Anglican Primates? Meeting ? Briefing #3

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Posted On : January 27, 2011 8:30 PM | Posted By : Admin ACO
ACNS: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/1/27/ACNS4680
Related Categories: ACO - Primates Meeting

> Primates? Meeting ? Briefing #3

> Day 4

The day began with a presentation on the work of
The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for
Unity,  Faith and Order (IASCUFO). Chairman of
the commission, Archbishop of Burundi the Most
Revd Bernard Ntahoturi, reminded the group that
IASCUFO is a commission set up following a
resolution at the 14th Anglican Consultative
Council, endorsed by the Primates? Meeting. It is
a combination of two former commissions: the
Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical
Relations (IASCER) and the Inter-Anglican
Theological and Doctrinal Commission (IATDC), and
it has also picked up the work of the Windsor Continuation Group.

He told fellow Primates that the December meeting
of IASCUFO in South Africa saw the members work
in four groups: one studying the definition of
?church?. Archbishop Bernard said, ?We are
asking: ?Is the Anglican Communion a Church or a
communion of Churches??? The second group is
looking at the Anglican Communion Covenant and
resources for studying it. The third group is
studying the Instruments of Communion, their
theological meaning and how they relate to one
another. The fourth group is considering the
topic of ?reception?, that is how the work of the
Instruments and of ecumenical dialogues is
communicated and understood at all levels of the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Bernard said that, in addition to the
Instruments of Communion, there are other
informal mechanisms that contribute to
strengthening, enlivening and uniting the
Anglican Communion. He gave as examples the
international Anglican Networks, Anglican mission
agencies, principles of canon law, and the Mothers? Union.

Later the Primates went on to discuss what they
believed were the key points from the last few
days. These included expectations of Primates?
Meetings, the role of a Primate, the place of the
United Churches (such as those in India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh) in the Communion and the reality
of the linguistic diversity of the Communion.

At the request of the Primates, the group stopped
on the way to their evening meal in Dublin city
centre to make a short visit to Trinity College
Dublin to see the Book of Kells, an illuminated
9th Century Celtic manuscript of the Gospels.