Bishop Poggo visits The Advent
On Monday, May 4, our parish hosted a Choral Matins and Fireside Chat on the Future of the Anglican Communion. Fr. Alistair moderated the conversation with our parish guest, The Rt Rev. Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
For this important diocesan and ecumenical discussion, we were also joined in prayer and contemplation by The Rt Rev. Julia E. Whitworth, Bishop of Massachusetts, The Rt Rev. Ian Douglas, Assisting Bishop, and The Rt Rev. George R. Sumner, retired Bishop of Dallas. For more about the visit and the fireside chat, please read this article that appeared on the website for the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS).
The Future of the Anglican Communion
Choral Matins, The Advent Choir, led by Dr. Mark Dwyer
Fireside Chat, Church Library
Welcoming Remarks and Prayer
The Rt. Rev. Julia E. Whitworth, Bishop of the Episcopal, Diocese of Massachusetts
A Conversation with the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion
Moderated by The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff, Rector, The Church of the Advent
Expression of Thanks
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Assisting Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts
Closing Prayer
Bishop George R. Sumner, retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas
Photo credit: Evan Cioffi-Maxwell
About our speakers
The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo was appointed Secretary General of the Anglican Communion on September 1, 2022. In this role, he provides strategic leadership to the Anglican Communion Office and serves as a global ambassador for the Communion’s 42 autonomous yet inter-dependent Member Churches. Prior to his appointment, he served at Lambeth Palace as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Anglican Communion Affairs from 2016–2022.
Born in Kajo-Keji in South Sudan, Bishop Anthony’s family fled to Uganda during the first Sudanese Civil War, an experience that gives him a profound understanding of the challenges facing many Anglicans today. Ordained a priest in 1996, his ministry has included serving as Bishop of Kajo-Keji in his native South Sudan from 2007 to 2016, serving Scripture Union and as Executive Director for the Christian mission agency “Across.” His roles have involved serving Sudanese refugees in exile.
He holds a degree in Management and Public Administration from the University of Juba, an MA in Biblical Studies from Nairobi International School of Theology and an MBA in publishing from Oxford Brookes University.
He has authored a number of publications: “Come Let Us Rebuild: Lessons on Nehemiah” and “Tithing: A Biblical investigation and evaluation” as well as contributed to forewords, afterwords or chapters to other publications.
The Rt. Rev. Julia E. Whitworth is the XVII th bishop diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. She was ordained to the priesthood in September 2010 and served as the assistant rector of St. James’s Church in West Hartford, CT, from 2010 to 2012, and then as the canon for liturgy and the arts at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, from 2013 to 2016. She was the rector of Trinity Church in Indianapolis from 2016 until her election as bishop in May 2024. She was ordained and consecrated a bishop in October 2024 at Trinity Church in Boston.
While in the Diocese of Indianapolis, she was a General Convention deputy and a member of the Executive Council and the Committee for Canons and Constitution. She also served on the Board of Trustees of St. Richard’s Episcopal School; the Board of Directors of Trinity Haven, the first dedicated residence for LGBTQ+ youth in Indiana; and the LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization Shelly’s Voice. She is a former member of the Governing Board of the National Association of Episcopal Schools.
She is a 1993 graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in drama and English, with minors in women’s studies and education. She holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, in performance studies, and a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary.
The Rt. Rev. George R. Sumner was the VIIth bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, serving from 2015 to 2025. Prior to his election, he served as principal of Wycliffe College in Toronto, Canada. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in western Massachusetts in 1981, Sumner served in a variety of capacities, including as missionary teacher at St Philip’s Theological College, Kongwa, Tanzania, a curate in an inner-city Anglo-Catholic parish, vicar on a Native American reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, and rector of Trinity Church in Geneva, NY. He holds a PhD in theology from Yale, an MDiv from Yale Divinity School and a BA from Harvard College. He is the author or co-author of several books: The First and the Last: The Claim of Jesus Christ and the Claims of Other Religious Traditions (Eerdmans, 2004), Being Salt: A Theology of an Ordered Church (Cascade Books, 2007), a commentary on Esther and Daniel (Brazos, 2013), and Life ‘in Christ’ (Wipf and Stock, 2025).
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Ph.D., served as the XVth bishop diocesan of The Episcopal Church in Connecticut from February 2010 until 2022. From 1989 to 2010, he was a faculty member at the Episcopal Divinity School, then located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was the Angus Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity. In the Diocese of Massachusetts, Douglas served as priest associate at St. James’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge from 1989 until 2010, four-time Deputy to the General Convention, and member of the Commission on Ministry.
At the wider Episcopal Church level, he has been a member of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, Chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission, Convener of the Episcopal Seminary Consultation on Mission, and a founder of both Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation and Bishops United Against Gun Violence. He is currently Vice Chair of the Board of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice.
In the Anglican Communion, Douglas has been a member of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. He has also served on the Design Group for the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, and a member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism. A sought-after speaker nationally and internationally, Douglas is the author/editor of five books and numerous academic and popular articles on the topics of mission, the missional church, postcolonial Anglicanism, and world Christianity.
He has studied at Middlebury College (B.A.), the Harvard University Graduate School of Education (Ed.M.), and Harvard Divinity School (M.Div.). He holds a Ph.D. in missiology from Boston University.
The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff is the XVIIth Rector of The Church of the Advent, a vibrant Anglo-Catholic community that has been an integral part of Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood for more than 180 years. Long known for its commitment to liturgy, the parish is home to a world-renowned choir and music program. It is also committed to theological scholarship and holds academic conferences and colloquia that draw national and international attention. The church has also run for more than forty years a weekly Community Dinner for those in need and actively supports mission and outreach work in several Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
As former Dean of All Saints’ Cathedral Cairo, Canon Alistair worked extensively on interfaith matters, strengthening ecumenical dialogue and fostering community formation within the Anglican Church in the Province of Alexandria, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Previously, he served as Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum and developed its Council of One Hundred Leaders West-Islamic Dialogue, later known as the C1 World Dialogue of which he was Director General.
He also served as Senior Advisor to Lord Carey the 103 rd Archbishop of Canterbury, and to the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna, Austria. Canon Alistair originally studied Ancient History and Philosophy before undertaking advanced degrees in Philosophy of Religion and Theology, studying in London, Oxford, and Yale where he was a Research Fellow and studied International Relations and Islam.
In 2024 he was admitted to the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. He is a Board Member of the Prayer Book Society of the United States, The Elliott House of Studies, and of Communion Partners and is the Editor-in-Chief of The Anglican Way.
Relevant Resources
Avis, Paul. ‘What future for the Anglican Communion? (https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/10-april/comment/opinion/what-future-for-the-anglican-communion)’ Church Times (10 April 2026)
Bauerschmidt, John & George Sumner. ‘Twelve Theses on IASCUFO’s Nairobi-Cairo Proposals’ in Voices in Response from The Episcopal Church (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/VoicesInResponseFinal7II26.pdf) (2026), pp. 48-50
Goddard, Andrew. ‘The Wisdom of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: A Response to Paul Avis (https://livingchurch.org/covenant/abuja-series-goddard-responds-to-avis/)’ Covenant (16 April 2026)
Holcomb, Justin S. ‘Global Theology and the Anglican Communion: A Theological Grammar for Receiving The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals’ in Voices in Response from The Episcopal Church (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/VoicesInResponseFinal7II26.pdf) (2026), pp. 19-30
IASCUFO. ‘Supplement to The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals (https://www.anglicancommunion.org/resource/supplement-to-the-nairobi-cairo-proposals-rome-2025/)’ (Lent 2026)
____. ‘Frequently Asked Questions about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals (https://www.anglicancommunion.org/resource/guidance-faq-the-nairobi-cairo-proposals-lent-2026/)’ (Lent 2026)