At Primates’ Meeting 2017, primates commit to walk even closer together

Publish Date: 18-Oct-2017

The 2017 Primates’ Meeting was held on 2–6 October in Canterbury. Issues discussed included evangelism and discipleship, reconciliation and peace building, climate change, food security, refugees, human trafficking, and freedom of religion.

The Scottish Episcopal Church’s decision on same-sex marriage was one of the more controversial topics. According to the communique from the meeting, the primates have decided that sanctions imposed upon the Episcopal Church will now be used against the Scottish Episcopal Church: “for three years, members of SEC would no longer represent the Anglican Communion on ecumenical and interfaith bodies; should not be appointed or elected to internal standing committees and that, while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they would not take part in decision making on any issues of doctrine or polity.”

Archbishop Paul Kwong, who is also the chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council, had attended five Primates’ Meetings in the past. He said that this year’s meeting was the best. Unlike meetings from the past, discussions no longer centred solely on homosexuality, and important issues such as evangelism and discipleship had returned to the agenda. He also said that the primates present at the meeting had been respectful and had committed to walking together. Lastly, he praised the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for chairing the meeting and facilitating the discussions in such a way that all primates had had a chance to present their views on those topics that interested them.