In an all-day special session April 13 convened to address one issue, the national Executive Council asked the Episcopal Church’s three representatives to the Anglican Consultative Council to attend the June meeting unofficially as observers.

Thirty-two of the 40 voting members of council went to the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill., prepared to hear what Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold had to say about the rest of the Anglican Communion, and by all accounts he conducted a meeting in which all voices were listened to carefully while not allowing the conversation to drift or grow acrimonious.

“I’ve been on Executive Council since 1994,” said the Very Rev. George L. Werner, president of the House of Deputies. “I’ve never seen a better spirit. The conversation was very candid, at times gut wrenching, but I never saw a clenched fist.”

Fresh from his personal spring retreat in Nebraska, the Presiding Bishop spoke in private conversation at the start of the meeting and then, according to some accounts, exercised a more “upfront” role than usual during the meeting.

Shortly before the break for lunch, a second straw poll was taken which revealed that members remained relatively evenly divided among three positions: 1. sending the ACC representatives as official representatives, 2. sending them only as observers, and 3. withdrawing representatives completely and sending only the theology group asked for by the primates.

“Over and over the words ‘gracious’ and ‘generous’ were used in trying to describe what we were trying to accomplish,” said the Rt. Rev. Stacy F. Sauls, Bishop of Lexington. “We also used the word over and over again of ‘honoring’ what the primates asked us to do. The council as a whole sees this as an opportunity for reasoned discussion to take place.”

‘Essential Component’

The remainder of time after lunch was spent working on drafts of a letter which was to be sent to Bishop John Paterson, ACC chairman, by Bishop Griswold and Dean Werner on behalf of council.

The letter states that council members are “unanimous in our desire to do all that we can to preserve and further the bonds of affection in the ‘new humanity’ created by Christ Jesus” and that conversation on the primates’ request to withdraw was difficult because “representative consultation is an essential component of our life as a Church,” and the ACC “is the primary instrument of communion in which the fullness of the Body of Christ is represented.”

The letter concludes by invoking the “spirit of the covenant statement recently adopted by our House of Bishops” to announce that “we voluntarily withdraw our members from official participation in the ACC as it meets in Nottingham” while asking members to be present and listen “as an expression of our desire to ‘bear one another’s burdens’.”

In an interview with The Living Church at the conclusion of the meeting, Bishop Griswold said that while on retreat he did not spend a great deal of time preparing for the council meeting and was not particularly anxious about the outcome prior to its start.

“I have great respect for Executive Council and I was confident they would make a wise decision,” he said. “I merely tried to serve the decision-making process.”

Steve Waring

Read more on Executive Council’s decision here:

· Presiding Bishop: More to Anglican Unity Than ACC

· Archbishop of Canterbury Commends Executive Council Letter

· Bishops Affirm Loyalty to Communion

· Bishop Sauls: Firm Desire to Remain in Communion

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