Archbishop of Canterbury no longer our leader after Synod vote, say GSFA Primates

[Pete Ross Junior]

Archbishop of Canterbury no longer our leader after Synod vote, say GSFA Primates
Church Times

A GROUP of conservative Primates declared on Monday that they no longer recognised the current Archbishop of Canterbury as the de facto leader of the Anglican Communion.

A statement, issued on Monday morning on behalf of a dozen Primates connected to the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), says that the Church of England has “chosen to break communion with those provinces who remain faithful to the historic biblical faith” by allowing blessings for same-sex couples (News, 9 February).

The statement follows a virtual meeting chaired by the Archbishop of South Sudan, the Most Revd Justin Badi, last week.

The statement identifies the decision to bless same-sex couples, approved in the Church of England’s General Synod earlier this month, as the cause of the rupture.

“As the Church of England has departed from the historic faith passed down from the Apostles by this innovation in the liturgies of the Church and her pastoral practice . . . she has disqualified herself from leading the Communion as the historic ‘Mother’ Church,” the statement says.

The Primates write that being unable to be in communion with the Church of England “breaks our hearts and we pray for the revisionist provinces to return to ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) and to us.”

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Anyone could see this coming.