Latest Anglican News                              Volume 1, Number 6, 29 August 2007
 
This week we report feedback, pro and con, to the paper we featured last week, by Nigeria’s Abp Akinola, plus we add a hard hitting analysis of what is becoming to be called the “New Reformation” by retired Suffragan Bishop of Albany, David Bena, now a Suffragan Bishop for CANA. 

One commentator has said, “Why, given…the egregiousness of TEC’s new-age/liberation-theology program…has it taken so long to hear?”

David Virtue, with VirtueOnLine said, “There is little doubt that the end is coming for the Anglican Communion. The only question is how it will all shake out and what a new Anglican Communion will look like. Time will tell.”

In response, some liberal bloggers called Akinola “a totalitarian dictator rather than "a True Shepherd of God's Flock. Akinola is blind to the world in which he lives. It is hoped this is just misguided ignorance, since the alternatives include intentional deceit or megalomania."

Another said, “Akinola has not read anything about the Bible written after Aquinas,” referring to St. Thomas Aquinas who lived in the 13th Century.

"This (Akinola’s paper) is all paternalistic garbage - it screams of a desire to exclude, to find scapegoats, to seek purity. Only the narrow-minded, the insecure, and the arrogant - only those who believe themselves perfect and pure - act in such a way… We're better off letting them walk apart."

Said another blogger, "Perhaps this is the prelude to a grand exit. All I can say is: fling wide the doors."

In an attempt to pour oil on troubled waters, Dr. Louie Crew, The Episcopal Church's (TEC’s) foremost homosexual advocate said, "...please fling wide the doors only to welcome people in or to welcome them back, but never fling wide the doors to urge people to leave. If we can patiently, persistently, lovingly wait decades for TEC to come to new understandings, can we not do the same for those in the Anglican Communion?”
 

About the Windsor Report, another said, “It has seemed to me from my first reading of the Windsor Report that it was yet another effort to fudge… we are not dealing with issues of fairness:  we are dealing with the faith once delivered to the saints… I don't pretend to know what is in the hearts and minds of the bishops who gathered at Camp Allen (the so-called Windsor Bishops), however, those who believe in fudge, not the faith once delivered, are playing with fire.””

Some excerpts from Bishop Bena’s paper:

“Much will be happening in the Anglican Communion over the next few months.
TEC House of Bishops (HOB) will meet in late September. All the world will be watching. Will the TEC HOB agree to repent and turn back from condoning a very loose systematic theology and an even looser sexual behavior policy? The Primates of the Anglican Communion (AC) have given TEC HOB until September 30 to turn back. Will they? Recent statements and actions say that they will not. Their statements and actions say that the majority of Episcopal Church bishops are firmly committed to a "multi-truth theology" when studying God and salvation history, and are firmly committed to celebrating gay relationships on a par with marriage and the ordination of those practicing sex outside heterosexual marriage.”

“Unless a miracle happens…(they will not) back down…  What they will do is attempt to give the Anglican world…assurance they "are doing the best they can" to stay in the AC and…their polity does not allow them to comply with the Dar Es Salaam Communiqué. We sometimes call this way of handling the Communiqué as ‘fudge’…fudging the truth and the facts…”

“Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (ABC) and a number of other primates will attend (the early part of the HOB meeting)…  The plan, I'm sure, is to put such pressure on the Archbishop that he will have to accept the fudge…so they should be given a pass. He will be pressured to say…all…bishops, with a few exceptions, should be able to sit at the Lambeth Conference in 2008 for a time of listening and understanding one another. This approach has been tried many times and found wanting by those who wish to clearly speak the Scriptures and the historic teachings of Anglicanism…  So let us pray for the Archbishop, that he sees the fudge and its vacuousness, that he refuses to accept it…”

“Whatever happens at New Orleans…the Primates of the Anglican Communion will probably meet soon after and analyze the HOB statement - Comply? Not comply?  …And since the ABC is but one of the thirty-something Primates, he must join them as they form an opinion. It will be interesting to see how this all goes.”

“…We are at a New Reformation, brothers and sisters. This age can be compared with the times of the sixteenth century. Those of us in CANA are attempting, with a spirit of humility, to stand firm in our biblical faith, the faith of Anglicanism. We are saying, "This corruption of theology and behavior has been tolerated long enough in our Communion. We can no longer abide it. We need to reform our Communion by returning to Anglican biblical formation, and by moving with the Holy Spirit into world evangelization based on the Word of Jesus and the Works of Jesus.  But Reformations are messy… TEC, with its huge endowments (dead people contributing to what, if they were alive, would probably not!) is using millions of dollars to sue for the properties of disaffected Episcopalians. They have set a "NO NEGOTIATIONS" policy and advised all bishops to follow that policy. The attempt is (to) destroy those who oppose the current trends of TEC, and intimidate any others who wish to oppose them. To this, we can only say, "Here we stand; we can do no other." Let the New Reformation proceed!”

In response to several requests, these websites are offered to those wishing to read these reports in detail:
 Windsor Report:  www.aco.org/windsor2004/downloads/index.cfm
Dar es Salaam Communiqué:
www.aco.org/primates/downloads/communique2007_english.pdf.

Your questions are welcome on the subjects raised in this newsletter, or any concerns that you have regarding Anglicanism.  Send your queries to me with the subject “Anglican Questions” at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Also, you can view all previous Latest Anglican News issues at the parish’s website; www.holycommuniondallas.org.

Rudy Schenken, REC Lay Representative to Common Cause Partners