Five retired bishops are among the more than 140 Episcopalians who have signed an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury that urges him to reject all requests for alternative primatial oversight.

The letter is hosted on the Diocese of Washington’s server, which led to inaccurate descriptions of the letter originating with that diocese.

“We are hosting it on our web server because our Bishop [John B. Chane] believes it is a worthwhile contribution to the debate about the future of our Communion, but we had no role in producing the letter, and haven’t taken an official position on its contents,” wrote Jim Naughton, director of communications, on the website he maintains. No bishops from the Diocese of Washington, active or resigned, have signed the letter to date.

The document was drafted by the steering committee of The Consultation, a consortium that includes Integrity, Episcopal Urban Caucus, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the Episcopal Women’s Caucus, the Union of Black Episcopalians and several other organizations.

The letter places alternative primatial oversight within quote marks on every reference, and eventually questions the premise that such an arrangement can exist.

“There is no provision in the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church for the Archbishop of Canterbury to exercise jurisdiction in this Province,” the letter says. “In The Episcopal Church, the General Convention has sole authority to amend the Constitution and Canons, including the formation of dioceses and the assignment of dioceses to provinces within The Episcopal Church.”

The letter twice refers to “reminding” Archbishop Williams of historical background in the Anglican Communion’s discussions of human sexuality and the Windsor Report.

The letter says that “granting any of these requests would pose a grave danger to the Anglican Communion.”

Douglas LeBlanc