Warring Anglican Primates Summoned To New Meeting In October

The Archbishop of Canterbury has called the heads of warring Anglican factions together for a second meeting in two years.

Justin Welby wrote to the Anglican primates in November, the website Anglican Ink revealed, confirming details of an upcoming gathering in October.

Rather than being an official "Primates meeting" the leaders of the different Anglican provinces will meet "only as Primates of the Communion in 2017", Welby said.

The meeting will take place in Canterbury from 2-6 October and will be the first time all the leaders of the different Anglican provinces have met since January 2016.

That gathering resulted in The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA facing "consequences" for changing its teaching to welcome gay marriage.

The Primates' decided TEC should be removed from any decision making on "issues pertaining to doctrine or polity" for three years.

It is not clear whether TEC bishops have been invited to the October 2017 conference. Christian Today has contacted Lambeth Palace for a response.

In his letter Welby also attached a response to "the unfortunate and continued inaccurate comments on the situation over same sex relations in the Church of England".

In November, shortly before Welby sent his letter, the C of E's senior civil servant, William Nye, rebuked the conservative body GAFCON UK after it published a list of gay clergy in relationships.

The document painted a "significantly misleading picture both of the teaching and practice of the Church of England", Nye wrote.

GAFCON represents a number of primates from the more socially conservative provinces in Africa and the global south.