Updated again Thursday morning
The Anglican Mission in the Americas, which is linked to the Anglican Communion by its affiliation with the Province de l’Eglise Anglicane au Rwanda, has announced an intention to change the form of its relationship with the Anglican Church in North America.
Read the details in Special Report: Anglican Mission’s Structural Relationship within the ACNA.
…As a founding member of the ACNA, the Anglican Mission has invested significant time and energy into its formation and has been strongly supportive of the Province and Archbishop Duncan’s leadership. In light of this support, the Anglican Mission initially chose the jurisdictional option for membership in the ACNA while maintaining its identity as a missionary outreach of Rwanda. This “dual citizenship” approach, however, has resulted in significant confusion within the Anglican Mission and the ACNA regarding membership in two provinces, and more importantly, is inconsistent with the Constitution and Canons of the Province of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. Practically speaking, this jurisdictional/membership status became untenable and non-sustainable.
Given these circumstances, both the Anglican Mission’s Council of Bishops and the Rwanda House of Bishops has unanimously agreed that the Anglican Mission will apply for Ministry Partner status at next month’s ACNA Council meeting. This revised status, if approved in Boston, will allow the Anglican Mission to maintain a level of connection to the North American Province, even though the missionary movement will remain under the spiritual and canonical authority of Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. It also allows for the Anglican Mission to continue to function as a missionary movement committed to church planting as we have for the last decade. Finally, this decision will serve to overcome the inherent confusion that has arisen, and we view a transition to Ministry Partner status as a positive development for all concerned…
Updates
There are reports elsewhere of an email from ACNA about this. See here. Or over here.
And an interesting conservative analysis in the comments of this report.
A fuller version of the ACNA email can be found here. This notes:
Other Ministry Partners within the Anglican Church in North America include:
- American Anglican Council
- Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – North America
- Forward in Faith-North America
- Federation of Anglican Churches in America [FACA]
Interesting. So this is all about extending the extra-territorial reach of another Province, and not about forming a new autonomous replacement Province for ECUSA?
It’s worth noting that the AMiA has been far and away the largest body in ACNA, being subdivided into eight dioceses upon admission.
In their own recent announcement of ACNA statistics,
http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/003663.html
ACNA claimed:
The Anglican Mission in the Americas (Rwanda) reports an average Sunday attendance of 21,600 in 180 congregations (40 of which are churches in formation called “networks”).
and
On every Sunday morning, some 81,311 people worship at the 693 congregations of the Anglican Church in North America. These people and parishes are already outside of The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Church in Canada. The large majority are temporarily under the oversight of six separate Anglican provinces.
This coalition was inherently unstable from the beginning. I gather the inevitable fragmentation has started.
One reason might well be that any hope of ACNA’s being recognized as an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion is fading away.
I will remain suspicious of any statistics about average Sunday attendance of the ACNA. Their statistics are self-serving and have been in question from the beginning. Hopefully, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is watching this current development and perhaps is finally able to see the real intentions of these fundamentalist elements of the ACNA and the extra-territorial reach of a distant Rwanda Province. They are showing their colors and at least from my standpoint, these colors are not pretty. Certainly Canterbury has been able to view the attempts of theft of property and assets from the actions of ACNA people.… Read more »
I wouldn’t be so quick to sign her death notice, jnwall. Saturday’s travesty is going to have long-range implications about TEC’s participation in the AC. AMiA is following up on something they promised to do a year ago – see what fit best. They cannot be seated as bishops in two provinces – no matter where they are physically located, one can only have one canonical location. All they have done is clarify where they currently are canonically resident.
Fr Chris: “Saturday’s travesty is going to have long-range implications”
I’d be careful which ordinations you describe as a travesty, if I were you: last time I looked at the conservative US Anglican blogs, there were plenty of commenters describing a certain ordination by one of the breakaway splinter groups in Plano recently as a travesty too. It all depends upon which subset of prejudices are operating, I suppose, whether they’re against women or gays or gay women.
“…no matter where they are physically located, one can only have one canonical location.”
Well, quite!
I echo Fr. Mark: So far as I have read, the election and consecration of Suffragan Bishops Mary Glasspool and Diane Bruce were conducted according to the rules and order of the diocese where Los Angeles is located, and of the Episcopal Church (USA). The necessary consents were consented to. A sufficient number of bishops was on hand to provide the necessary number of hands for the laying-on. So I see no travesty. Just one or two bishops whom some choose to sneer at. A real travesty, in my very humble not formally Episcopalian or Anglican opinion, is believing that… Read more »
Kendall Harmon has posted the text of an email entitled “Bob Duncan Seeks to Clarify AMIA’s Place Within ACNA”. http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/30139/#more
The email begins “The Archbishop’s Cabinet has been working since February with the leadership of the Anglican Mission (theAM) in the Americas to clarify the Anglican Mission’s structural relationship within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).”
“The Archbishop’s Cabinet”?
“Saturday’s travesty”
No comment . . . except
“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and [bishops-who-happen-to-be-gay]!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Matt. 11:19
Fr Mark reference to CC Plano and the irregularity of this ordination is quite on point. The implication that fissiparous issues have at all been settled by ACNA is wishful thinking. A visit to the conservative blogs confirm this. As one commenter noted: ” Earlier in the year none of the FIFNA bishops who are opposed to women’s ordination attended the consecration of the bishop of the Diocese of the Gulf Atlantic, which supports women’s ordination.” Plano, and more precisely how Plano was handled. As, I understand it, it is/was an AMiA church in the Arkansas Network? which does not… Read more »
The ordination in Plano is shown here:
http://christchurchplano.org/tag/ordination/
and the background is explained here
http://diocny.blogspot.com/2010/05/bishop-jones-writes-amia-about-freeman.html
Fr. Chris, I wouldn’t assume any “death notice” for either ACNA or AMiA. I would suggest, though, that to this point participation in two episcopal jurisdictions has been the norm in ACNA, and not the exception. As I recall, a number are members of the Houses of Bishops of both ACNA and the Province of the Southern Cone; and I think the same status obtains for those connected with Kenya. I think CANA has made a choice more like ACNA (although I could misremember that). No, no “death note;” but I think recognition by Canterbury is a separate issue, and… Read more »
” The Holy Spirit is a very political dove flying over national boundaries and interests, structures and differences to bring together a people, seeking to live in the power of the new creation; giving courage to ordinary people to break with traditions, to be open to the new, to let Truth invade into their own experiences of reality and offer a new expression of it to the world around them. Such is the continuing call of Pentecost to us. – Revd. John Watson, on Fulcrum – This item on the Fulcrum web-site – a surprising source – is quite relevant… Read more »
As regards the condemnation of the Glasspool consecration – the “travesty” – by some, I give this warning from Matthew 12: “And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. “He who is not with me is… Read more »
I found the following blog with a thread discussing the issue. It is a conservative blog but most commenters seem to be viewing the issue from an insider’s knowledge of ACNA and AMiA and from an analytical point of view rather than an emotive one: http://texanglican.blogspot.com/2010/05/spin-it-any-way-you-like-but-this-is.html
Someone on here described the service as a “travesty”. Have you seen the service? I think many people on here are not a part of TEC and do not understand what is happening in our church. Maybe I’m late to the game and all of you already saw the service. If not, I will post this link and you can watch the service. I’m sure some of you will like it, but many of you will understand the confusion and shock (that has NOTHING to do with gay and lesbian Christians answering their call) over what is going on in… Read more »
@Josh L – Nope, it’s evidently not working, and I haven’t seen it. What exactly did you find so disturbing?
Thanks Emily, it was very helpful to have that information. I had wondered if there was a cost benefit for the Rwandans and it seems that they take 10% for their godly support. Will their withdrawal to a second tier mean a loss of income to the ACNA? I see that some are pointing to the ever more complex relations within ACNA and with its allies as a model of what is to come to a parish near you as the Anglican Communion fragments. I wonder how many more bishops, archbishops, primatial vicars and the like we are going to… Read more »
“… even though the missionary movement will remain under the spiritual and canonical authority of Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda.”
Maybe I’m missing something, but what mortal, Archbishop or lesser, has spiritual authority? Doesn’t that authority reside with one or more persons of the Holy Trinity? Or perhaps the Holy Spirit answers to the Archbishop… Inquiring minds want to know…
Josh L: the odd thing, though, is that if you want to see really odd, untraditional unAnglican liturgy in England, you just need to toddle along to your nearest Anglican church run by Conservative Evangelicals… you know the ones – the people who make such a fuss about defending tradition. You’ll get highly amplified electric guitars, clergy in lay-dress, complete avoidance of approved liturgical language or gestures, etc, etc.
Travesty on both counts, thanks for noticing the “studied ambiguity.” If the Gamaliel comment counts for anything, it will show that those denominations who cut themselves off from the catholic church through monkeying with the presbyterate are found sorely wanting. The Spirit does free us from the traditions of men as they become unhelpful. The question to be answered before you use that to justify WO, Glasspool, or what have you is this: did Jesus choose only males for Apostlic ministry because he just couldn’t see what was coming in 1930 years later? Was the church following her master’s command… Read more »
“This “dual citizenship” approach, however, has resulted in significant confusion within the Anglican Mission and the ACNA regarding membership in two provinces, and more importantly, is inconsistent with the Constitution and Canons of the Province of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. Practically speaking, this jurisdictional/member-ship status became untenable and non-sustainable.” – A.M.i.A Statement – SO! The Border-Crossing technique has now been revealed to be precisely what it is: a denial of the Anglican Communion ethic of Provincial Autonomy – which precludes piratical intervention from one province into another. The spawn of such intervention is not likely to survive the original… Read more »
Fr. Mark. I thought for one moment you were speaking about the style of worship as practised by the Archbishop of Sydney, New South Wales. He never wears what we might call vestments, being content with collar and tie – even to control his own Synod meetings. But then, his diocese has significant financial interests – in keeping GAFCON afloat. However! Not all Australians are like him. Many Anglicans there prefer to abide by the catholic principles preferred by most legitimate Churches of the Communion. Most actually prefer their preachers and teachers to be ordained at least to the presbyerate.… Read more »
“The question to be answered before you use that to justify WO, Glasspool, or what have you is this: did Jesus choose only males for Apostlic ministry because he just couldn’t see what was coming in 1930 years later?”
Why is that the question, rather than, “Why did Jesus choose only Jews for Apostolic ministry because he couldn’t see what was coming — what, a year or two later?”
And that insistence, that inability to think differently, embracing one innovation of men in scripture and “tradition” as holy and another as unholy because someone living did it, that clinging to self-righteousness is why the sin is unforgiveable – the sinner doesn’t want to change and be forgiven!
“I’m sure some of you will like it, but many of you will understand the confusion and shock (that has NOTHING to do with gay and lesbian Christians answering their call) over what is going on in The Episcopal Church.” Haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve read some pretty thorough descriptions. Lemme guess the source of the “confusion and shock”: Native American sage-smoke and Asian drummers and dancers (etc)? I hate to break it to you, Josh L: but when the first Christians gathered 2000 years ago, they weren’t singing out of the 1982 *or* 1940 Hymnal! (No pipe organ,… Read more »
Fr Chris raises questions about Jesus’ intentions, and he seems to suggest that he might have foreseen all possibilities so that his particular decisions were informed and intended for all time. Chalcedon really does rule out any mingling of divine and human natures, which means you don’t have infinite divine knowledge or prescience in Jesus’ thoroughly human brain. True, there is an unbreakable unity between the two natures, but there is no mingling, no confusion, etc. That means that Jesus’ human judgements were subject to the same limitations as human judgements generally: he couldn’t take everything into account; he couldn’t… Read more »
“did Jesus choose only males for Apostlic ministry because he just couldn’t see what was coming in 1930 years later? Was the church following her master’s command & example in continuing to choose men for the episcopate (and for the presbyterate – I’ll acknowledge the biblical & historical evidence for some sort of deaconess)?” I think a better question might be: DID Jesus choose only males for Apostolic ministry?…Or did the later writers of the oral tradition, firmly entrenched in a patriarchal system (in Roman law, a wife or daughter was virtually her husband’s or father’s property–they were sometimes not… Read more »
“What is Mary Magdalene’s role?”
The Apostle to the Apostles, which was her title in the early church.
In all four Gospels, she is at the empty tomb.
Her later conflation with the ‘woman of the city’ who bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears led to the mistaken belief that she was a prostitute, thus leading to Dan Brown’s novels and other evils.
Pat O’Neill and Cynthia Gilliatt point to the (small a, possible capital A) apostolic ministry of the Magdalene. Let’s also remember that the first witness to the Incarnation, and the one who understood it best, was the Blessed Mother. The Biblical evidence shows her to be much less passive than future clerics would describe.
Earlier I made reference to the following blog site http://texanglican.blogspot.com/2010/05/spin-it-any-way-you-like-but-this-is.html and noted that the commenters seemed to be fairly analytical rather than emotive. Apparently I spoke too soon. Nara Duncan, wife of ACNA primate Robert Duncan has entered the discussion in response to an anonymous AMiA comment maker. There is a great deal of heat in the exchange implying that things may not have been as friendly in the relationship as Bishop Duncan’s letter to his fellow ACNA bishops suggests
Hearing one of the Lessons at the Celebration of Pentecost today, one was reminded of the confusion the Lord sent down upon his people when they erected their own Tower of Babel. Perhaps, in this prospective splitting of AMiA from the eclectic body of ACNA, a similar ethos of confusion is already being visited upon the different quasi-ecclesial bodies that have come together to declare their ephemeral unity – and independence of the Episcopal Churches in US and Canada – in order to build a new ‘Tower of Babel’ – a monument to their own idea of the ‘Perfect Church’.… Read more »
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/orthodox.anglicans.in.us.and.england.plan.clergy.swap/25942.htm Orthodox Anglicans in North America are inviting priests in the Church of England to make a show of solidarity by taking part in a clergy swap. The Anglican Church in North America was formed last year by Anglicans who broke away from the liberal Episcopal Church in the US. It is proposing the swap in the wake of last Saturday’s consecration by TEC of its first partnered lesbian bishop. ACNA said the clergy swap would be an opportunity for Church of England parishes and clergy to express their solidarity and friendship with ACNA churches. Participating clergy will be matched… Read more »
“Institutionally the CofE seems to be sitting on the fence. The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the consecration of Mary Glasspool in TEC is ‘regrettable’; yet the CofE has not fully embraced ACNA. An important contribution at this stage will be for parishes and clergy to express solidarity and friendship with clergy and parishes in ACNA.” – Kennedy’s report on FCA letter – From the above, it would seem that messrs Perkin and Sugden of FoCA are actively promoting a culture of schismatic activity within the Church of England – on the basis of their own perception of what… Read more »
“He never wears what we might call vestments, being content with collar and tie – even to control his own Synod meetings.”
Father Ron, there are some exceptions, for example this occasion:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/ffximage/2008/02/02/jensen_lilly_wideweb__470x312,0.jpg
Lovely picture, PeterK. I’ll bet, though, Peter Jensen would never consider wearing the traditional ‘Canterbury Cap’ to complete the outfit. Too much like the Romish biretta.