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Traditionalist Anglicans around the world reacted to the news the primates of the Anglican Communion had suspended the Episcopal Church from membership in the 70 million member bodies' international council with a mixture of elation and caution.

Conservative leader Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh called the February 25 communiqué an "epochal" moment in the life of the church, while the archbishop of Sydney adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, summoned the leaders of the 38 member churches of the Anglican Communion to Newry, Northern Ireland, to discuss the Windsor Report. The study, released in October, was commissioned after a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada authorized its clergy to perform same-sex "unions" and in the wake of the American church's decision to consecrate a noncelibate homosexual priest as bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire. The consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson scandalized Anglicans in Africa, Asia, and South America and divided the church in the United States.

Following four days of closed-door meetings, the Anglican leaders (called primates) unanimously agreed on February 24 to "request the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw" from the Anglican Communion's consultative council for three years. During the suspension, the churches were to reconsider their actions and amend their ways or provide an acceptable theological rationale for normalizing homosexual behavior.

The primates also asked, "as a matter of urgency," that the archbishop of Canterbury appoint a "panel of reference" to see that the American and Canadian churches grant alternative pastoral oversight to conservative congregations unable to accept the ministrations of liberal bishops. During the life of the suspension, conservative primates agreed to desist from initiating further "cross border interventions": a practice whereby overseas church leaders have assumed oversight of U.S. congregations in defiance of the wishes of the American church.

The divisions among the primates prior to the start of the conference were deep. The custom of daily Eucharist was abandoned after a number of primates, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, refused to worship with Episcopal Church USA Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold. Archbishop Williams initially objected, but relented after the Africans made plain their belief that unity of doctrine preceded unity of worship.

Both sides praised the skills of Archbishop Rowan Williams in keeping the dialogue between the seemingly irreconcilable camps moving forward, allowing them to come to a unanimous decision by the end of the meeting that safeguards the rights of conservative Episcopalians in the United States and provides an opportunity for liberals to justify their actions before the wider church within a fixed period of time.

Liberal praise
Liberal leaders praised the communiqué. Archbishop Peter Carnley of Australia said evangelicals "should rejoice with us that the primates of the global south are very pleased with the outcome and so are the North Americans."

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison of Canada said that though the communiqué "was not a perfect document," he was encouraged that the primates had set in place a mechanism to ensure that the voices of gay and lesbian Anglicans would be heard in the forthcoming debates over homosexuality.

Griswold endorsed the communiqué as well, noting that he would return home to consult with the leaders of the Episcopal Church on the recommendations of the statement and the Windsor Report.

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February (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49