Will the Moderator, the Archbishop in waiting, be on vacation in Egypt or perhaps elsewhere in the Middle East?

Moderator Duncan has suggested that certain Primates, friendly to the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) will bring to the Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, a paper on the status of the ACNA as a "Third Province" in North America. (See The Living Church.)

At an earlier meeting of the Primates in Ireland then Bishop Duncan, of the Anglican Communion Network, was noted to have been on vacation in the vicinity. At the Jerusalem GAFCON meeting, the then Bishop Duncan was present or at least had a paper read in Jordan, but then was on vacation in Europe. Now he is "involved in “an unanticipated series of consultations with the primates who originated the call” for a new Anglican province in North America." What are the bets that he will strangely be lingering about in the neighborhood of Alexandria?

In Anglican Land's rumor factory Alexandria has been the favored place for the emergence of an alternative Anglican Communion. The Primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East is currently the bishop of Egypt, who has had an off again - on again relationship with the core of the GAFCON bishops and has been very involved in the Global South Anglicans movement. Egypt was the home of some body parts of St. Mark and an ancient patriarchy. Why not revive that patriarchy as the home of a new improved Anglican Communion - a world wide church. The dreams are big, but why not dream?

Of course it has nothing to do with the Anglican Communion, a "fellowship" of churches.

To put it plainly, the GAFCON crowd is lurching towards some new revelation of plans. The website is stirring to action. The bishops are consulting with Moderator Duncan and one supposes others. Something is afoot. Perhaps GAFCON folk are acting a bit early on, given that the ACNA is not an actuality yet. But the Archbishop in waiting is waiting, and the GAFCON Primates are mating. It would be interesting to know where Bishop Minns is these days.

The sport of finding just who the hangers on are is beginning. In Dar Es Salaam they were so many and so organized that they planned into the night and pushed the agenda to the breaking point. The hangers on are now going to be mostly GAFCON functionaries and in particular those related to the Common Cause Partnership's bid to begin ACNA and push for status as a "Province" of the Anglican Communion.

They will of course argue that they are the best resolution to the problem of incursion. They will be wrong. They will argue that a Third Province is a pastoral response to hurting orthodox people longing for relief. They will be wrong.

The Anglican Communion is as messy as always and the Primates have a lot to clean up. Perhaps a short reading of the business about the splinter in the eye of the other and the log in one's own eye might be in order. Perhaps the Primates will be too busy to take on the agenda being planned for by those meeting with the Moderator.

I wonder if there will be a group photo at the close of the Primates Meeting? There was none at the close of Dar Es Salaam. The Primates split as soon as they could and those who remained were indisposed to gather for a group photo.




But here is the good news: The Primates have no authority at all unless it is given them by the actual Churches (plural not singular) that make up the Anglican Communion.

As stated by a good friend in prayer: Let us not become the instruments of our own oppression.