U.N. Panel Admits Anglican Council
Episcopal News Service. March 28, 1985 [85069]
NEW YORK (DPS, March 28) -- The Anglican Communion has been honored by a cordial welcome as one of the consultants to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
The Communion won the status -- which gives it an active voice in UN educational, development and human rights deliberations -- in a meeting of the Council March 20 at which many Third World Council members spoke enthusiastically of the work of the Communion.
Status as a category II consultant to the Council means that the Communion is recognized as a broadly based world organization which is able to deal effectively and speak authoritatively on the issues before the Council. It gives the Communion a regular voice in Council deliberations and allows the Council to call upon the Communion as a resource. The Communion joins other world church bodies -- such as the Lutheran World Federation -- in this status.
The accord grows out of the concern of the Anglican primates, who, at their 1983 meeting in Kenya, explored ways in which the Third World members that are directly involved in and affected by the Council's work could take a more coordinated role in supporting the international community and exercising their unified strength in the face of a rising tide of nationalism.
The chief pastors agreed that the Economic and Social Council provided the best channel and asked the Anglican Consultative Council to pursue the matter. The Episcopal Church agreed to provide staff and logistical support to the endeavor.
Last year in Nigeria, the full ACC threw its support behind the effort, and the final steps were taken which ended in the endorsement last week.
That endorsement itself shows much about the way in which the world views the Anglican Communion. A number of organizations were seeking the same status, but only the Anglican Communion "needed no introduction," because countries as diverse as Libya -- which opened the discussion on the application -- and Cyprus -- which was one of the endorsers -- spoke warmly of the Communion's work.
In reporting on the outcome, the Rev. Charles A. Cesaretti of the Episcopal Church Center Public Issues office, who, along with Canon Samir Habiby and Mrs. Robert Dawson of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, staffed the effort, told Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury that the Libyan delegate had commended the Communion for its "well-known dedication to humanitarian work, for its global perspective and universal inclusiveness, for its organization which brings representatives from all continents into its decision making process and for its vast work with economy of central structure and budget."
Cyprus was joined in endorsing the application by delegates of Kenya, Ghana, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand, Cyprus and the United Kingdom.
On learning of the vote, Canon Samuel van Culin, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council, commented: "This action by the United Nations is a recognition of the international character of the Anglican Communion and the importance of the Church, especially in the developing world. The Anglican Communion is what it is because we share together traditions which include the churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and the Caribbean. I am grateful for the opportunity of this new relationship with the United Nations, and I look forward to contributing to the achievement of its goals."