NationStates Jolt Archive

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Anglican_Communion_Compass_Rose.jpg
Anglican Consultative Council
Port Sunlight 2007

As Christians, each of us exists in a state of flux. All of us are intently aware that, at any moment, the New Jerusalem might be upon us and, both collectively and individually, Judgement will be rendered. Retreat from the world, and its darkness and sin, has been a great tradition within Christendom at large and Anglicanism in particular. Yet such withdrawal is not possible for all of us at all the time, and thus we must live in the world while remembering to hear for the Voice of the Lord.

How we confront the world, both its joys and unfathomable lows, is not only a moral question but a theological one. For the Christian, finding the Will of God on issues as varied as environmental degradation to the stem cell research is a complicated business, and one better tackled as a community of the faithful as opposed to a single cog in life’s great machine. Some, viewing from the outside, regard such actions as a betrayal of faith, taking the Holy Spirit and banishing it into the darkened furrows of bureaucracy. But such decisions and debates are the plumbing of any organisation and vital to its organisation and on-going propagation.

While we in the Anglican Communion have never developed the scale of multinational organisation as that of our Roman Catholic brethren, we, nevertheless, have a number of ‘instruments of unity’ that help to bind and coordinate Anglican thinking at large while never hindering or stifling the consciences of individual national churches. These instruments of unity are:

The Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Conferences
Anglican Consultative Council
Primates' Meeting

It is in the spirit of greater Christian Harmony that we, both in the Diocese of Port Sunlight and the Anglican Church of Otiacicoh, have convened an Anglican Consultative Council in hope of reaffirming the relationships that exist between the differing parts of the Anglican world. Further, the Council will hopefully address some of the more pressing questions that face Anglicans across the world, such as the status of the Communion in the NSverse and whether the instruments of unity and communion should be strengthened or, alternatively, loosened.

By far the most pressing issue, however, is the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury since, in the increasingly fragmented world in which we live, the need for a focus of unity is stronger than ever. In the absence of Canterbury as an effective force, however, delegates are invited to discuss possible alternatives and solutions.

As a Consultative Council, all Anglicans are welcome to attend (not just the episcopacy or clergy) and accommodation and refreshments will be provided. All interested in discussing the Communion and other issues of faith are invited to telegram the Diocesan Offices here in Port Sunlight and arrangements will be made.

Yours in Christ

Angela Tenochtitlan +
Rt. Rev. Angela Trevithick, Archbishop of Port Sunlight and Primate of Otiacicoh

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Reginald Welham, the Archbishop of Victoria and spiritual head of the Church of Amory, telegrammed the Diocesan offices in Port Sunlight to inform them that he planned to attend on behalf of the Church of Amory along with several other clergy and laypersons. The Archbishop was especially interested at working out a practical program for an ecclesiastical polity in the absence of the traditional instruments of unity. He was alarmed by the rise of extremist Christian organizations such as the Presbyterian Church in Nationstates (he had never figured out exactly the Nationstates part was supposed to mean, did their church refuse to operate in multinational polities?) and smaller but no less dangerous extremist organizations from within the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox communities. He was also interested in addressing such issues as the environment from the framework of responsible Christian stewardship of the created world. He also felt that issues such as stem cell research, family values and homosexuality needed to be addressed, although he was intently aware of the division they were capable of generating in the modern church.

To: His Grace, The Right Reverend Doctor Reginald Welham, Archbishop of Victoria
From: Her Grace, The Right Reverend Angela Trevithick, Archbishop of Port Sunlight and Primate of Otiacicoh

Your Grace,

I have today received the telegram from your offices indicating your wish to attend the proposed Anglican Consultative Council in order to discuss the issues attaining to the Catholic Church as a whole and the Anglican Communion in particular. Such news is exceedingly welcome, especially as (to be direct for a moment) the state of Anglicanism in the world is such that yours is the only reply thus far. While it is my hope that, buoyed by your enthusiastic response to my letter dated 5th July, last, other Primates may now attend, we (alas) cannot expect too much in a world torn apart by confessional disharmony and religious intolerance.
Such conditions, of course, make the work of the Council, and the Communion, all the more vital, as we must defend and strengthen the “Via Media”, especially now when so many of our co-religionists seem content to drift to the extremes of either pole. This Council will also serve as a vital mechanism in bolstering and renewing relations between the Churches of Otiacicoh and Amory in order that, if nothing else, we ourselves may seek to adopt a common policy on a number of areas, while also maintaining the independence of national churches that has, for so long, been a hallmark of Anglicanism and the Communion.
It is for that reason, therefore, that the Synod and I have decided to alter the settings for our discussions from the capital, Port Sunlight, to the city of Hoogaboom-Tepoztlan. His Grace, the Bishop of the Hoogaboom-Tepoztlan, has agreed to offer the facilities of the diocese to the Council and, if successful, it is my hope that such meetings will become a regular occurrence for all those interested in guiding the Communion in the 21st Century.

Yours in Christ,

Angela Tenochtitlan+
The Right Reverend Angela Trevithick, Archbishop of Port Sunlight and Primate of Otiacicoh