20.10.2025
Archbishops’ Statement on the Church of Ireland and the Anglican Communion
The Most Revd John McDowell, the Church of Ireland’s Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, with the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin have issued the following statement on the relationship between the Church of Ireland and the Anglican Communion following the recent communiqué from Gafcon:
In view of the recent communiqué issued by Gafcon, entitled The Future has Arrived, we feel it might be helpful to members of the Church of Ireland if we clarified some matters of fact, with particular reference to the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion is a body of autonomous Anglican Provinces (including the Church of Ireland) who voluntarily join together in clearly defined ways. It has existed in a formal sense since 1867, when the Archbishop of Canterbury issued invitations to what became the first Lambeth Conference. From the beginning, the Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the convening of the Lambeth Conference were expressions of Anglican unity and identity which, as the Communion grew over time, were supplemented by two further instruments of unity – the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).
This is the Anglican Communion to which the Church of Ireland belongs. The Preamble and Declaration (which is one of our foundation formularies) commits us to communion with the Church of England. The Preamble and Declaration are prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer. Our bishops receive invitations to and usually attend the Lambeth Conference. The Archbishop of Armagh attends the Primates’ Meetings and the General Synod appoints representatives (clerical and lay) to the ACC. In fact, the next meeting of the ACC to which all Anglican Provinces have been invited to send representatives will be hosted by the Church of Ireland in Belfast in the early summer of 2026. In addition, the Church of Ireland plays a full part in the Commissions, Committees and Networks of the Anglican Communion and in this way lives out this particular aspect of our discipleship of Jesus Christ.
There are many organisations and movements within the Anglican Communion who wish to reform aspects of the Communion and how it works. The Communion has always welcomed and accommodated debate and diversity of this nature. However, the Church of Ireland recognises no body other than the one described in the preceding paragraphs as the Anglican Communion.
We do not suggest that the Anglican Communion as it has existed in history and continues to exist today is a perfect organisation. It is inevitable that those who hold to the Anglican theological method involving Scripture, Tradition and Reason, and working out our discipleship in autonomous but interdependent Provinces will not agree on everything. However, praying always for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are committed to studying the Scriptures and learning from the insights of the past together with our fellow Anglicans, in communion, around the world.