submissions should be in word processed format, and no longer than one side
of an A4 sheet of paper or the equivalent.
The Commission may decide to request clarification or development as it
feels appropriate. All submissions may be published on the Commission web
site at the direction of the Commissions Chair, Archbishop Robin Eames.

The Commission should be grateful if members of the Anglican Communion, and
our ecumenical partners, will hold the Commissions work in their prayers,
together with the life of the Anglican Communion.

Information on the Commission and its ongoing work may be found on the web
site: (www.anglicancommunion.org/ecumenical/commissions/primates/index.cfm),
or by contacting the Secretary to the Commission, the Revd Canon Gregory
Cameron, on commission.secretary@anglicancommunion.org.

Media enquiries should be addressed to the Press Officer of the Archbishop
of Armagh:

The Revd Brian Parker
Tel: +44 (0) 28 90 232909
Mobile: +44 (0) 7775 927807
Email: press@ireland.anglican.org

The Commission's Key Questions:

Taking into account work on issues of communion carried out by Lambeth
Conferences 1988 and 1998, and the views of the Primates Meetings since
2000:

1. What are (a) the legal and (b) the theological implications flowing from
ECUSA decision to appoint a priest in a committed same sex relationship as
one of its bishops? (See LC 1998 Res. I.10)

2. What are (a) the legal and (b) the theological implications of the
decision of the diocese of New Westminster to authorise services for use in
connection with same sex unions?

3. What are the canonical understandings of (a) communion, (b) impaired
communion and (c) broken communion? (What is autonomy and how is it related
to communion?)

4. How (do and) may provinces relate to one another in situations where the
ecclesiastical authorities of one province feel unable to maintain the
fullness of communion with another part of the Anglican Communion?

5. What practical solutions might there be to maintain the highest degree of
communion that may be possible, in the circumstances resulting from these
two decisions, within the individual churches involved? (eg [alternative]
episcopal oversight when full communion is threatened)

6. What practical solutions might there be to maintain the highest degree of
communion that may be possible, in the circumstances resulting from these
two decisions, as between the churches of the Anglican Communion? (eg
[alternative] episcopal oversight when full communion is threatened)

7. Under (a) what circumstances, (b) what conditions, and (c) by what means,
might it be appropriate for the Archbishop of Canterbury to exercise an
extraordinary ministry of pastoral oversight, support and reconciliation
with regard to the internal affairs of a province to maintain communion
between Canterbury and that province? (see LC 1998, Res. IV.13)

8. Under (a) what circumstances, (b) what conditions, and (c) by what means,
might it be appropriate for the Archbishop of Canterbury to exercise an
extraordinary ministry of pastoral oversight, support and reconciliation
with regard to the internal affairs of a province to maintain communion
between that province and the rest of the Anglican Communion? (see LC Res.
IV.13)

___________________________________________________________________
ACNSlist, published by Anglican Communion News Service, London, is
distributed to more than 7,500 journalists and other readers around
the world.  For subscription information please go to:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/acnslist.html