Latest Anglican News                                              Volume 1, Number 13, 17 October 2007

Please note, now that the three major official meetings; The Episcopal Church (TEC) House of Bishops meeting, the first ever meeting of all the bishops of the Common Cause Partners (CCP) and the tenth general meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA), have passed into history, the need to report to you on a regular weekly basis has also passed. 

Added to this is the fact that there seems to be no turning back on either side.  Speaking for TEC, Bishop V. Gene Robinson proclaims the continued move toward formal rites for same-sex unions and the acceptance of Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual and Trans-gendered (LGBT) persons in all ordained ministries of the church.  At the same time the CCP are moving rapidly toward the formation of a new, traditional, orthodox, and competing Anglican presence in North America.  While neither course will be, from any standpoint, simple to accomplish, it appears neither side will be deterred. 

Obviously, news worthy events will not diminish, as the problems facing all parts of the Anglican Communion (AC) unfold.  What diocese of TEC will opt to leave?  What will happen to the remnant of TEC?  How difficult will it be for the CCP to create a coherent and effective organization?  What will happen to the Anglican Communion (AC) as we know it?  What recognition, if any, will be given to TEC by the Global South?  What recognition, if any, will be given to the CCP by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Global South?  Will there be a Lambeth Conference next year?  Who will attend/who will not attend? 

The Latest Anglican News will cover all these happenings as they develop, but irregularly, not weekly.  In her periodic “Updates”, Cathy will let you know when a new issue of the Latest Anglican News has been posted on the CHC website.

In the news this week:

Emerging from the two-day CAPA conference, its outgoing president Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, said, “The Anglican Church in Africa has more serious problems to address than its stance on homosexuality.  He further stated, “CAPA…would focus on problems like the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the crises in Darfur and Zimbabwe,” which he said threatened the wellbeing of Africa.  “Homosexuality is not our headache,” Akinola said. “Everything that has to be said has been said. We are not going back to it.”

CAPA’s official statement addressed the division in the AC: “The current situation is a twofold crisis…  A crisis of doctrine and a crisis of leadership…  The failure…of the Communion to exercise discipline has called into question…(its viability) as a united Christian body under a common foundation of faith…”  It  concluded, “Due to this breakdown of discipline, we are not sure that we can in good conscience continue to spend our time, our money and our prayers on behalf of a body that proclaims two Gospels: the Gospel of Christ and the Gospel of Sexuality.”

Here in Texas, the Standing Committee of the conservative Diocese of Fort Worth has called for the diocese to begin the process of secession from TEC.  They said, “We believe it is time to separate our diocese from TEC General Convention…and to join an orthodox province of the Anglican Communion.”  Individual parishes will be given the option of dissenting from the majority decision and withdraw from the diocese.  The standing committee said, “We do not wish to compel any parish in the diocese to remain with us…”  This recommendation will go before its annual synod in November, but would not be effective until after the November 2008 synod as constitutional changes do not go into effect until they are approved by two successive diocesan conventions.  Fort Worth is one of three dioceses in the US that do not ordain or license women priests.  “To submit to and comply with the current direction of the General Convention would mean for us to embrace a distortion of the Christian faith that our forebears would not recognize as a continuation of ‘the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship’,” they stated.

In a letter to his diocese commenting on TEC House of Bishops meeting, Bishop Vicki Gene Robinson said, “On the issue of same sex unions, I argued that our statement be reflective of what is true right now in TEC; that while same sex blessings are not officially permitted in most dioceses, they are going on and will continue to go on as an appropriate pastoral response to our gay and lesbian members and their relationships.”

At their annual synod the diocese of Ottawa approved the blessing of same-sex marriages by a vote of 177 to 97.  In June, the Anglican Church of Canada made seemingly contradictory decisions when it ruled that same-sex blessings do not contravene core doctrine, then it refused to allow local dioceses to decide for themselves how to handle the issue of gay marriages.  Ottawa is the first diocese to broach the issue at the local level since that national meeting.

I wish to thank you all for your interest and your support.  I have loved your reactions to what has been covered in these reports, and I remain open to receiving your questions any time.  Contact me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Rudy Schenken, REC Lay Representative to Common Cause Partners