Calling it "a serious contribution to debate," the Most Rev. George L. Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, responded to a proposal put forth by two primates which if passed would for the first time make the the provinces of the Anglican Communion mutually accountable.

The proposal, co-authored by the Most Rev. Maurice Sinclair, Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone in South America and the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies, is outlined in the book To Mend the Net: Anglican Faith and Order for Renewed Mission. The two archbishops have said they will present the proposal at a meeting of the primates March 2-9 at Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, N.C.

"This and other useful contributions will assist the primates in developing, collegially, their role within the Anglican Communion," Archbishop Carey told the Church Times. He added a cautionary note to all parties that while much may be gained by healthy debate, much will be lost by action which challenges lawful authority in the body of Christ.

Under the proposed plan, primates would be required to inform each other of innovations and hold back from implementation if such action is opposed by a significant minority of fellow primates. If a province chose to proceed anyway, it could be demoted to "observer status" within the communion. A final step contemplates suspending communion with the "intransigent body" and creating a new province to cover its former geographical area.

In discussing the proposal, Archbishop Sinclair said To Mend the Net builds on several previous attempts to find a way to resolve disputes within the Anglican Communion and on a resolution of the 1998 Lambeth Conference which suggested an enhanced role for the Primates' Meeting.

Archbishop Sinclair and other primates have said in the past that actions which are contrary to traditional interpretations of scripture, such as the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals, blessings of same-sex partnerships and easy policies on re-marriage, have powerful repercussions in other parts of the communion, especially countries in which Islam is the dominant religion.