‘The deep disagreements that exist are not new’
Westminster Abbey in England (Photo by Jenny Marvin on Unsplash)
By John Hugh DeMastri
Daily Caller News Foundation
- Weeks after the Church of England approved the blessing of same-sex unions, a worldwide group of conservative Anglican archbishops announced in a letter Monday that they no longer recognized the Archbishop of Canterbury as the leader of the Anglican Communion.
- If more churches sign onto the letter, it could place the Anglican Communion, the worldwide federation of Anglican churches, in danger of collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- “We pray that our withdrawal of support for [the Archbishop of Canterbury] to lead the whole Communion is received by him as an admonishment in love,” the conservative archbishops wrote.
A dozen conservative Anglican archbishops from various global churches announced that they no longer recognized the Archbishop of Canterbury as the leader of the Anglican Communion Monday, weeks after the Church of England approved the blessing of same-sex unions.
The decision to bless such unions, made earlier February, meant that the Church of England “had chosen to break communion” with foreign churches that “remain faithful to the historic biblical faith,” a group of archbishops from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) said in a press statement. The 12 archbishops who signed the letter, which included representatives from Africa, South America and North America, also declared that they no longer recognized the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Honourable and Most Reverend Justin Welby, as “the first among equals” and leader of the global Anglican Communion.
“[Welby] has sadly led his House of Bishops to make the recommendations that undergirded the General Synod Motion on ‘Living in Love & Faith,’ knowing that they run contrary to the faith & order of the orthodox provinces in the Communion whose people constitute the majority in the global flock,” the archbishops wrote. “We pray that our withdrawal of support for him to lead the whole Communion is received by him as an admonishment in love.”