Thinking Anglicans

Church press reports on GAFCON 2

The Church Times has a sober news article, ‘Disappointed’ Primates announce GAFCON 2 by Ed Thornton.

THE leaders of GAFCON, a global network of conservative Anglicans, said this week that the decision to “reduce the status” of the Primates’ Meeting in Dublin earlier this year (News, 28 January) was “unacceptable.” Those who organised the meeting had been “misled”. The GAFCON leaders announced plans for a second conference in 2013, and the opening of new offices in London and Nairobi.

A 13-point communiqué, issued on Wednesday after a meeting of GAFCON Primates in Nairobi last month, said: “The fabric of our communion life has been torn at its deepest level and until the presenting issues are addressed we will remain weakened at a time when the needs before us are so great.”

The Church of England Newspaper has an exuberant report from George Conger headlined Gafcon throws down gauntlet to Dr. Williams.

The formation of the Anglican Ordinariate was a natural consequence of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s mismanagement of the crisis facing the Anglican Communion, the leaders of the Gafcon movement said in a statement released on May 10.

In a strongly worded communiqué summarizing the work of their April 25-28 meeting in Nairobi, the archbishops of the Gafcon movement, representing a majority of the church’s members, voiced their displeasure with the usurpation of authority by Dr. Williams and the staff of the Anglican Consultative Council and laid upon their door responsibility for the de facto schism within the communion.

While the 13-point communiqué touched on administrative issues for the Anglican reform movement, including the creation of a Nairobi and London offices, the appointment of Bishop Martyn Minns as Deputy Secretary, and the calling of a second Jerusalem conference in 2013, the heart of the letter came in a sustained attack on the actions taken by London-based instruments of the Anglican Communion.

While Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of an Anglican Ordinariate was “a gracious gift” to those Anglican clergy and congregations “alienated by recent actions in the Communion,” it should not have been necessary, the archbishops said.

“Our own Communion has failed to make adequate provision for those who hold to a traditional view of the faith. We remain convinced that from within the Provinces that we represent there are creative ways by which we can support those who have been alienated so that they can remain within the Anglican family,” they said…

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Father Ron Smith
Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

George Conger’s article on the announcement by GAFCON Primates to regroup, wastes no time in accusing the ABC of negligence, in not insisting on all Provinces of the Anglican Communion seeing things the same way as their own leadership cabal. In fact, Conger’s hubris is only matched by that of those provincial primates whose cause he represents in this article in the Church of England newspaper – for which he (Conger)is their primary correspondent on matters ‘Anglican’. Let’s all hope – for the sake of Anglicans around the world – that GAFCON’s ploy to open up their own offices in… Read more »

Adam Armstrong
Adam Armstrong
13 years ago

Aren’t these the people who refused to attend/boycotted the Dublin Primate’s Meeting? And now they criticise what took place there? This is just plain silly.

JCF
JCF
13 years ago

“Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of an Anglican Ordinariate was “a gracious gift” to those Anglican clergy and congregations “alienated by recent actions in the Communion”

Just not “gracious” enough for these I’m-In-Charge types to want to *submit* to El Papa!

Which of Gaffe-Conjobs two faces issued this manifesto?

Lesley C
Lesley C
13 years ago

And while the Christians debated and argued people around the world were oppressed, tortured, killed and children died of poverty…

Lapinbizarre
Lapinbizarre
13 years ago

Interesting, short interview with David Ould from “Eternity”, which is edited by John Sandeman (“obadiahslope”). HT Stand Firm. http://eternity.biz/news/the_next_step_for_break_away_anglicans/1105131826/

karen macqueen+
13 years ago

So, the GAFCON primates, having boycotted a meeting, are very incensed that their meeting and the authority that they would like it to have have been downgraded, in their eyes. Welcome to reality, gentlemen. The rest of us don’t want you to be in charge. We are tired of threats and apocalyptic scenarios. We are not willing to be governed by a bunch of fundamentalist zealots who despise LGBT persons to the point of advocating their imprisonment and execution. Get a fire extinguisher and put out the fires in your hair. GAFCON Primates are opening a brach office in London,… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

‘Disappointed Primates announce GAFCON II’? I wonder precisely how ‘disappointed’ these particular primates are. It seems to me they have a sort of blood-lust for confrontation that will not be satisfied until they have brought low the name of Anglicanism. These Primates seem hell-bent on taking on the rest of us with their moralising prattle about the ‘faith once delivered to the saints’, when, in fact, the Faith of Christ -Crucified, Risen and Glorified – is delivered anew with every Mass of the new day – in every continent and island of the free world. What more can they do… Read more »

EmilyH
EmilyH
13 years ago

Some have expressed concern about where the funds for Bp. Minns’ ministry are coming from. From http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/11/americas-richest-counties-business-washington.html, I have the following: Falls Church, Va: nation’s richest county with median annual household income of $113,313. Loudoun County, Va: It is now the second-richest county in the nation with median annual household income of $112,021. Another Washington county, Fairfax County, Va., rounds out the top three with annual median household income of $104,259. Making the median high income in Fairfax County even more impressive is the fact that it has 1.1 million residents ——– Minns preached at Falls Church on the 4/11,… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“Minns preached at Falls Church on the 4/11, he is the past pastor of Truro Fairfax and he is the CANA bishop of these 2 churches.” – EmilyH on Monday – So, Emily. Bp Minns will probably need a private jet to commute between Virginia (his El Dorado) and London – when he gets his new appointment as the UK representative for GAFCON, CANA and ACNA. To keep the money coming he will need to show up in his US territorial base quite frequently. More Air Miles! Let’s all hope his UK/US Passport doesn’t get filled out too soon. Watch… Read more »

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