Support for the Communion Partners

 

From “Communion across Difference,” a Statement of the Mind of the House of Bishops, at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church:

We give particular thanks for the steadfast witness of our colleagues in the Communion Partners. We value and rely on their commitment to The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We recognize that theirs is a minority voice in the House of Bishops in our deliberations with respect to Christian marriage; and we affirm that despite our differences they are an indispensable part of who we are as the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church. Our church needs their witness.

From the “Lambeth Presidential Address” (2008), Rowan Williams, the Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. The Lord Williams of Oystermouth, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury:

“… it seems to be widely agreed in the Conference that internal pastoral and liturgical care, strengthened by arrangements like the suggested Communion Partners initiative in the USA … are the way we should go if we want to avoid further ecclesial confusion …”

George Leonard Carey, the Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. The Lord Carey of Clifton, 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury:

I am delighted to support the work of the Communion Partner plan, which exists to seek a solution to the breakdown in the Anglican Communion by dialogue, friendship and understanding.

The Rt. Rev. Valentine Mokiwa, Fifth Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Tanzania:

The Communion Partners Plan, with its growing list of primates, bishops and rectors, is a positive way forward through the present crisis of division that we face in the Anglican Communion. As per our vow to the Windsor principles and Anglican Covenant, this allows us to strengthen a common fellowship centered on the biblical teachings of the Gospel. I am happy to offer it my support and give full respect and love to our brothers and sisters, let alone the comprehensive and objective share of ideas and views. This gives a very positive and good hope for the future of the Anglican Communion.

Global South Primates, Bangkok Communiqué (see also the “Fourth Trumpet”):

We stand in solidarity with our brethren in the Communion Partners who have dissented from this action. We uphold them in prayer and support them in fellowship as they continue in their commitment to the evangelical faith and catholic order of the Church, as expressed in their Minority Report known as The Indianapolis Statement.

Ephraim Radner, Professor of Historical Theology Wycliffe College, University of Toronto:

I believe that Communion Partners is, in this season, the way of solid Anglican witness to Christ’s Gospel in the United States: faithful, peaceable, steadfast, and bound to the full mission of the Anglican Communion.

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