Alarmed that their careful negotiations could be wrecked by an internet report that a deal had been signed, the primates gathered at the Dromantine Retreat Center in Northern Ireland dispensed with their evening agenda Feb. 24 and, in a marathon session, completed their communiqué a full day ahead of schedule. The crisis over the inaccurate press report and confrontations over irreconcilable theological stances required Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to resuscitate the meeting on several occasions when the talks came close to collapse.
Though the official communiqué stated that relations among the primates during the plenary sessions were cordial, “characterized by generosity of spirit, and a readiness to respect one another’s integrity, with Christian charity and abundant goodwill,” tempers flared and voices were raised behind the scenes.
By week’s end all 35 primates present would endorse the communiqué and only Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold would leave the meeting early, decamping on Friday afternoon to speak with Episcopal News Service and the American secular media.
The weeklong primates’ meeting will be the last for Bishop Griswold. The next primates’ meeting is not scheduled until 2007, Bishop Griswold’s successor, to be elected at the 75th General Convention in 2006, will represent the Episcopal Church.
The direction of the primates’ meeting was set early following decisions by Archbishop Williams to accede to Archbishop Akinola’s request on behalf of the global south coalition that the agenda be changed and that plans for Holy Eucharist services be scrapped.
Following two intense days [TLC, March 13], the global south primates found that their momentum had died. Bible studies directed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on the “Lenten Theme of the Three Temptations of Christ” on Monday and Tuesday stopped as the tempo quickened with discussions of the Windsor Report and the future shape and membership of the Anglican Communion.
In the morning and afternoon sessions, Bishop Griswold and the Primate of Canada, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, spoke clearly and firmly to the primates about the canonical and democratic processes that preceded their provinces’ actions on sexual morality issues. Primates from the global south, some of whom were calling for the total expulsion of the North American provinces, were unmoved by these arguments and not persuaded that doctrine and theological truth could be determined by a popular vote.
According to a primate, one of nine with whom The Living Church consulted for this report, the Feb. 22 trip to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Evensong, and dinner afterwards with the bishops of the Church of Ireland, sapped the global south’s strength, returning the meeting to where it was at lunchtime that day. At dinner on Wednesday, it appeared that the Communion was at an impasse, as neither side would relent upon its principles, nor accommodate the other’s wishes.
Speaking with the Anglican Journal of Canada, Archbishop Hutchison said the deadlock was broken when Archbishop Robin Eames, Primate of All Ireland and chair of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, asked what each needed in order not to walk way.
Brokered Deal
By the end of the session on Feb. 23, Archbishop Williams had brokered a deal in which the American and Canadian churches would be asked to withdraw from the affairs of the Communion for a season either to come up with an acceptable theological explanation for what they have done or to “repent” and reform. Another primate told The Living Church that although the details had not been finalized, and though Bishop Griswold “was mulling over” the proposals, the meeting was essentially over.
A third primate confirmed that the consensus statement came through the personal efforts of Archbishop Williams. Unlike his predecessor, the Most Rev. George Carey, who though very highly regarded by the African Church, tended to avoid confrontation by limiting debate, Archbishop Williams allowed a thorough airing of views.
News of the breakthrough spread quickly among the press corps. At an informal press luncheon the next day, while not commenting upon the work of the primates, Lambeth Palace press spokesman, the Rev. Jonathan Jennings, noted the primates had reached a point where they were able to devote that day to social issues such as HIV/AIDS and theological education.
While the primates discussed social and education issues such as the Millennium Development Goals, a five-member team worked out the details of the communiqué summarizing the agreement. The team was comprised of Archbishop Peter Carnley of Australia (chairman), Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, Archbishop Donald Mtetemela of Tanzania, and Bishop Michael Baroi of Bangladesh, with support by the Anglican Consultative Council’s (ACC) deputy secretary general, Canon Gregory Cameron. Canon John Rees, Archbishop Williams’ canon lawyer and legal advisor to the Lambeth Commission on Communion, later joined the proceedings.
Archbishop Carnley told The Living Church on Feb. 25 the drafting process was uncomplicated. “Gregory Cameron, our secretary, was very good. He picked up on the group discussions, picked up what people were saying and put it on paper. He gave me a draft and we scribbled all over it, and I came back and I said we should go with this, and that was that.”
Early that afternoon, however, the deal nearly fell apart when an independent journalist told colleagues he was going to release a story with details about the final agreement. The Primate of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Gregory Venables, contacted the journalist and extracted a promise not to release the report because no deal had been signed and negotiations were still taking place. Nevertheless a few hours later the report was released, angering the global south primates who were concerned the story would shatter the talks underway.
Matters were further complicated after a scene in Dromantine’s front hallway late that afternoon. Security at Dromantine, a Georgian country house converted to serve as a Roman Catholic missionary training school, and later as a retreat center, was light as supporters of the global south primates made daily trips to the center to take the primates to dine or to discuss strategy.
Bishop Griswold became perturbed on Feb. 24 after witnessing the departure of a number of global south primates with their American supporters to dinner off campus. He complained to Archbishop Williams, who dressed them down upon their return. In rebuking them, Archbishop Williams’ tone was said to have offended the African leaders.
In the midst of the turmoil over absent archbishops, exaggerated news reports, and bruised egos, the Primates voted to cancel the evening’s agenda and finish the communiqué. Sources at Lambeth Palace and the ACC said that the determination to finish the report and regain control of the outcome unified the primates as nothing else had over the week. The drafting committee presented its work to the primates and after only a few readings the communiqué was adopted. At 10:22 p.m. the communiqué was released to the press.
The expression of repentance from the Episcopal Church found in earlier drafts did not make it into the final document, due in part to the rush to finish. Archbishop Carnley explained, “at the beginning of our meeting we did talk about an expression of regret,” however “I think we lost sight of that particular issue in the course of the meeting.”
The endorsement of the communiqué did not return harmony to the Primates. After the deal was done, Archbishop Williams announced he was going to lead the noonday Eucharist on Friday and invited all the Primates to attend as a gesture of unity. The global south primates declined.
(The Rev.) George Conger
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