At head of cover title: Anglican Consultative Council X, Panama City".
"Published for the Anglican Communion by Morehouse Publishing".
"This report captures the essence of the multi-faceted, multicultural Anglican Communion through the sermons, hearings, reports, and resolutions from the 10th Meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council held in Panama City in October 1996. There the Council wrestled with the key issues that must be addressed by the Anglican Communion as it faces the challenges of mission, human sexuality, fundamentalism, Islam, crises, morality, evangelism, liturgy, ecumenical relations, and structure in the twenty-first century. Includes the complete text of 'The Virginia Report' on church structure, 'The Dublin Report' on liturgy, and an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury that discusses the possibility of an Anglican Congress in the near future and the topics set for the 1998 Lambeth Conference". -- back cover.
Contains NO index although listed in Table of Contents.
Contents: Acknowledgements -- Member Churches of the Anglican Consultative Council -- Preface / Richard Harries -- Introduction / James M. Rosenthal -- Sermons and Addresses -- Sermon at the Opening Eucharist / Samir Kafity -- "Looking to the Future": Presidential Address / George Carey -- Opening Remarks / Colin Craston -- Opening Remarks / Simon Chiwanga -- Address / John L. Peterson -- Sermon at the Gimnasio Nuevo / George Carey -- Sermon at the Closing Eucharist / Colin Craston -- The Hearings -- On Plans for the Millennium in Bethlehem / John L. Peterson -- On Jerusalem / Samir Kafity -- On Human Sexuality / Richard Harries -- On Islam / Alexander Malik -- The Reports -- Address on The Virginia Report / Robin Eames -- On Mission: The First Report from Missio / Roger Chung Po Chuen -- On Mission: Report on the Mid-Point of the Decade of Evangelism / Cyril Okorocha -- On Guidelines for Membership by New Provinces / John Rees -- On Liturgy / Paul Gibson -- On Ecumenical Affairs / Donald Anderson -- On Communications / James Rosenthal -- On the United Nations / James Ottley -- On Rwanda / David Birney -- Section Reports -- Section 1: Looking to the Future in Worship -- Section 2: Looking to the Future in Ministry -- Section 3: Looking to the Future in Relating to Society -- Section 4: Looking to the Future in Communicating Our Belief in God -- The Resolutions of the Conference -- General Business -- Officers and members of the ACC Participants and Staff at ACC-10 -- Budget for the ACC -- Appendices -- The Virginia Report -- Renewing the Anglican Eucharist: The Dublin Report -- Statement of the Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem November 1994 -- The Porvoo Declaration -- WCC Petition on Climate Change -- A Final Thought / The Editors..
John Peterson, General Secretary of the Anglican Communion, challenged the Anglican Church to get its house in order in order to meet the spiritual and social needs of the world.
The author reflects on the recent ACC-10 meeting which took place in Panama and the need to learn from one another. He mentions the fact that the Anglican Communion Office recently received their first e-mail ever from Nigeria and reflects on the importance of communication and particularly on the "recent" innovations of television and telecommunications.
ACC-6. First edition "Proceedings" published December 1984 for private circulation. Second edition February 1985, with Foreword, photographs and title "Bonds of Affection" -- verso of t.-p. Bonds of Affection.
ACC-7: Many Gifts One Spirit.
ACC-8: Mission in a Broken World.
ACC-9: A Transforming Vision. In 1993 the Anglican Consultative Council met jointly, for the first time, with the Anglican Primates in Cape Town South Africa.
ACC-10: Being Anglican in the Third Millennium. Also includes The Virginia Report and The Dublin Liturgical Report.
The tenth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council took as its theme "Witnessing as Anglicans in the Third Millennium". The work of the Council [was looking] to the future in worship, looking to the future in Ministry, looking to the future in communicating our beliefs.
In his remarks, the Secretary General John Peterson, announced two new programmes for the Communion: 1) the Anglican Investment Agency, a unit trust mutual fund which would allow Anglicans to make ethical investments; and 2) the Anglican Communion Friends Programme, which would encourage support from individuals and congregations.
The meeting examined a draft version of provocative "The Virginia Report", produced by the Inter Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission, which "calls for major changes in communion operations and looks at new ways for the Church to work as it faces the future. Archbishop predicted that the 1998 Lambeth Conference would be a defining moment in Anglicanism and urged a greater voice for the laity.
The Council also voted to participate in the Bethlehem 2000 Project. "The churches involvement would help alleviate the problem that many tourists and pilgrims come to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth and never meet the indigenous Christian population."
Bishop Simon Chiwanga, Bishop of Mpwapwa, Tanzania, was elected Chairman of the Council, and Bishop John Paterson, of Auckland, New Zealand, was elected Vice Chairman.
Council also heard a report on homosexuality from Bishop Richard Harries, of Oxford, who reviewed the debates on the subject throughout the Communion.
The Bishop of Lahore, the Rt. Rev. Alexander Malik, of the Church of Pakistan, chaired the hearing on Islam.
The Council also passed a resolution which declared vacant the sees in Rwanda whose bishops had fled the country and refused to return even after repeated visits from officials including Bishop David Birney, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy. The Anglican Church of Canada was thanked for the help they provided in response to the crisis.
Bishop Samir Kafity called for the Council to "work for peace and reconciliation as Christians and Moslems seek their rightful place in Jerusalem, the Holy City, sacred to Christians and Moslems as well as the Jews".
The Council passed fewer resolutions than usual but these included the call for a Anglican Congress, perhaps in 2001, as a major celebration of our Anglican heritage and also affirmed the observance of 1997 as "The Year of Uprooted Peoples" and the work of the Anglican Refugee Network.
That the Council of the General Synod endorse the resolution from the Anglican Consultative Council to promote throughout the Anglican Communion and its member Churches the spirit of the Jubilee for the year 2000 by:
a) "cooperating with other churches, agencies and governments in support of international movements for cancellation of international debt of developing countries by the year 2000; and
b) seeking, under leadership of their bishops, concrete actions in the local church and in their local context which reflect the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation implicit in the Biblical Jubilee motif". [ACC X, Panama City, 1996, p. 188]
Notes
A request was made that information on the Jubilee be forwarded to COGS members as soon as possible, and this was agreed. A list stating full titles of all acronymns used will also be included.
Bishop David Birney, Dr Carey's envoy to Rwanda warned the Anglican Consultative Council that the Church in Rwanda was in danger of losing its credibility with its own people as a result of the crisis in leadership.