A communiqué emerging from the most recent meeting of primates in the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa reasserts historic Anglican teaching on human sexuality and renews support for the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Excerpts:
7. We are deeply concerned about the divisions within our beloved Anglican Communion. These divisions emerged when some Churches in the west allowed the worldly cultures, to reshape the message of church to the society especially in the area of marriage and human sexuality. … We do accept diversity but not diversity [at] the expense of the truth. …
8. We, by God’s Grace, continue to uphold the traditional biblical teaching in regard to human sexuality and marriage and affirm Lambeth Resolution 1:10 in its entirety. We believe that this is the only way to safeguard the life of the Christian families and we should resist the pressures of the secular western cultures to alter God’s purpose in creating Man and woman.
9. We extend our support for the Archbishop of Canterbury in His efforts to bring restoration to our Communion. We affirm the necessity of the Primates meeting, however we emphasize the importance of following through the recommendations of the previous Primates meetings.
The full document follows.
Image: CAPA primates visit Masikhanye Food Garden in Khayelitsha, Western Cape, South Africa.
Final Communique for CAPA 2015
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
