After the Windsor Report was released last month on 18th October, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev Rowan Williams appointed a group to tackle the worldwide response to the document which discussed the issue of homosexuality within the Anglican Communion. On 5th November the group released the first details of its much-awaited reception process.

Rev Peter Kwong, Primate of Hong Kong reported, “There will be three major threads to the process that the group are adopting. First, we shall be using the official channels of the Anglican Communion to undertake consultation with the provinces and churches of the Anglican Communion, its official commissions and networks. This will also include approaches to Anglican mission agencies and ecumenical partners.”

He continued, “Secondly, and more importantly, however, we will be working hard to find ways to relate to the grassroots of the membership of the Communion, so that we can discover something of the popular reaction to the Report. The future of the Communion is an important enough matter for us to want to discover the mind of the members as well as the leadership of the Communion on these recommendations.”

He concluded, “Thirdly, both these channels will be supported by the electronic means of communication afforded through the Anglican Communion web site and ACNS. I hope that all interested parties will consider assisting us with this process of reception.”

The members of the Reception Reference Group are: The Most Revd Peter Kwong, Primate, Hong Kong, Chair; Archdeacon Jim Boyles, Provincial Secretary, Canada; The Rt Revd John Gladstone, Bishop of South Kerala, South India; Dr Ishmael Noko, General Secretary, Lutheran World Federation; The Rt Revd Kenneth Price, Suffragan Bishop of Southern Ohio, USA; The Rt Revd James Tengatenga, Bishop of Southern Malawi; and the Rt Revd Tito Zavala, Bishop of Chile