Anglican Provincial Secretaries Conference Opens in Johannesburg
Episcopal News Service. August 27, 2004 [082704-1-A]
Jan Nunley
South African archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu was once asked what holds the Anglican Communion together. "We meet," he replied.
And while they represent provinces that may disagree with one another on specific issues, 33 of the Anglican Communion's 38 provincial secretaries are meeting August 26-September 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to share stories, information and resources, and to help one another understand those differences.
The conference constitutes one of the Anglican Communion's many informal and unofficial networks, said the Rev. Patrick Mauney, director of the Episcopal Church's office of Anglican and Global Relations. Mauney, along with the Rev. Anthony Jewiss, deputy executive officer for the General Convention, represent the Episcopal Church at the meeting.
The Provincial Secretaries Conference has been meeting since the mid-1980s -- even though appointment of the network was authorized by the Lambeth Conference in 1948. Mauney has been to four of the five meetings so far.
"We see it as a network, even though it's not official and probably doesn't need to be," Mauney explained. "It strengthens the 'bonds of affection,' which are considerable, regardless of the things that pull us apart."
Since the group only meets every four or five years, "we usually have quite a bit of turnover," Mauney said. "But that's good too, because you have new people coming on, seeing that they are part of a community with similar and sometimes widely disparate responsibilities. There's a sort of 'getting on board' for some people who are very isolated in their provinces."
The agenda, he said, is "all very general at this point: communications, the financial viability of provincial secretariats, the Anglican Communion and how we function together, particularly now because of the strains. I suspect that at this meeting some of the disarray in the Communion will find its way on to the agenda."
Financial sustainability will be a critical issue, particularly with some of the Global South provinces refusing funds from provinces with which they have declared themselves in "impaired communion." "There has been a lot of noise about that, but when you get right down to it, there are very few who are really carrying that out," observed Mauney, noting that there are "strains" within some of the abstaining provinces on how far to go in refusing assistance.
Only two provinces, Nigeria and Uganda, have officially declined to attend because of American and Canadian participation in the meeting. Illness, retirements, and travel complications could account for the other absences, Mauney said. At least one secretary is prevented from attending because of a simultaneously scheduled provincial synod meeting.
Meanwhile, despite instances of impaired relations, the Anglican Communion continues to hold together on the basis of each province's ties directly to the Archbishop of Canterbury -- not primarily on the basis of interrelationships with one another, the Communion's secretary general, the Rev. John Peterson, has confirmed.
The provincial secretaries' meeting is also an opportunity to see and understand how churches work in different parts of the Communion. "That's particularly important for us, because one of the things I and many other people have discovered is that many people in the Communion have no idea how [New Hampshire's openly gay bishop] Gene Robinson got to be a bishop -- or they may have had an idea, but it was the wrong idea," said Mauney. "So a chance to talk about how our church makes decisions is important."
Note to ENS readers: For reference, the 38 self-governing member churches or provinces of the Anglican Communion are:
* The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia
* The Anglican Church of Australia
* The Church of Bangladesh
* Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
* The Episcopal Church of Burundi
* The Anglican Church of Canada
* The Church of the Province of Central Africa
* Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America
* Province de L'Eglise Anglicane Du Congo
* The Church of England
* Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
* The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
* The Church of Ireland
* The Nippon Sei Ko Kai (The Anglican Communion in Japan)
* The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East
* The Anglican Church of Kenya
* The Anglican Church of Korea
* The Church of the Province of Melanesia
* La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico
* The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)
* The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
* The Church of North India (United)
* The Church of Pakistan (United)
* The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
* The Episcopal Church in the Philippines
* L'Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda
* The Scottish Episcopal Church
* Church of the Province of South East Asia
* The Church of South India (United)
* The Church of the Province of Southern Africa
* Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America
* The Episcopal Church of the Sudan
* The Anglican Church of Tanzania
* The Church of the Province of Uganda
* The Episcopal Church in the USA
* The Church in Wales
* The Church of the Province of West Africa
* The Church in the Province of the West Indies