Anglican Consultative Council

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Anglican Consultative Council ( ACC ) is one of the four "instruments of unity" of the Anglican Communion and the only one of these instruments in which the other "spiritual orders" (both clergy and laity ) are represented alongside bishops . It was created by a resolution of the Lambeth Conference in 1968. It meets every two to three years in different places around the world. The Anglican Consultative Council has a permanent office in the form of the Anglican Communion Office , which is located in Saint Andrew's House in London . This office is responsible for convening the meetings of all the instruments of the unit. The Archbishop of Canterbury serves as Chairman of the Council.

Members

In addition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, members of the council are a certain number of representatives from the individual Anglican provinces, according to the size of the provinces. The largest provinces are entitled to appoint three representatives, a bishop, a priest and a lay person each. Middle provinces send two people: a lay person and an ordained (bishop or priest). The smallest provinces are only allowed to appoint one representative, who should preferably come from the lay class.

In addition, the council has the right to elect six further members: two of them must be women and two who have not yet reached the age of 28. In the event that the chairman or vice-chairman is elected for a term exceeding the term of his appointment to the council himself, his membership of the council will be extended until the end of his term of office and the province that appointed him may have one additional member appoint.

For the purpose of determining the size of the delegation in the ACC, the following are classified as large provinces:

Middle provinces are:

The smallest provinces include:


Functions

The 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, which created the Council, assigns the following functions to the Council:

  1. To share information on developments in one or more provinces with other parts of the community and, if necessary, to serve as an instrument for joint action.
  2. To advise on inter-Anglican provincial and diocesan relations, including questions relating to the division of provinces, the formation of new provinces and regional bodies, as well as the problem of extra-provincial dioceses.
  3. To the extent possible, to develop Anglican Churches' world mission arrangements and to encourage national and regional churches to participate in the development and implementation of such strategies, using their resources of people, money and experience to the greatest possible benefit of all.
  4. To continually remind the national and regional churches of the importance of working together as closely as possible with other Christian churches.
  5. Promote and lead Anglican participation in the ecumenical movement and in ecumenical organizations; To work with the World Council of Churches and denominations around the world to represent the Anglican Communion; and make arrangements to hold all Anglican talks with the Roman Catholic Church , Orthodox Churches and other churches.
  6. To advise on questions that arose from national or regional negotiations on church union, as well as on the following relationships with united churches.
  7. To advise on problems relating to communication within the Anglican Communion and to assist in the dissemination of Anglican and ecumenical information.
  8. Keep in mind the needs for further consultation that may arise and, where appropriate, encourage further inquiries and research.

Important meetings

2005

The episcopal ordination of Gene Robinson was debated at the meeting of 2005.

The 13th meeting of the ACC dealt with the controversy surrounding the attitude of member churches to homosexuality, and in particular the question of the permissibility of episcopal ordination for lesbians and gays who do not hide their sexual orientation. The members of the US Episcopal Church were asked to voluntarily waive their right to vote at this meeting, and they did so at the meeting. A motion to withdraw membership from the US and Canadian churches did not find a majority. A motion holding the spirit of the Anglican community to condemn homosexual behavior was passed by 30 votes to 28 (excluding the US delegation). This resolution repeated the attitude that had already been expressed at the 2005 meeting of the Primates' Meeting that the delegates of the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada should "voluntarily" stay away from the ACC - including participation in the "Standing" Committee "as well as in the" Inter-Anglican Finance and Administration Committee "is not wanted by the majority of the trunk ACC until the next Lambeth conference in 2008. One of the reasons why the US delegates attended the 2005 meeting, although they did not have the right to vote, was that the meeting's agenda included the presentation of a report by these delegates on theological considerations that led to the controversial episcopal ordination.

List of ACC meetings

Web links