Chairs of General Synod (national church) standing committees and councils have struck a task force that will advise the primate and Council of General Synod about “an appropriate process” by which the Anglican Church of Canada would respond to the Windsor Report published in October by the Lambeth Commission on communion.
The task force, comprising bishops, clergy, lay people and General Synod staff, will meet in January to gather responses about the Windsor Report from Anglican churches in Canada to provide advice to Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, in preparation for the primates’ meeting in Northern Ireland next month.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Hutchison has asked Canadian Anglicans to send their responses to the Windsor Report to [email protected].
“I encourage you to look at the report,” the primate said in a Nov. 16 Web cast archived on the national church Web site (www.anglican.ca). “The issue here is not whether the blessing of same-gender relationships is right or wrong. The issue is how the Anglican Communion worldwide and indeed, across Canada, can maintain its unity in the presence of disagreement.”
Appointed as task force members were: Bishop Peter Coffin of Ottawa; Bishop Michael Bedford-Jones, suffragan of Toronto; Canon Linda Nicholls; Cynthia Haines Turner; Patricia Bays and Canon Timothy Connor.
The house of bishops also appointed two bishops to join the task force: James Cowan of British Columbia and Colin Johnson of Toronto.
The task force will be assisted by Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, director of General Synod’s faith, worship and ministry department; Ellie Johnson, director of the partnerships department and Archdeacon Jim Boyles, general secretary.
Mr. Boyles is also part of an international group gathering responses to the report. He was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to a six-member Reception Reference Group that will prepare “an accurate and insightful briefing” on the reactions worldwide to the Windsor Report for the primates’ meeting.
