ACNS 3953   |   ACO   |   8 MARCH 2005

Statement from the Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council

As Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council, I have received the requests of the Primates Meeting to the ACC. Inevitably such requests raise questions about the inter-relationship between the various Instruments of Unity which will need to be examined in the light of the Windsor Report at our next meeting.

The Primates Meeting asked the ACC to provide at its next meeting in June an opportunity for the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to set out the thinking behind the recent actions of their Provinces in accordance with paragraph 141 of the Windsor Report; and also to take positive steps to initiate the listening and study process which has been the subject of resolutions not only at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, but in earlier Conferences as well.

Accordingly I have asked the Design Group to include in our programme an opportunity for a Consultation at which the major input will come from members of ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada, and it is hoped that delegates from other parts of the Communion will contribute also. We will also continue to work on the request from Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution 1.10 which the ACC began at its meeting in Dundee Scotland in 1999. The aim will be to initiate a listening and study process which will review what has already taken place and co-ordinate further work in this area.

The Rt Revd John Paterson
Chair, Anglican Consultative Council

Explanatory note: The Anglican Consultative Council:
www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/39/00/acns3949.cfm

The Windsor Report: Paragraph 141:
www.aco.org/windsor2004/section_d/p3.cfm

Lambeth Conference 98: Resolution 1.10:
www.aco.org/windsor2004/appendix/p3.6.cfm


Anglican Gathering of Ottawa