Margaret Swinson, the Church of England’s lay member, was elected April 18 by acclamation to be the next vice chair of the Anglican Consultative Council. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Lusaka, Zambia] The Anglican Consultative Council April 18 elected Margaret Swinson, the Church of England’s lay member, by acclamation to be its next vice chair.

Swinson, who was unopposed, will succeed Elizabeth Paver, a Church of England lay member.

Swinson, a chartered accountant from the Diocese of Liverpool, works part-time as a company secretary with responsibility for corporate governance, according to her nomination biography. She also works in private practice.

She joined the ACC at its 2012 meeting in Auckland and has been a member of the Church of England’s General Synod since 1985, including spending 11 years chairing debates. Swinson was also part of the eventually successful effort to allow women to be ordained and consecrated bishops in the Church of England.

Swinson will join Hong Kong Archbishop and Primate Paul Kwong, the newly elected ACC chair, to form the council leadership at the close of this meeting. Kwong’s and Swinson’s terms will last until the close of ACC19. The council normally meets every three to four years.

The council also elected five representatives to the communion’s Standing Committee. They are:

• Diocese of Edmonton Bishop Jane Alexander, Anglican Church of Canada
• Alistair Dinnie, Scottish Episcopal Church
• Jeroham Melendez, Anglican Church of the Region of Central America
• The Rev. Nigel Pope, Church of North India (United)
• Bishop of Nairobi Joel Waweru, Anglican Church of Kenya

Eleven ACC members stood for election as Standing Committee members. The other nominees were:

• The Rev. Bartholomayo Bol Deng, Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan & Sudan
• Diocese of Northern Argentina Bishop Nicholas Drayson, Anglican Church of South America
• The Ven. Sepiuta Camellia Hala’api’api, Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia
• Arthur Morris Tendayi Mutsonziwa, Church of the Province of Central Africa
• Shunila Ruth, Church of Pakistan (United)
• The Ven. Yossa Way, Anglican Church of Congo

Bishop Eraste Bigirimana of the Anglican Church of Burundi and Louisa Lette-Mojela, ACC lay member from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, will continue their terms on the Standing Committee.

The Standing Committee is a 14-member group (15, if the Archbishop of Canterbury is present, as he is an ex officio member, as well as being its president). Seven of its members are elected by the members of the ACC, and five are members of the Primates’ Standing Committee. The other two members are the ACC chair and vice chair. The committee is the executive arm of the Anglican Consultative Council, charged with advancing its work between its meetings.

The 16th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross began on April 8 and closes April 19.

Read more about it

ACC background is here.

Ongoing ENS coverage of the ACC is here.

The House of Deputies News page is also posting stories about the meeting.

Tweeting is happening with #ACCLusaka.

– The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is an editor/reporter for the Episcopal News Service.