London, 16 October, 2003

The Emergency Meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion occasioned by the decision of the Episcopal Church to consecrate as a bishop a married man living in an active sexual partnership with another male has come and gone.

The Final Statement of the Meeting is to be found elsewhere on this website. It affirms that such a consecration constitutes ‘a crucial and critical point in the life of the Communion’. The Primates have therefore to conclude ‘that the future of the Communion itself will be in jeopardy’. This is merely to state the obvious.

The Primates go on to say that ‘as a body we deeply regret the actions of the Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church’. But despite firm press questioning the Most Revd Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of ECUSA showed no sign of regret, and affirmed that he hoped personally to preside at the consecration.

It is intended that a commission to consider the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘role in maintaining communion within and between provinces’ (recommended by Lambeth 1998 but not yet inaugurated) should now be extended to include ‘urgent and deep theological reflection on the way in which the dangers we have identified at this meeting will have to be addressed’. The commission is expected to complete its work within a twelve-month.

Forward in Faith UK profoundly regrets the corporate failure to address those present dangers at this meeting and has no hope that such a Commission will adequately address them in the future. We note that various bodies in the United States threatened substantive action if no substantial result came from this conference. We await that action with interest.