Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane has been re-elected to a six year term as Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia.Elected to a three year term in 2005, at a meeting held on Oct 17 in Sydney, the Primate Board of Electors returned the Brisbane archbishop to office for a second full term.
“To hold this position is an honour and while it comes with a great deal of responsibility it is a challenge I am pleased to accept for the next six years,” Dr. Aspinall said.
As primate, Archbishop Aspinall chairs meetings of General Synod and has a ceremonial role as first among equals among Australia’s bishops. He is not a metropolitan archbishop, outside of his own diocese, however, as the Australian dioceses are functionally autonomous.
In 2007 General Synod changed the term of office for the Primate to six years, with a possible three year extension, in light of the increasing international and administrative demands of the position.
The primate does represent Australia in the wider councils of the church, and at the Lambeth Conference, Dr Aspinall received high marks from the media for his daily presentations on the life and work of the once-a-decade gathering of bishops in Canterbury.
“I was privileged to be at Lambeth this year where the majority of the world’s Anglican bishops gathered. The generosity of spirit, companionship and warmth evident there gave me hope that we can work on these issues in a positive way and continue to strengthen the Anglican Communion,” Dr Aspinall said.
A highlight of his first three years as primate had been the consecration of Australia’s first two women bishops, suffragan bishops the Rt Rev Kay Goldsworthy of Perth and the Rt Rev Barbara Darling of Melbourne.
Women bishops was a “challenging” issue for the Australian church, Dr Aspinall said, “but the bishops worked hard to come together to agree on a set of protocols for those who in all good faith still cannot accept ministry from a bishop who is a woman.”
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(Source: RI)