The chair of the Anglican Consultative Council has said it is not likely that member provinces and churches of the Anglican Communion will approve a motion to allow 38 primates across the world to become members of the ACC.
Bishop John Paterson, chair of the ACC and Bishop of Auckland, told members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS), that there was “a great deal of unease” expressed by ACC members over the possibility the Council could become dominated by primates.“What happened in Nottingham was that there was deep-seated anger from some members of the ACC of primates acting on their own towards ACC,” said Bishop Paterson.
“The primates decided on an action against two churches who are members of a body (ACC) mandated by the constitution to be consultative. How can it be consultative if two important churches are not able to take part?”
Bishop Paterson added that there was a feeling among ACC members that “perhaps we shouldn’t allow the primates to meet alone ever again”.
In their February 2005 meeting, the primates had called upon the Canadian and US churches to “voluntarily withdraw” from the ACC meeting in Nottingham in June last year in an effort to restore unity within the Anglican Communion which had splintered over the issue of same-sex blessings in New Westminster and the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.
