An Overlooked Detail about the Opening of the Primates Meeting

Yes, I haven’t posted about the much anticipated/dreaded Primates Meeting of the Anglican Communion.  I’ve had mixed feelings about it and haven’t had much value-added to say, to be honest.

But my sharp eye has caught a tidbit from the sharp ear of David Ould.  The picture of apparent harmony portrayed by a released photo of the first Evensong is contradicted by something we were neither showed nor told.

What they (understandably) don’t report is that only a minority of the Primates dressed in convocation robes and an even smaller minority (described to me by an attendee as “the arch-liberals”, including the Primates of TEC and Canada) processed. The effect was clear, if unintended, in demonstrating how few their number were. Most of the Primates simply sat and waited.

For those unfamiliar with Anglican etiquette, that is what a cleric might do if attending a gathering he does not necessarily want to endorse.  An Anglican, lay or clergy, can attend a service without fully endorsing it.  And he can express his distance by not participating in some fashion.

In short, that only a minority of the attending Primates processed, that most “simply sat and waited” for Evensong to begin speaks volumes.