Other Voices from Other Provinces

I have noted with interest the information on the coming meeting of the Primates in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The official information at the Anglican Communion web site is here, and thanks to Thinking Anglicans for pointing to it.

I was intrigued by the number of Primates for whom this will be their first Meeting. I found myself wondering what new insights they might bring from their different corners of the Communion. New voices might bring new insights to what has become all too strident a conversation.

I would be thrilled to hear some new voices. While I don’t question that there is much agreement, for example, among the primates of the Global South Steering Committee, in general we hear much from Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, and little otherwise. We have recently heard from Tanzania, and previously from Southern Cone and the West Indies, but not with anything like the frequency. By the same token, we have heard from the United States, and somewhat from Canada, Ireland, and Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. My point here is not to be inclusive or exhaustive. However, it seems to me that there are many of the 38 provinces of the Communion from who we have heard little over the past few years of controversy.

I hope that after this Primates’ Meeting we might hear more. Beyond the official statements that will come, I would be interested in individual voices. They would be found in reports and pastorals written to and for their individual provinces once the meeting was over. Some will, I imagine, be available on web sites and in publications; but not all provinces have the same resources for communication. Still, I hope that we will find ways to hear all those voices, and to share them around the Communion. I think they would add depth and subtlety to discussions that have become simplistic, polarized, and, again, strident.

If we are to maintain the Anglican Communion – or any communion at all – it will be good for all voices to be heard. I would want that to include the voices of lay and ordained Anglicans in addition to the Primates; but in the short term I would be interested to hear the comments of each of the Primates, and especially of those whose voices haven’t yet been heard.