SC/2012/01/2 The Standing Committee Draft Minutes 30-31 May & 1 June 2012 London Present at the Meeting President: The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury Chair: The Rt Revd Dr James Tengatenga Church of the Province of Central Africa Vice Chair: Canon Elizabeth Paver Church of England Elected by the Primates’ Meeting: The Most Revd Samuel Azariah Church of Pakistan The Most Revd David Chillingworth Scottish Episcopal Church The Most Revd Dr Paul Kwong Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui The Most Revd Bernard Ntahoturi Anglican Church of Burundi alternate for Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak The Most Revd Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori The Episcopal Church Elected by the Anglican Consultive Council: Mrs Philippa Amable Church of the Province of West Africa The Rt Revd Dr Ian Douglas The Episcopal Church Dr Anthony Fitchett Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia Dato’ Stanley Isaacs Church of the Province of South East Asia The Revd Canon Janet Trisk Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Revd María Cristina Borges Álvarez Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba Secretary General: The Revd Canon Dr Kenneth Kearon In attendance: Mr Jan Butter Mrs Yoshimi Gregory The Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan The Revd Canon Joanna Udal The Revd Canon John Rees Apologies The Most Revd Dr Daniel Deng Bul Yak The Episcopal Church of Sudan During each week-day of the meeting, members of the Standing Committee participated in Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and the Eucharist in St Andrew’s Chapel. 1. Welcome and Introductions 2 2. Minutes of the last Meeting 26-30 March 2012 2 3. Archbishop of Canterbury 3 4. Memorandum of Understanding: Archbishop of Canterbury and Secretary General 3 5. Secretary General’s Report 3 6. Co-options to ACC by Standing Committee 4 7. Provincial Representation at ACC 5 8. Representation of the Anglican Church of Canada 5 9. Lease of St Andrew’s House 5 10. The Canterbury Cathedral Council 5 11. Standing Committee members as Trustees of ACC 5 12. Anglican Communion Covenant 6 13. Finance & Administration 7 14. Action Against Gender Based Violence 11 15. Anglican Alliance 11 16. ACC Agenda 12 17. Board of St George’s College 12 18. ACC-16 Meeting 13 19. Provincial Matters 13 20. IASCUFO 13 21. Name Change for the Evangelism and Church Growth Initiative 14 22. Environmental Network 14 23. The Creation of New Provinces and Dioceses 15 24. Anglican Communion Representation at the United Nations 15 25. Dates of Next Meeting 16 1. Welcome and Introductions Bishop James Tengatenga, in the chair, opened the meeting. He noted that Archbishop Deng had not been able to obtain a visa; Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi will be present as his alternate. He welcomed Bishop Samuel Azariah who had been unable to attend the previous meeting. He thanked Dato’ Stanley Isaacs who will not be able to attend the ACC-15 meeting and thus is attending for the last time. 2. Minutes of the last Meeting 26 to 30 March 2011 The minutes had been circulated to members of the Standing Committee. After corrections the minutes were approved. Resolution 1: Minutes of the last Standing Committee meeting That the Standing Committee adopts the minutes of the Standing Committee meeting held 26 to 31 March 2011 and authorises the Chair to sign the minutes on behalf of the Standing Committee. Business arising: 2 Resolution 2: The Primates’ Meeting That the Standing Committee continues to be saddened by absences at the Primates’ Meeting 2011, which diminishes our common life, and urges all Primates to continue to work for reconciliation within the Communion. 3. Archbishop of Canterbury The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) includes one Primate elected by the Standing Committee. The Secretary General explained the process which had taken place to choose this person. The Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan was elected through an email ballot. It was observed that nominating and voting by email was not a very satisfactory process. It would have been better to have had the opportunity to talk about who would be the best representative. It was proposed that after the next Archbishop is appointed the Standing Committee elect a continuing member to serve as required by the CNC. It was agreed to recommend this to the Standing Committee meeting following ACC-15, and that an alternate should also be elected. 4. Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement SC/2012/04/1 A memorandum of Understanding & Agreement between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General was presented. It was noted that this business was following up the Handford Report which had been discussed at an earlier Standing Committee meeting. Clarification of the term ‘executive’ was sought by the members from the United States, as it has some difference of meaning there than in Britain. It was agreed that this Memorandum would be passed to the new Archbishop and be part of the job mandate for the next Secretary General. Resolution 3: Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement That the Standing Committee notes the Memorandum of Understanding & Agreement between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General. On a related matter, the Secretary General sought permission to have a meeting of the Standing Committee in association with the installation of the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the date of which is not known. If this service were to be held before the financial statements are available, they would have to be considered by e-mail afterwards. The Standing Committee agreed to this procedure. 5. Secretary General’s Report The Secretary General reported: • Overall the Anglican Communion Office has had a very successful year with most of the areas of programmatic work achieving progress, goals and targets. There is also an awareness that a number of programmes (Continuing Indaba and Theological Education especially) are funded on a 3 year cycle, and that cycle is coming to an end, and this has been difficult for some. • The Anglican Alliance has settled (began in January 2011) in well and is proving to be a significant force for change in the Communion. 3 • Ecumenical conversations – especially with the Orthodox family of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church – are progressing and addressing some very major issues which face us all. It is noticeable that missional issues and issues surrounding co-ordination and co-operation are taking over from doctrinal issues in several other conversations. • Finances continue to be under pressure, reflecting the pressure many Provinces themselves are under. • The Provincial Secretaries meeting in Mexico in August last year provided a very useful opportunity for communicating what was happening in the Communion to key players in the Provinces, and included presentations on Communications, the Alliance, and Gender Based Violence. • The Secretary General had undertaken a Provincial visit to Tanzania in December when he attended and addressed the Provincial Synod under the overall theme of ‘Leadership in the Church of God’. He also visited the Theological College in Dodoma and preached in the Cathedral. • In February he visited the Anglican Church in Doha, Qartar and spent some days with the priest there. What is happening there is truly amazing, with a huge Anglican Complex being built for a substantial Anglican congregation, which will also host worship and meeting places for vast numbers of other Church communities. • He followed that with a visit to Kuching in Malaysia for the installation of Bishop Bolly Lapok as Primate of South East Asia, and spent some days visiting some thriving parishes in the diocese. Members asked: - how indigenous the church in the Middle East is. - about the process for reception of ecumenical agreements - what role there might be for the Secretary General in the context of the challenges of the Communion. Resolution 4: The Secretary General’s Report The Standing Committee receives the Secretary General’s report. 6. Co-options to ACC by Standing Committee “The Standing Committee may appoint up to six additional members in order to achieve balanced representation and to assist with the work of the Council in achieving its objects.” The last Standing Committee meeting decided to invite the Church of Ceylon to nominate a lay woman for co-option to ACC. The Church has nominated the Rt Revd Dhiloraj Canagasabey. The Secretary General has written twice to the Church pointing out the difficulty with this and has also spoken to the bishop concerned, but no fresh nomination has been received. The Standing Committee expressed considerable unease about this and after lengthy discussions passed the following: Resolution 5: Co-options to ACC by Standing Committee: Ceylon That the Standing Committee co-opt the Rt Revd Dhiloraj Canagasabey of the Anglican Church of Ceylon for the meeting of ACC-15 only. This was carried with 3 against. The Standing Committee had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General to consider names from the ‘Europe’ region, and they are proposing the Revd Canon Dr Ulla Monberg. 4 Resolution 6: Co-options to ACC by Standing Committee: Europe That the Standing Committee co-opt the Revd Canon Dr Ulla Monberg as a co-opted member of the ACC. This was carried with 2 abstentions. 7. Provincial Representation at ACC The Resolution addressing numbers of Provincial representatives had been approved by the Primates, with one negative. 8. Representation of the Anglican Church of Canada A letter was received by the Secretary General shortly after the last meeting stating that the calculation of members in the Anglican Church of Canada was incorrect, and a more recent letter has been received detailing that members in the Church exceed 1,000,000, the number required to have 3 representatives at ACC.