“There is a critical situation in the Communion, no one would deny that,” he said. But they would not be “closing the doors on those who are not with us”. He planned to engage in bridge-building visits to some of the absent provinces, such as South-East Asia, and had recently met the Archbishop of Kenya, who did not attend the meeting, engaging in ”a very long and detailed conversation on a variety of matters”.

All the more reason to avoid dealing with it, at all costs.

Responding to news reports that said that about one thousand Church of England parishes were considering moving over to the Roman Catholic Ordinariate, Dr Williams questioned the accuracy of such a high figure, and re-iterated that these groups went with his blessing. “God bless them. I can’t go with them.”

You know, for one so worried about “inclusion”, I don’t see a whole lot of impetus to include these people. To me it looks like the British version of “don’t let the door hit you in the post on the way out”...

“He said he hoped the standing committee of the Primates’ Meeting, whose role was discussed in Dublin, could also be part of the process to help “re-establish local and regional relationships”.

Yup, better get that nailed down, especially the part about the SC possibly being illegally formed.  Or maybe we’re ignoring that, too? 

“THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury has acknowledged that there remains a “critical situation” in the Anglican Communion”.

That’s like saying that a raging drunk who is vomiting on your doorstep is “a little tipsy”.

Nothing like an Archbishop with his eyes open.

Archbishop John Holder, Primate of the West Indies, said that there had always been differences in the Anglican Communion, not just over human sexuality, but the Church had always “worked out ways and means of dealing with differences”. They would continue to work hard to get through the current tensions.

With due respect, ++Holder appears to be a very poor imitation of his distinguished predecessor, ++Gomez.

And he misses the point: Of course there have been differences throughout church history - that is why the church has always held councils, both general and regional, to sort them out. And considerable latitude has always been permitted by the church, where scripture allows.

But that does not mean that the fundamentals of the faith are up for discussion - ordaining practicing homosexuals as priests (or even worse, as bishops) strikes at the fundamentals of the faith. It is not up for negotiation, in councils or elsewhere. ++Holder needs to think about what he really stands for.

Responding to news reports that said that about one thousand Church of England parishes were considering moving over to the Roman Catholic Ordinariate, Dr Williams questioned the accuracy of such a high figure, and re-iterated that these groups went with his blessing.

I also doubt that it is that high. But what if it isn’t? That will be yet more egg on ABC’s face.

After discussions in Dublin, a statement said the standing committee of the Primates’ Meeting could act as a “consultative council for the Archbishop of Canterbury” and had the possibility “to speak on behalf of the Primates’ Meeting”.

Of course. The scheming and intrigue by ++Williams, Canon Kearon and K J Schori proceeds to its fore-ordained end. The so-called “standing committee” of five members will now speak on behalf of the primates meeting. The primates meeting will very rarely be called of course, but the “standing committee” will always be there to make pronouncements on its behalf! Finally we are rid of those pesky primates!!! (or, sickening thought, perhaps it is really them that are rid of us…?)

Furthermore, ABC will now consult only with this “standing committee”, thus displacing both the Primates meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.

And of course NONE of these decisions were taken to Lambeth - even though it is Lambeth (being all the bishops of the communion assembled) which gave constitutional life to the primates meeting and the ACC in the first place!

But then, perhaps this is the right course for ++Williams to take - after all, the last time he called a Lambeth conference, over one quarter of the world’s bishops didn’t turn up. And this time when he called a primates meeting, over one third of them didn’t turn up. He is of little significance, so perhaps he should do whatever he likes.