Latest Anglican News                                                          Volume 3, Number 1, 9 February, 2009

Happy New Year!  The dearth of news reports is explained by the dearth of reportable news. 

All that has changed with the Official Communiqué issued at the end of the Anglican Communion (AC) Primates meeting in Alexandria, Egypt.  The internet is filled with commentaries from across the world by Anglican pundits who feel compelled to tell us they have the right slant on what happened.  Following is a brief summary of the Official Communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, on February 5, and a few excerpts from some of the serious and some of the humorous commentators.  You can view the entire official communiqué at www.anglicancommunion.org.

Synopsis of the Official Communiqué:
~ Met in cooperative atmosphere
~ A koinonia gathering (a communion of intimate participation)
~ Our problems are complex
~ Much more/better/sincere “listening” needed (read “delaying tactic”!!!)
~ Broad, but informal acknowledgement that there are two separate religions in the Communion – Progressive (Liberal) and Traditional/Orthodox (Conservative)
~ The Communion reaffirmed Lambeth 1.10, in its entirety, as the agreed statement on human sexuality. (Sex can only be between a married man and woman; any other sexual relationship is a sin)
~ The meeting agreed that the members of the breakaway groups (the Common Cause Partnership/the Anglican Church in North America [CCP/ACNA]) in the United States and Canada are Anglicans, but did not define their status, referring to us as “dear brothers and sisters to whom membership in the AC seems to be profoundly important”
~ At the earliest, Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) to establish professionally mediated conversation about what should be done with CCP/ACNA (probably means in 2-3 years - more delaying!!!)
 ~ The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) made it into an Official Communiqué for the first time, as a member of the CCP

Excerpts from Commentaries:
The “Archbishop in waiting” Bob Duncan of the ACNA commented, “…We appreciate what was clearly an extensive discussion of the North American situation… We are… grateful for the public recognition…of the desire of our "coalition" (CCP), constituting the new ACNA province "to be Anglican and to be in relationship with the Anglican Communion."
The vision of a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America - indeed in all the world - is undiminished among those who bear that vision. The coming together of the CCP into the ACNA will proceed. Our commitment to our missionary partners all around the world will continue. Already larger than twelve provinces of the AC, we will work together in koinonia (intimate participation) with all who are willing to work with us.

******
CANA Bishop Martyn Minns said,  “…Within hours of agreeing to this statement Presiding Bishop Schori is already questioning whether the Primates’ call for gracious restraint is something to which TEC wants to make a commitment …’the long-term impact of ‘gracious restraint’ is a matter for General Convention,’ she said in a statement.  He also said, “We appreciate the encouragement for those of us connected with the ACNA to continue to move forward as faithful Anglicans and to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
******
From the Rev. George Conger, reporting for The Living Church, who interviewed some of the 35 Primates as the meeting ended:
“High marks have been awarded to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the 2009 primates’ meeting by conservative archbishops…

‘Archbishops Peter Akinola (Nigeria), Henry Orombi (Uganda) and I are pleased with the outcome of the meeting,’ said the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Rev. Gregory Venables…
 
‘Something like the freshness of the Holy Spirit descended upon the meeting’, Bishop Venables explained… ‘Without a doubt there was a lot of anger and tension, but the orthodox had a calmness and peace’ that Bishop Venables attributed to divine intervention.
 
…Bishop Venables felt the…meeting featured honest conversation between the liberal and conservative camps that recognized a division exists.  ‘There is the recognition that this whole thing is falling to bits,’ Bishop Venables explained.  He said, the primates agreed this is a broken communion.

‘John-David Schofield, of San Joaquin, is a bishop in the Communion,’ Venables said, ‘he and other bishops (Iker, Duncan) may have been deposed by the Episcopal Church, but the meeting agreed they remain part of the Anglican Communion.’
 
The Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev. Henry Orombi, lauded the leadership of Archbishop Williams, saying he ‘chaired the meeting very wisely’ and was ‘very sensitive.’
 
Both primates agreed that a legislative or legal solution would not resolve the splits as two different faiths were in contention. ‘A liberal expression of Christianity is not Christianity (as we know it),’ Bishop Venables said. ‘Addressing this gap needs to take place before structural or legislative solutions are imposed on the church.’
 
The question of recognizing a parallel province in North America was premature, both primates said, because the underlying theological differences had not been addressed.
 
Archbishop Orombi said he hoped that a theological council would be called by Archbishop Williams that could devote the time and expertise to engage in these issues.  …’The Primates don’t have the time, and the primates’ meetings are not the proper venue for these issues.’
 
Both primates supported the Anglican Covenant process as…‘it will be another way of describing we are not in Communion,’ Archbishop Orombi said.
 
The two primates urged traditionalists in the United States to take heart…  Traditionalists must ‘hold together, remain together’ and persevere in their fight, ‘for we are standing with you,’ he said.”

******

From David Virtue of VirtueOnLine, also there, made some very direct statements:
“Two irreconcilable religions now coexist in the AC.  The AC will not split apart in the foreseeable future.  There is now total clarity about issues of authority and sexuality. There is no doubt in their minds that somewhere down the road the communion will divide.

…They were all agreed. There are two very different understandings of the Christian Faith now living together, indeed at war with one another in the AC and the situation has no long term resolution. It would take a miracle to keep it together and Dr. Rowan Williams understands that. He will try and keep it together for as long as he can under his watch.

The GAFCON Primates were clear in what they believe and so were the liberals. Venables said that Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz articulated the other side well. Everyone got the message. US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori made her case, but did not press it. She came late, said little and left early.  The liberal Primates made things a whole lot clearer. We were upfront about what we thought…  There was no pretending about anything,"’ said Venables.

The Anglican Communion is broken and it is beyond repair. It can never be repaired…  There is the real possibility that some orthodox Primates will not attend future Primates meetings because clarity has been reached. "The lion of Nigeria (Archbishop Peter Akinola) is going home satisfied," said Orombi.

There was no formal recognition of the new North American Anglican Province (ACNA). There seems little likelihood of this happening because it would have to go through the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which totally toes the liberal line.  Both men (Orombi and Venables) said…that ACNA is thoroughly Anglican and would be in fellowship with Anglicans like themselves…

Venables and Orombi both articulated their position by saying that while the Anglican Communion was not a Communion any more; they would still be in the Anglican Communion. (Editor’s note: Let’s have that again.)  Both men said that Dr. Rowan Williams is not the Pope. He does not have the authority to throw anyone out. The communion has no Magisterium.  Venables said the Global South Primates held together as one. There was no compromise.

…There was realism at the beginning that we were a broken communion…   We (the orthodox)…soon found we were not part of the same faith. We soon discovered that there was the Christian faith and something that was not the Christian faith…  ‘We will never agree,’ said Venables.

Is there a mechanism to prevent the continual dragging, out year after year, of the now recognized differences among Primates? …Is this just kicking the ball forward?  …Both men said there was no time scale, making people uncomfortable…  It was recognized that there were lots of Anglicans out there who are true Anglicans, but who do not belong to the Anglican Communion said the Primates. (Editor’s note: Like the true Anglicans in the REC)

Both primates said GAFCON has had an enormous influence on the Primates.

Eucharist was conducted in the morning, but at least 20% - 25% of the primates including mostly the GAFCON primates did not participate.

‘To be an Anglican, one has to know Christ. We recognize Rowan as our leader, but he does not have the final say, Jesus does. God’s hand and His Spirit was on everything,’ said Venables.  ‘The important thing to remember is that being in communion is about the integrity of the gospel. There needs to be an answer about how we move forward and it is coming and we will get there. Ultimately it is all about the gospel,’ he said”

******
Meanwhile, Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, a group that advocates for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in TEC, said in a statement that “scapegoating a percentage of the baptized by excluding them from a percentage of the sacraments of the Body of Christ is participating in the appeasement of bigotry. They're apples and oranges."  Ruth Myers, a professor of liturgics at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, an Episcopal seminary in Evanston, Illinois, said, "We reject the false choice suggested by the primates communiqué that God asks Episcopalians to deny either faithful mission with the worldwide Anglican Communion or full inclusion of our gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered sisters and brothers."
******
Father David Coady has this to say about the mediation concept, “Let me be sure that I have this correct. TEC and other secular humanists pretending to be Anglican Christians claim that by practicing homosexuality one is acting in a godly manner. Traditional Anglican Christians claim that homosexuality is a sin. Mediators are to be brought in and find a happy middle ground where both can coexist in the same Church. Either homosexuality is a sin or it is not a sin. If it is a sin then no practicing homosexual can be ordained deacon, priest, or bishop. Homosexual couples may not have their "weddings" blessed by the Church. Any Church doing either is not a Christian Church. How difficult is this to figure out? 
******
Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, says he thinks TEC has behaved "graciously", through all this, unlike other members of the Communion.  And he says he will never; ever vote to admit the new province, ACNA, to the Communion.

******

And finally, TEC reports with the election of Kentuckian Bishop Ted Gulick as the provisional replacement for Bishop Jack Iker, in the TEC Diocese of Ft. Worth, Gulick received a standing ovation and sustained applause.  A blogger identified only as “Jim” commented, “The noise you hear is the great sloshing and gurgling of the last few ounces of water draining from the sink.”

******

As always in the fog of Anglicanism…only time will tell…if we live that long…sine die

Rudy Schenken
Church of the Holy Communion, Dallas
www.holycommuniondallas.org