IT WAS not until 11 p.m. local time that the Primates in Tanzania were ready to issue their communiqué, an indication of the difficulty of reaching agreement. But agree it they did, and thus the first news out of Tanzania was that the Anglican Communion is still intact. Given the dire predictions in the run up to the meeting, this might well prove to be the biggest story from the five-day meeting.

Speculation about the future of Anglicanism is nowhere near ended, however. The wording of the communiqué, together with the publication of a draft covenant on which the Anglican Communion might one day be structured, has left alive the question of whether the conservatives and liberals will be able to stay within the same Church.

As things stand, it is the liberals who are under the greatest pressure, and who might ultimately face the threat of ejection, although the covenant document makes it clear that this is some years down the line. The wording in the covenant is of "choice": an errant Church is one where members "choose not to fulfil the substance of the covenant as understood by the Councils of the Instruments of Communion".

In the mean time, the Episcopal Church in the US has to accept a new body, a "pastoral council" set up by the Primates, in agreement with the Presiding Bishop, to provide oversight for conservative congregations, many of whom have already allied themselves to overseas provinces, notably Nigeria and Uganda.

The relationship that this new body, and the congregations under it, will have with the Episcopal Church is unclear, but at its head will be a "primatial vicar", a suggestion first made by the Presiding Bishop, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, in November last year. This suggests that what the Primates call a "pastoral scheme" will operate essentially as a separate province. Such an arrangement has been resisted in England as a solution to disagreements about women bishops.

Whether it works in the US will depend in large part on whether the secessionist organisations, notably AMiA and CANA, decide to join, and thus dismantle their foreign oversight. Both organisations have consecrated bishops without the approval of the Episcopal Church, and the Primates involved have given no pledge that they will do so.

Another demand by the Primates is that the US House of Bishops produce an unambiguous declaration that they will not consecrate another bishop living in an active homosexual partnership; nor approve the blessing of same-sex unions. They have until 30 September to make this declaration.

The communiqué can be read in full on: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/50/acns4253.cfm

Monday 5 p.m. - On Monday afternoon, before issuing their final communiqué, the Primates in Tanzania released the report of the covenant design group. This included the draft covenant, drawn up at the group's meeting in January, and the subject of debate at the five-day Primates' Meeting.
The official release, and the draft covenant, can be found at www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/50/acns4252.cfm

For full report and analysis, see this Friday's paper.

Our earlier report:

TENSION was high, speculation was rife, and security was tight, as the Primates’ Meeting started in Tanzania.

The Revd Dr Kenneth Kearon, general secretary of the Anglican Communion Office, had expressed the hope that Dr Sentamu’s presence would “allow more discussion of church life in Britain, as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s focus is heavily global during these gatherings”.