ACC scrutinizes, raises concerns about proposed changes to Anglican Communion structures

[Episcopal News Service – Belfast, Northern Ireland] The Episcopal Church is one of 42 member provinces in the worldwide Anglican Communion. But what is the Anglican Communion, and what binds its provinces together?

Those foundational questions are up for debate this week at the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, and disagreements over the definition — down to specific word choices — have already created uncertainty about how the ACC might reach consensus on a resolution that could bring significant structural changes to the communion.

The potential changes, known as the Nairobi-Cairo proposals, are scheduled for more discussion time than any other issue or resolution at ACC-19’s June 28-July 4 meeting. The proposals’ central issue relates to the archbishop of Canterbury’s role as a leader of both the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. The proposals would move the communion toward a shared leadership model that could diminish the archbishop of Canterbury’s traditional and historical role as “a focus for unity” and as a link to all Anglican provinces.

On June 29, the commission that developed the proposals officially presented them to ACC members, representing 37 of the communion’s autonomous, interdependent provinces. The members then engaged in table discussions on the proposals on June 30, and another discussion is set for July 2 before scheduled votes on the final day of the meeting.

“We want to remain in communion with one another,” the Rev. Anastasia Huntley, an ACC member from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, said during the June 30 discussion. “We are a family, and families can fight and families can have disagreements and have all those spats, but [that] doesn’t break them.”

ACC members generally share the desire for the provinces to remain connected, but they have expressed a wide range of views on how best to structure those relationships.

The leaders of some theologically conservative provinces, for example, have said they can no longer give deference to the archbishop of Canterbury, because of the Church of England’s moves in recent years toward greater LGBTQ+ inclusion. On the other hand, leaders from other provinces, including in The Episcopal Church, have raised concerns about changing the role of the archbishop of Canterbury without thoroughly considering the potential consequences.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, who also serves as president of ACC, alluded to those tensions in her opening day speech on June 28, emphasizing that restoring trust is a paramount goal.

“What unites us is greater than what divides us,” Mullally said. “God has chosen to work through our messy body to love the world he saved. For me, that is hope. But hope cannot grow without trust.”

The Anglican Consultative Council meets about every three years, bringing together up to three representatives from each of the Anglican Communion’s member provinces for a week of inter-Anglican fellowship, presentations on global Anglican initiatives and discussions and votes on a range of resolutions proposed by Anglican commissions and ACC members. The more than 100 bishops, other clergy and lay leaders form one of the four “Instruments of Communion,” a leadership structure that also includes the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, the Primates’ Meeting of provincial leaders and the office of the archbishop of Canterbury.

The Episcopal Church’s representatives to ACC-19 are Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado; the Rev. Ranjit Mathews, canon to the ordinary of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and Yvonne O’Neal, a lay leader from the Diocese of New York.

ACC-19 is meeting in the Presbyterian Church’s Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in central Belfast. The theme of ACC-19 is “Called to One Hope.”

“If hope is the fruit, trust is the root,” Mullally said in her opening remarks. “Lasting unity is built by trust. That is why our task this week is not simply to determine what changes we may wish to make. It is first to listen, to learn, to pray, to deepen our understanding of one another, to create the conditions in which trust may grow and hope may flourish.”

Rethinking the role of the archbishop of Canterbury

On June 29, leaders from the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order, or IASCUFO, introduced the Nairobi-Cairo proposals with a presentation that invoked the history of the Anglican Communion over the past century.

Andrew Khoo, a commission member from the Province of South East Asia, explained that the Anglican Communion’s existing definition — some prefer the term “description” — dates to 1930, when the Lambeth Conference adopted the following language: “The Anglican Communion is a fellowship, within the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury.”

ACC, at its last meeting in 2023, instructed IASCUFO “to explore theological questions regarding structure and decision-making to help address our differences in the Anglican Communion.” Khoo said the commission kept coming back to the communion’s 1930 description, but only as a starting point.

“How might it need to be adjusted to describe the Anglican Communion of today?” Khoo said. “What was or what is missing from that, and what should be added or revised?”

The commission’s discussions produced one proposal that would change the language that, Khoo said, currently frames the office of the archbishop of Canterbury as the provinces’ “gateway to membership” in the communion. The proposed change, rather than requiring provinces to be “in communion with” Canterbury, would affirm the provinces’ “historic connection with the See of Canterbury,” as well as their “shared inheritance, mutual service, [and] common counsel in conference.”

The second principal proposal seeks to broaden the geographical diversity of Anglican Communion leadership. Under it, the Anglican Communion could empower the provincial leaders on the Primates’ Standing Committee to fulfill some global obligations that previously had fallen to the archbishop of Canterbury, such as attendance at the inauguration of a new province or the installation of a new primate.

IASCUFO also initially suggested that the role of ACC president could be filled not by the archbishop of Canterbury but instead by a rotation of leaders from the Anglican Communion’s five regions. That idea has since been eliminated.

The commission, in offering justifications for the changes, said the communion could continue to acknowledge its historical roots in the Church of England while moving toward a “post-colonial” structure that reflects growing membership in regions of the Global South, including Africa and Asia.

Bishop Riscylla Shaw of the Anglican Church of Canada asked how the commission was defining “post-colonial.” The commission’s chair, Bishop Graham Tomlin of the Church of England, cited a common desire for a “polycentric church,” rather than an Anglican Communion that treats England as the “mother church.”

Mathews of The Episcopal Church followed up by thanking the commission for its “incredible work,” but asked why, after centuries of colonialism, there seemed to be a rush now to make such a significant change to the Anglican Communion’s structure. He and other Episcopal leaders have called for more time to discuss and refine the proposals.

Range of views on the best way forward

This is the first ACC meeting attended by Mullally, the first woman to serve as archbishop of Canterbury. It is also the first meeting since a group of conservative Anglican leaders, who call themselves GAFCON, announced a plan last fall to split from the Anglican Communion to create a new global structure. So far, there has been little evidence of widespread support for GAFCON’s plan to leave the Anglican Communion, though the provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda have continued to exclude themselves from global Anglican gatherings, including ACC-19.

Alexandria Archbishop Samy Fawzy Shehata, who is attending ACC-19 as a member of IASCUFO, declined to comment about GAFCON when interviewed by Episcopal News Service. He instead underscored that it is important for his Egypt-based province to end the Anglican Communion’s dependence on the Church of England for its core leadership.

His and other conservatives’ concerns aren’t personal, Shehata said. He doesn’t object to any particular individual serving as archbishop of Canterbury. His issue, he said, is with the Church of England, which the archbishop of Canterbury also leads.

Shehata suggested he and other conservatives in the Anglican Communion may be open to dialogue with provinces that have taken more progressive stances on gay ordination and same-sex marriage, but they draw a sharper line against continuing to grant such a province a top leadership position by default. And they want ACC-19 to act this week on the Nairobi-Cairo proposals.

“We’ve been in discussions for a very long time,” he said. “I’m really hoping we come to some resolution.”

The discussion on June 30, however, revealed that many ACC members were not yet convinced the proposals needed to be approved at this meeting, or at all, in their current form. In summarizing their table group discussions, some said the proposals seemed focused on a structural solution to differences that are not structural but doctrinal, specifically church doctrines on human sexuality.

A new description for the Anglican Communion “is not tackling the real problem,” Jane Evans of the Church of England said.

She added that her table was adamant that maintaining a strong relationship with the archbishop of Canterbury was “absolutely critical” to the provinces’ identities. “If we dilute the relationship with Canterbury, we take away the reason for being Anglican. We might as well be someone else.”

The Rev. Berthier Lainirina of the Province of the Indian Ocean said the members at his table supported the Nairobi-Cairo proposals. “Though this definition is not perfect, it’s the way forward,” Lainirina said. “To be in communion with the See of Canterbury is very problematic at this time.”

Others raised concerns that some terms in the proposals were not clear enough, especially given the provinces’ different languages and cultures. Even the word “communion” could be open to interpretation, said Glen Moore of the Church of Ireland, the ACC-19 host province. The proposals “need to be reviewed and refined further,” he said.

Jerusalem Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who serves as ACC vice chair, summarized his table’s discussions as offering diverse views on the Nairobi-Cairo proposals. “Some would say the See of Canterbury is a big part of what defines us as Anglicans,” he said. Other members thought the proposals offered solutions to navigating the provinces’ doctrinal differences.

With the final session for discussion set for July 2, “there is a strong feeling that there is a need for more time to discuss and reflect and digest,” Naoum said.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.