WITHER GOETH THE ACNA?

Excerpts from Archbishop Robert Duncan's address to the Provincial Council of the ACNA.

The Anglican Church in North America continues to secure its place in global Anglican circles.  The amazing work of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund is a huge part of the story: 134 development projects in 36 nations, alongside of millions of dollars of relief work in global disasters, has shown the Anglican world that we desire to be agents of the transforming love of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  In a different way, as a GAFCON/GFCA Province we are full partners with a majority of the world’s Anglicans.  Twice a year I participate in the GAFCON/GFCA Primates Council.  An even larger constellation of Anglican Provinces – the so-called Global South – also always includes our leadership in their global gatherings.  The Church of England continues to follow-through on the General Synod motion of 2010, a follow-through that, I am convinced, will lead to the recognition of our orders within another year or so.  Recently I spent four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury, at his invitation.  Last week I spent five hours of private time with the Primate of Nigeria, deepening our relationship and commitment to one another.  The role of the Anglican Church in North America in GAFCON 2 in October in Nairobi – some one-hundred-thirty-four of us – will be an immensely significant one.  The Anglican Church in North America is a significant player on the Global Anglican stage.  (My emphasis)

Regarding Duncan's confidence that the Church of England will recognize ACNA's orders within a year or so, who am I to say it won't happen?  At first, I thought the juxtaposition of Duncan's mention of the two meetings - four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury and five hours with the Primate of Nigeria - was a bit strange, but perhaps not. 

Lionel Deimel, to whom I am indebted for the link to Robert Duncan's address, has further interesting commentary about the content of the speech, especially with regard to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the ACNA's choice of Nashotah House for their meeting.  

'CHURCH OF ENGLAND REPORTS ON ACNA'

From Thinking Anglicans:

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

18. We would, therefore, encourage an open-ended engagement with ACNA on the part of the Church of England and the Communion, while recognising that the outcome is unlikely to be clear for some time yet, especially given the strong feelings on all sides of the debate in North America.

19. The Church of England remains fully committed to the Anglican Communion and to being in communion both with the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church (TEC). In addition, the Synod motion has given Church of England affirmation to the desire of ACNA to remain in some sense within the Anglican famil

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

There you have it. Nothing to see here. Move along.

IN THE SPIRIT OF PEACE AND GOOD WILL?

The Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
United States of America

Thursday 15th December 2011

Dear Bishop Katharine,

Advent greetings to you in the name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is with a heavy heart that I write you informing you of our decision as a House of Bishops to withdraw your invitation to the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS). We acknowledge your personal efforts to spearhead prayer and support campaigns on behalf of the ECS and remain very grateful for this attention you and your church have paid to Sudan and South Sudan. However, it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality.

Find attached a statement further explaining our position as a province.

(Signed)

--(The Most Rev.) Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Archbishop Primate and Metropolitan of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Bishop of the Diocese of Juba

Peace and blessings to you in the spirit of the holy season, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul.

Most dioceses in the Episcopal Church will very likely continue their relationships with dioceses and parishes in Sudan. By doing so, they will witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Initial responses from dioceses in the Episcopal Church may be found at The Lead.

H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.

STIRRINGS IN AMIA

From BabyBlueOnline:

1. A Letter to Bishop Chuck Murphy from Archbishop Nathan Gasatura, primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda.
2. A Letter to Bishop Chuck Murphy from Bishop John Rucyahana.
3. A Letter from the Rev. Cynthia Brust of the AMiA Press Office to the Rev. Canon George Conger.

BabyBlue posts the entire text of a letter from Bishop Terrell Glenn announcing his resignation from AMiA:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus.

I am writing to inform you that I have resigned from the Anglican Mission in America. I communicated this to my brother bishops earlier this week at our fall retreat in Myrtle Beach and submitted a letter to that effect to Bishop Murphy, our Chairman and Archbishop Rwaje’s Primatial Vicar. This is not a decision that I have made lightly or in haste or in reaction to any of the impending decisions about the future direction of the Anglican Mission that are before the Council of Bishops and the Anglican Mission. Rather, it is a decision that Teresa and I have made after several months of agonizing prayer as we have sought to do what we believe the Lord has called us to do.

Read the rest of Bishop Terrell's letter at BB's link above.

BabyBlue's post also includes a video of 'Anglicans Unscripted' with Kevin Kallsen and George Conger discussing the present situation in AMiA, along with commentary on the relationship between AMiA and ACNA, which now seems to be fraying, followed by a segment with Bishop Julian Dobbs of CANA. By now, my head is spinning. I confess that I don't have a firm grasp of the identities and history of the several groups. I'll take a stab at making connections: AMiA is connected to Rwanda; CANA is connected to Nigeria; ACNA is connected to the Southern Cone; the kneebone is connected to the thighbone.... Oops! I went off the rails there.

Then I sobered up quickly. The next two segments of the video contrasted the handling of allegations of child abuse by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky at Penn State and the subsequent cover-up, resulting in the firings of head coach Joe Paterno and the president of the university, with the months-long silence of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori about questions concerning the reception of Bede Parry, a former Roman Catholic priest with a history of sexual abuse of young people, into the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. The subject of the final section of the video was the Anglican Covenant.

The Parry story is not going away. The PB's silence is deafening.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

ACNA AND BISHOP DUNCAN LOSE APPEAL IN PENNSYLVIA SUPREME COURT

See Lionel Deimal's Web Log and Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

The ruling reads:

ORDER
PER CURIAM

And now, this 17th day of October, 2011 the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is hereby DENIED.

MARK ASKS A QUESTION

Mark Harris at Preludium asks:

Is Julian Linnell an ACNA member on an Anglican Communion group?

The AC group is the Evangelism and Church Growth Initiative (ECGI).

Read Mark's entire post and the comments.

Paul Powers says in the comments:

He's on a list of clergy in Pittsburgh who have been released from licensed ministry in the Episcopal Church.

http://www.episcopalpgh.org/wp-content/uploads/file/2010DioConv/2010PreconventionPacket09162010v2.pdf

(go to page D-14).

I said in the comments to Mark's post:

On the one hand, I have the sense that someone or more than one in the ACO may be trying to sneak something by us in TEC that will be the first step in having parallel churches recognized as part of the AC here in the US.

On the other hand, I wonder if the folks in the ACO even know to which church the Rev Dr Linnell belongs.

Some might say, I'm a tad suspicious, and I would not quarrel with them.

UPDATE: Mark has more information at Preludium.

Following up on my earlier post in which I asked "Is Julian Linnell an ACNA member of an Anglican Communion group?" the answer appears to be "yes." Thanks to several readers who found additional information on this.

Read the rest.