According to the Church Times, the Primates’ first responses to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation to meet next January “vary from the enthusiastic to the heavily caveated.” So far, no one has said “no.”

Church Times:

Despite the Archbishop’s unexpected decision to invite a representative of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Episcopal Church confirmed that the Rt Revd Michael Curry, who is due to succeed Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop, would attend.

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Revd Archbishop Fred Hiltz, welcomed the meeting as “a good thing”. Speaking on Tuesday, he described the decision to invite ACNA — it is understood that the representative will be present for one day, before the formal meeting gets under way — as “an opportunity for some conversation, in the ultimate hope that we might be able to find a way forward towards reconciliation”.

US bishops also welcomed the Archbishop’s initiative, despite reservations. “I hope that all will be in attendance, and participate fully,” the Bishop of Vermont, the Rt Revd Thomas C. Ely, said. “It is not clear to me the reasoning behind inviting other guests who are not Primates of the Anglican Communion to this meeting, especially since this is the first meeting of the Primates in quite some time.

“Clearly the Archbishop, with his wider perspective on things, thinks this is a good idea, and so I trust his judgement.”