GAFCON press release: Missionary Bishop introduced by Archbishop Foley Beach
This includes the following:
Statement on Gafcon Missionary Bishop by Archbishop Foley Beach
Good afternoon. Thank you for being here today. I plan to make a brief statement. Canon Andy Lines will make a brief statement. Rev. David McCarthy will make a brief statement. And then we will have a time for questions.
I speak to you today as the Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America, and as a sitting primate on the Gafcon Primates Council. On behalf of the Chairman of Gafcon, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, the Primate of All Nigeria, the Assistant Chairman, The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, and the Gafcon Primates Council: Grace and peace to you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We continue to have a crisis in the Anglican Communion as the virus of revisionist theology and practice continues to spread to various Provinces. Rather than correcting and disciplining those who have departed from the biblical faith and practice which has been handed down to us from the Apostles, some church leaders are embracing false teaching, and then going even further by promoting it around the world.
The Nairobi Communiqué from the Gafcon meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013 clearly stated that the Gafcon leadership would not ignore the pleas of the faithful who are trapped in places where false doctrine and practice occur. We promised that we would provide pastoral care and oversight for those who remain faithful to Jesus’ teaching on marriage.
At our April meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, the Gafcon Primates decided to provide a missionary bishop for Europe with the initial focus on those in Scotland and those faithful Anglicans in England outside the Church of England. Today’s decision by the Scottish Episcopal Church to change the biblical and historic definition of marriage has highlighted the need to respond to the cries and pleas of those Scots who today have been marginalized by their leaders. The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support.
The Gafcon Primates have asked our Province, the Anglican Church in North America, to take on the task of providing a missionary bishop for Scotland. Our Province was formed at the direction of Gafcon 2008 after many of the Provinces of Gafcon had provided the same kind of oversight for clergy and congregations in North America. They have asked us to consecrate Canon Andy Lines.
Our College of Bishops discussed and decided to accept this responsibility. Following the Canons of our Province, the Executive Committee of the Province was not only consulted, but also voted unanimously to support this endeavor. We also appointed an oversight Committee of Bishops to provide guidance and accountability for Canon Lines as he walks through our consecration process and to support him after he is consecrated a bishop. Archbishop Robert Duncan is chair of the committee which consists of three diocesan bishops: The Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood, The Rt. Rev. Charlie Master, and The Rt. Rev. David Hicks.
Canon Andy Lines is now canonically resident in the Diocese of the South as a “priest in good standing” after having been transferred from the Province of South America as a priest in good standing.
The Consecration will take place on the morning of 30 June in Wheaton, Illinois and the service will include Primates, Archbishops, and bishops from all over the world. Although the Anglican Church in North America is the consecrating Province, this is an initiative of the wider Anglican Communion…
The Press Pack contains several further items:
Scottish Anglican Network press statement: Fellowship impaired by Scottish vote
Biographical Information on Press Conference Speakers
Anglican Church in North America GAFCON MISSIONARY BISHOP FOR EUROPE
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can someone in the SEC tell us how many parishes are likely to ask for the services of the “new” bishop?St Silas Glasgow and St Thomas Edinburgh were both evangelical churches which only became part of SEC in the tos I think.Are there others?
A reminder:
Lambeth 1988, Resolution 72:
This Conference: 1. reaffirms its unity in the historical position of respect for diocesan boundaries and the authority of bishops within these boundaries; and in light of the above 2. affirms that it is deemed inappropriate behaviour for any bishop or priest of this Communion to
exercise episcopal or pastoral ministry within another diocese without first obtaining the permission and invitation of the ecclesial authority thereof.
What kind of religion is this ?
How is it ‘religion’ ?
A reminder … Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10
This Conference: in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
…
cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
Here it comes, dear friends in the Church of England – the very same aggressive piracy that GAFCON was up to in spawning its schismatic outreach in North America (ACNA). It is significant that it is this same illegitimate offspring (ACNA) that is now being used by GAFCON to invade SEC – the Episcopal Church in Scotland. We in the outer reaches of the Anglican Communion (especially here in ACANZP) are now awaiting the action of the Archbishop of Canterbury – Primus-inter-pares – to shake off the fundamentalist, conservative militancy that has been brewing in Sydney, ACNA, AMiA, and the… Read more »
Good thing Williams and Welby catered to these people at every turn. It really won them over.
Perry Butler: The parishes that left the episcopal church in Scotland objected to tractarianism, and especially closing off worship and fellowship to other christians in Scotland. They returned when these issues had lost their particular 19th century character within the SEC. You are right that they became Church of England parishes within Scotland and remained so for a generation. So we are seeing something of a similar development. There is also the Westhill parish in Aberdeenshire. All are sizable parishes. They could be the largest parishes in the SEC. My memory is that there are more than three parishes in… Read more »
Reading the statement it is full of legal phrasing, and bending over backwards to show itself to have some kind of authority. This by reference to a collection of ‘bishops’, whose name are strung out as giving themselves legitimacy. A cold dry legalistic communion, showing no Christian love, only division and coldness. It is time the Primates of the United Kingdom and Ireland met together, and publicly rebuked and brought the weight of the Anglican Communion resolutions on cross border invasion to effect. If the ABC fails to act, then the other Primates should act, and bring Welby to task… Read more »
This is the same Foley Beach who in January was invited to the Primates meeting in Canterbury?
Ian,
Sadly yes.
Fr John Emlyn
In the vast, vast, majority of parish churches in towns and villages across the land people are completely unaware of GAFCON. Most ‘ordinary’ C of E congregations want to remain loyal to their bishop and operate within recognised structures. They also have a real sense of what it means to be established through keeping and serving a wide nexus of relationships, being present in schools, nursing homes and so forth whilst seeking to keep the local church open and in good order. These are their basic priorities. Whilst differences exist most congregants in such churches are pragmatic and get the… Read more »
Yes indeed, Andrew Lightbown. Not only are they unaware of GAFCON, they are largely unaware of bishops except their own. This is just as it should be. The ABC hath no jurisdiction in this realm of Lichfield. The people are loyal to each other, and within limits to the other churches served by the same incumbent. They have affection for the cathedral. They exhibit much that is good about congregationalism and do not understand why diocesan rules should stifle initiative. They care about their communities, schools and hospitals. I have no intention of telling them about GAFCON and I shall… Read more »
But they remain part of an organisation that tolerates and even encourages sexism, homophobia and discrimination. And their donations to Church central via the parish share help to finance that. So they (we) are all complicit.
Oh, Tobias–surely you know that Resolutions are only binding on impure revisionists, and not on our betters…
Sorry C of E, but we’ve been warning you for at least a decade.
Foley: “…the cries and pleas of those Scots who today have been marginalized…” (a) the Scottish provisions are inclusive (b) ah, so your concern is about people who are marginalised – if only LGBT+ people had ever been marginalised, then maybe they would know how that feels, but hey “The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support.” Huge claim – faith is about one’s view on gay sex, and all the hospital visiting, care for the poor, love, grace still don’t make you a real and faithful Christian if you refuse to marginalise the… Read more »
“Sorry C of E, but we’ve been warning you for at least a decade.” The context of the Gafcon input is for the moment the Scottish Episcopal Church, which have several parishes indicating to their Primus that this would be their response. Neither party is surprised at the development. I saw the interview of +Chillingworth at CT and he seemed very calm and unsurprised. It also struck me that he didn’t seem to object, but recognized this would be one outcome of the vote. So perhaps your decades’ long warning falls into a context different than TEC, which spent millions… Read more »
The parishes in Scotland aren’t leaving with the buildings, thus far. My recollection is that the conservatives in TEC did not apply for alternative oversight, they simply claimed they were the true church and therefore entitled to the property.
It’s too early to tell what is really transpiring in Scotland. And for that matter, England. I’ve seen nothing from the ABC on Jesmond or on GAFCON’s invasion. Time will tell.
The similarities between SEC and TEC is that in both settings, clergy have the option of following their own conscience in determining who to marry, or not.
In Tennessee where I live, clergy do not have the option to follow their conscience. The bishop says there will be no same sex marriages. And the priests are obedient and I’ve heard them be vocal about local anti-LGTB school district policies but never about their own bishop and diocese.
So this is not Scotland.
‘The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support’. Is there any chance of explaining to Foley Beach that marriage has been being continuously redefined over the centuries?
Evangelical Church of England congregations in nineteenth century Scotland refused to join SEC. especially as it developed in an Anglo-Catholic mould..Most eventually joined SEC after the second world war, the last only joining in the 1980s. So you may find some of the congregations returning to that independent status.
“The similarities between SEC and TEC is that in both settings, clergy have the option of following their own conscience in determining who to marry, or not.”
Actually, at present in TEC *Dioceses* have the ability to follow the canons they have passed on the character of marraige.
In the SEC one Bishop opposed this, alongside 1/3 of clergy. Dioceses in the SEC do not function in the same way as in TEC.
Bishop Lines is the head of Crosslinks ,one of the ten official Church of England missionary societies. Formerly the Bible Churchman’s missionary Society which broke from the Church Missionary Society in the 1920s over what it claimed was liberalism. Crosslinks has been a strong supporter of women’s ordination.
“The parishes in Scotland aren’t leaving with the buildings, thus far.”
I’d be curious how you know this.
See the comments of Robert Williams.
Can anyone explain why it was ok for TEC to set up a missionary ‘diocese’ in the CofE jurisdiction of Europe (ie. border crossing), but no-one else is allowed to?
Doesn’t this create precedence for overlapping jurisdictions within Anglican ecclesiology?
c.f. Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
The Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Rev’d Rod Thomas, on his website welcomes this move and also boasts of 100 parishes now under his care.
Snowberry: The answer is multi-facteted. It is a bit odd to have an actual anglican diocese of the Church of England NOT in England. The Gibraltar geographical base gave some scope for this. With the EU in place, it was possible to trade on the good will of this and see Europe as an international zone. Etc. The American situation was traceable in many instances to military chaplaincies and their natural outreach to english speakers otherwise. There are some exceptions to this of course (Paris, Rome). The name “convocation” was apt. The Bishop was usually retired and was appointed by… Read more »
Henry Scriven was Suffragan in Europe, never diocesan, from 1995.
Thanks, Mr Sarmiento. I was taking services in Munich at the time and that was my recollection. Rowthorne taught liturgics at Yale when I was on the faculty there, so I was working from memory about his move to Europe after being suffragan in CT. It may have been he and Scriven who worked on the theme of joint cooperation. Rowthorne was keen on that. That much I do recall correctly.
PS–In general, in an already divided church, it does seem to be a bit of a stretch for the ABC now to be quoting the council of Nicaea! With TEC Bishops and CofE Bishops with jurisdictions in places like France is of course an oddity all its own, not to mention the Orthodox. This much is to be granted in general terms in the question of Snowberry above… I saw TEC’s +Whalon at the ecumenical service (Evensong) in Paris where the Institut Catholique/RC Diocese was granting +Welby an honorary degree. But he was seated with clergy and played no formal… Read more »
Apropos Brother Seitz comments, I do believe there have been meetings of the Diocese of Gibraltar, the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, the Lusitanian Church (Portugal) and the Reformed Church in Spain regarding cooperation. And, in any case, I do think he is right that neither Gibraltar nor the Convocation would function as “missionary” dioceses in any common sense.
Perhaps it’s petty of me to take this up, but the piece about Seabury is so badly written and the foundation of its argument so nebulous that I think it’s a mistake for the GAFCON people to use it to support their position on anything–except, possibly, the harm that mediocre writing can do to one’s argument.
Mr Berry:
Do you object to the direct quotes from Seabury himself in the extract? Or the very basic biographical details nowhere under dispute by historians knowledgeable of the period?
Petty? No. Uninformed? Quite possibly.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with fellow New Yorker Daniel Berry. Canon Cayangyang’s essay on Bishop Seabury may read as if it were culled from Wikipedia, but it generally gets the basic facts right. Much is left out, of course, including Dr. Seabury’s loathing of Calvinist Evangelicals and his support for such High Church customs as wearing the miter, auricular Confession, and the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament for the dying, the sick, and the homebound.
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn, NY
“his loathing of Calvinist Evangelicals” — which would of course be consistent with his ardent Loyalist streak.
He was after all Chaplain to British troops and as “A.W. Farmer” a staunch defender of British sovereignty and no friend of american revolutionary puritans, calvinist or otherwise.
Yes, unlike many Episcopalians of his time (about half the signers of the Declaration of Independence were at least nominal Anglicans), Dr. Seabury was a Tory bastard. Yet his commitment to the Church Catholic was such that he not only reconciled to the Revolution, but became the first bishop of TEC. Of course, he was not the only Episcopal bishop in the eighteenth century to loathe Calvinist Evangelicals. One doubts that we had any bishops before 1810 who didn’t loathe them. Many of us in TEC–laypeople as well as clergy, conservatives as well as liberals–proudly continue in this tradition… Kurt… Read more »
“Dr. Seabury was a Tory bastard” — well that’s not a view I share. Lot of loathing and name calling for my tastes. Sunday blessings.