Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will neither assist nor hinder attempts to create a new Anglican province in North America, according to five primates who met with him recently in London.
 
The five primates are all members of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) primates council. They included Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone and Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda.
 
A variety of subjects were covered during their five-hour meeting, including the boycott of the Lambeth Conference by more than 200 Anglican bishops, the proposed Anglican Covenant, and the concern felt by many Global South leaders with innovations to doctrine and discipline being undertaken by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
 
Archbishop Williams also expressed concern about the ongoing border incursions by overseas primates, to which the primates offered the proposed new province as a solution.  But meeting participants who spoke with the Church of England Newspaper said Archbishop Williams was not asked for his approval of the province. Legal advice previously given to Archbishop Williams determined that he does not have the authority to make or disenfranchise provinces independently of the primates’ meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.
 
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