The members of the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and the college of primates are meeting in London this week in preparation for ACC-14, the triennial meeting of the ACC’s delegates scheduled for May in Jamaica.
 
Organizers of the gathering told a reporter that the “agenda is largely preparing for ACC-14 next year, and trying to build on the lessons learned from Lambeth.” The JSC is reviewing the ACC’s finances, communications and staffing needs; receiving an update on the work of the Faith and Order Commission proposed by the Windsor Continuation Group at the Lambeth Conference; and learning details of the meeting of the Anglican Covenant Design Group in Singapore in September.
 
The JSC meeting comes shortly after Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh announced that leaders of the Common Cause Partnership (CCP) will meet Dec. 3 in Wheaton, Ill., to endorse a draft constitution to govern the loose coalition of breakaway dioceses, congregations, and Anglican jurisdictions in the United States.
 
It is technically possible for a vote on a third province to come before the primates’ meeting  in February in Alexandria, Egypt, and then be forwarded to ACC-14. This is unlikely, however, because the necessary constitutional work in forming a CCP-based North American province probably will not be completed. This could take as much as two years because the diocesan conventions of the four breakaway Episcopal dioceses—San Joaquin, Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth—will have to endorse the constitution of the proposed province over two meetings of their conventions. CCP members also will need to ratify the constitution and amend their own governing documents so as to bring its terms into force.
 
It is more likely that the primates would address the creation of a third province at their meeting in 2011. If approved, the matter would be brought before ACC-15 in 2012.
 
While special meetings of the ACC and the primates can be called on the initiative of their standing committees, no such meeting has ever been called. In the current political climate within the Anglican Communion, expedited action is unlikely.
 
Approval of the CCP document outside of North America will likely be faster because the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) primates’ council—including the primates of Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, and the Archbishop of Sydney—is scheduled to meet after the Wheaton gathering to vote to receive the constitution.
 
Meetings have been tentatively scheduled between the GAFCON primates and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams before the primates’ meeting in Alexandria to seek his counsel and input into the process. However, Archbishop Williams’ approval is not a prerequisite for creating a new province for the Anglican Communion.
 
Censure Unlikely
Contrary to some reports, the JSC is unlikely to censure The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada for incomplete compliance with the Windsor and Lambeth moratoria, or the Southern Cone for its support for the four breakaway dioceses. The JSC has no authority to take such actions because the membership schedule of the ACC is controlled by the primates. The JSC is free to recommend, but it has no power to act in this area.
 
The meeting of the ACC will likely have all of the provinces of the Anglican Communion represented, as the voluntary withdrawal of the U.S. and Canadian delegations from the ACC ended with Lambeth 2008.
 
The JSC includes, in part, members of the primates’ standing committee elected by regional blocs at the primates’ 2007 meeting. Africa’s delegate, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, is not attending the meeting because of a prior pastoral commitment. The continent is represented by Archbishop Justice Akrofi of West Africa, the Church of Uganda. The delegate from West Asia, Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East, also is unable to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment.
 
(The Rev.) George Conger
 
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