Leader: Decomissioning

It is a shame that the Primates were so media-shy in Dublin. It would have been good to catch on film an image of the names of the absent Primates placed variously around a candle or on empty chairs rather than having to rely on a verbal description. In whatever medium, however, it must be the abiding image of this Primates’ Meeting. We trust that it was done in the same spirit as when a place is set for Elijah at Passover, and not in the way in which Lord Hattersley was once represented on Have I Got News For You 1.

The Canadian Primate, Archbishop Hiltz, reported afterwards that the Primates at the meeting had “endeavoured to consider, as much as we could, their perspective on the issue before us”. They were successful on at least one point: the Global South absentees had wished to signal by their absence the insignificance of the Primates’ Meeting, as long as it proved unable or unwilling to enforce earlier disciplinary measures against the Episcopal Church in the United States concerning gay bishops and same-sex unions. The Primates who were present in Dublin showed remarkable compliance, redefining the Primates’ Meeting as an essentially toothless body.

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