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Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting

The Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings are regular meetings of the Anglican Primates, i.e. the chief archbishops or bishops of each (often national) ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion. There are currently 38 Primates of the Anglican Communion. The Primates come together from the geographic Provinces around the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury chairs the meetings, with the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) serving as secretary.

The Primates' Meeting was established by Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd. Donald Coggan, in 1978 as an opportunity for “leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation”. The first meeting was held in 1979.

Important meetings

February 2001 meeting

Held at the Kanuga Conference Center in the USA, topics of discussion included mission issues, poverty and debt concerns, "Canons and Communion", and the response to the global HIV/AIDS crisis.

October 2003 meeting

Following the regular primates meeting of May 2003 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams convened an extraordinary meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion.

The primates gathered at Lambeth Palace in October for a series of closed meetings discussing a way forward because conflict over the Episcopal Church and the ordination of a gay bishop. The Primates issued a communique at the close of the meeting.

February 2005 meeting

In February 2005, Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting was held at Dromantine in Northern Ireland. The issue of homosexuality was heavily discussed. Of the 38 Primates, 35 attended. The Primates issued a communiqué that reiterated most of the Windsor Report's statements, but added a new twist. The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada were asked to voluntarily withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council, the main formal international entity within the Anglican Communion until the next Lambeth Conference in 2008.

February 2007 meeting

The 2007 Primates' Meeting was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 15 to 19 February 2007, and produced a draft Covenant for the Anglican Communion which is in part a response to disagreements between national churches on issues of sexuality and authority.