The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev. John Sentamu is to represent the Church of England at the primates’ meetings under a proposal put forward by the Primates’ Standing Committee.

The five-member committee recommended to Archbishop Rowan Williams last spring that Archbishop Sentamu represent the interests of the Church of England at the annual gathering of the 38 archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators of the Anglican Communion. The rationale is that Archbishop Williams would then be freed to exercise a presidential role within the meetings, the committee said.

A spokesman for the Anglican Consultative Council confirmed the proposal remained under active consideration, stating, “There have been suggestions that would include the Archbishop of York, but as of today, the invitations [to the next primates’ meeting] have not gone out.”

Archbishop Sentamu declined to comment on the matter, and released a statement through his press officer Sept. 4 stating, “The decision of the Primates' Standing Committee has yet to be discussed and approved by the primates' meeting. Until such a time, any comment on this issue would be premature.”

The final decision for adding Archbishop Sentamu rests with Archbishop Williams, whose staff declined to comment on the matter.

The Primates’ Standing Committee, along with the Anglican Consultative Council’s standing committee, are interim bodies that supervise the operations of the ACC staff in London, informally known as the Anglican Communion Office, along with the programs and projects of the Communion’s “four instruments of unity”: the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, the primates’ meeting, and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The members of the Primates' Standing Committee are elected by region and the present roster includes Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa for Africa, Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales for Europe, and Archbishop Peter Kwong of Hong Kong for Asia.

Two seats, for South Asia and the Americas, are vacant. Archbishop Orlando de Oliveira of Brazil had been elected in 2005 to represent the Americas, but was not re-elected as Primate of Brazil at that church’s General Convention last month. The Most Rev. Z. James Terom of the Church of North India stepped down as moderator.

Vacancies on the standing committee are filled by elections held at the Primates' Meeting, which was last held in February 2005 in Northern Ireland. The next scheduled meeting is Feb. 14-19, 2007, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Primates' Standing Committee last met Sept. 5 at Lambeth Palace. While details of the meeting have not been released, it is believed archbishops Malango and Morgan met with Archbishop Williams and his advisors to finalize proposals to be considered by bishops attending a meeting in New York later this month to be moderated by the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, ACC secretary general.

The Rev. Ian Douglas, Angus Dun Professor of World Mission and Global Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School and a member of the Lambeth 2008 Design Team, endorsed the proposal, saying it “makes sense” to give the Church of England “full representation at the meeting.”

“As the presiding officer of the meeting, it is indeed difficult for the Archbishop of Canterbury to both speak for his church and guide the proceedings of the meeting at the same time. So within the organizational and procedural life of the primates meeting, this proposal is understandable,” Prof. Douglas said.

He further applauded the choice of Archbishop Sentamu. The Archbishop of York is “such a skilled, intelligent, and wise person with extensive international experience and knowledge that I assume he would bring great personal gifts to the reflections of the primates.”

Prof. Douglas discounted fears that adding the Archbishop of York to the Primates’ Meeting was evidence of increased “curialization” of the primates. However he told TLC he remained concerned “how some in the Communion would like to imbue the primates with new authority and decision-making capacities that they have not historically enjoyed in our inter-Anglican life.”

(The Rev.) George Conger

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