Are you already dreading Christmas, on account of having to host relatives who hardly bother hiding how much they hate each other? Well spare a thought for Justin Welby, who will host a big powwow of global Anglican leaders in January – many of the Anglican primates he will host don’t bother hiding their mutual antipathy at all.
He is doing the brave and right thing, trying to agree a new looser model of communion, in which the 38 provinces declare themselves in communion with Canterbury, but not necessarily with each other. Such a move would confirm the current situation as the new normal, which is definitely the least worst option. Welby reportedly admits that there is a large chance of creating a permanent schism. A Lambeth Palace aide elaborated: ‘If that happens, the whole thing goes completely pear-shaped, it will pull apart large chunks of the Church of England fairly quickly, particularly the more conservative elements’.
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