When Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby issued his invitation to the network of Anglican primates around the world, he was careful to craft the invitation as a "Primates' Gathering" rather than a "Primates' Meeting," indicating that his confab would be more of friendly discussion in nature rather than a formal "meeting" of top Anglican prelates.
Initially the Primates' Meeting was designed by former Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan in 1978 as an opportunity for to Anglican primates to gather for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation." He held his first Primates' Meeting the next year. Formal Primates' Meetings have been held every two or three years since then in different locations around the world that have a strong Anglican presence.
Starting in 1979 when the first Primates' Meeting was held in Ely, England; followed in 1981 at Washington, DC; 1983 in Limuru, Kenya; 1986 in Toronto, Canada; 1989 in Larnaca, Cyprus; 1991 in Newcastle, Northern Ireland; 1993 in Cape Town, South Africa; 1995 in Windsor, England; 1997 in Jerusalem; 2000 in Oporto, Portugal; 2001 in Hendersonville, North Carolina; 2002 in London, England; May 2003 in Gramado, Brazil; October 2003 in Canterbury, England; 2005 in Newry, Northern Ireland; 2007 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; 2009 in Alexandria, Egypt; and 2011 in Dublin, Ireland.
TORTURED HISTORY
In 1978 when Archbishop Donald Coggan launched the first Primates' Meeting, the fabric which holds the Anglican Communion together was already beginning to show its first signs of fraying -- The American Episcopal Church had started ordaining women to the priesthood. In 1974 the Philadelphia 11 were irregularly ordained as Episcopal priests. That canonically illegal action was followed up by General Convention approving the practice and changing Episcopal canons in 1976. That deed was quickly followed by the Anglican Church of Canada later that year when the first ACoC women priests were ordained. New Zealand followed suit in 1977. Little by little women's ordination filtered through the Anglican Communion with the Church of England signing on in 1992. By then The Episcopal Church had consecrated its first woman bishop -- Barbara Harris -- on February 11, 1989.
Little by little various Anglican provinces starting allowing women's priestly ordination and eventual raised them to the bishopric. Finally one of their members became the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, and that action helped to drive a deeper wedge into the Primates' Meeting, but not before a partnered gay homosexual priest was made the first out and proud gay bishop in Anglicanism.
Vicky Gene Robinson's 2003 election to the Episcopal House of Bishops rent the fabric of Anglicanism, and that tearing has never been repaired. In fact two Primates' Meetings were held in 2003, in May and October. The brief two-day October closed-door meeting at Lambeth Palace was called by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to deal with the deepening crises and increasing conflict caused by Robinson's election.
It was reported that in 2005, following the 2004 consecration of Vicky Gene Robinson as the ninth Bishop of New Hampshire, 19 primates at the Primates' Meeting in Newry, Northern Ireland refused to attend the Service of Holy Communion with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.
By 2006 when Katharine Jefferts Schori became the Episcopal presiding bishop and the first female Anglican primate, at least 22 Anglican provinces were in broken or impaired communion with The Episcopal Church over homosexuality and her elevation as an Anglican primate. Jefferts Schori's election brought the Anglican Communion to a heightened ecumenical crisis point. In 2007 when the primates met in Dar es Salaam seven Global South bishops from Africa and South America refused to receive Holy Communion with the American female presiding bishop.
"This deliberate action is a poignant reminder of the brokenness of the Anglican Communion," stated Anglican Church of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola at the time.
When the 2011 Primates' Meeting rolled around, 15 of 38 primates did not attend the get-together in Dublin. The missing primates cited irreconcilable theological differences or travelling difficulties.
The Episcopal Church now has a different primate. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is slated to attend next week's Primate's Gathering. So far only one primate -- 92-year-old Archbishop William Brown Turei of New Zealand -- has indicated his unwillingness to attend Archbishop Welby's Primates' Gathering. ACNA's Archbishop Foley Beach has also been invited for an Anglican Primates' "Meet & Greet" but he has not been invited to the conference table.
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