Global South Anglican

First, I wish to clarify that my response is not meant to be a personal attack on Canon Kenneth Kearon. My reference to the “heart of darkness” refers to a pervasive mentality in some parts in our Communion, which takes a view that the “post-liberal” outlook is superior, and should be enforced to the rest of the world.  The title “Heart of Darkness” comes from Joseph Conrad’s critique on a similar European “civilising project” in Congo a hundred years ago. As I suggested in my response, all (both East and West) are prone to such outlook. I do apologize to Canon Kearon for any misunderstanding I caused.

Anglican bishops from ten jurisdictions and organizations pledged to take the first steps toward a “new ecclesiastical structure” in North America. The meeting of the first ever Common Cause Council of Bishops was held in Pittsburgh September 25–28. The bishops present lead more than 600 Anglican congregations. They formally organized themselves as a college of bishops which will meet every six months. They also laid out a timeline for the path ahead, committed to working together at local and regional levels, agreed to deploy clergy interchangeably and announced their intention to, in consultation “with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted,” call a “founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union,” at the earliest possible date agreeable to all of the partners. 

...Dr Williams openly declared that September 30, which the Primates had set as a deadline for response, was no ultimatum but merely a convenient date following the House of Bishops meeting. It is clear that this is not a view shared by many of his fellow primates and does not reflect the language of the communiqué itself. This declaration however gives an open signal that Dr Williams himself is not prepared to lead the Communion in any proper sanction against The Episcopal Church. We can therefore expect further tragic fragmentation in the coming months.

“The US bishops have not said anything different from their earlier liberal stance, which supports same-sex unions.”

Fulcrum Response to the Statement from the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church, New Orleans, 25 September 2007

Fulcrum Comparative Study of Statements From Dar es Salaam and New Orleans

I am grateful for the tone of this meeting and for many aspects of the process and the contributions many bishops from very diferent perspectives made to it. I wish that such openness and frankness, and serious discussion, had characterized earlier meetings. (And here I refer to 15 years of such meetings!). But the final result, I must confess, is disappointing to me. I do not believe the answers requested by the Primates have been given. I do not believe we have moved very far – if at all – from where we were before this meeting in terms of the assurances sought. I certainly think that internally, the House of Bishops changed its dynamics in a number of ways that are welcome. But for all that, we still seem, as one bishop has said, “stuck.”

Ed: The rest in pdf format is worth reading from here. Bishop Stanton’s discussions on B033 resolution concurs with our editorial comment and observation on the on-going lack of clarity.

A Response to the Statement by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion on behalf of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council, 26 September 2007

Three orthodox Anglican groups, the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Communion Network, and Forward in Faith North America, have issued a joint statement on the recently-concluded meeting of the House of Bishops in New Orleans. 

The addition of “(1) The House acknowledges that non-celibate gay and lesbian persons are included among those to whom B033 pertains” may be read as a significant change or clarification to B033 but it is not. It is a worthless “sequitur” statement which don’t add anything…

In the interest of clarity, I would like to report to the clergy and people of the Diocese of South Carolina on the meeting of the House of Bishops in New Orleans. I am particularly concerned that you hear directly from me as the distortion in the media and on blogs is profound. 

Abp Peter Akinola responded.

A total of 51 bishops and bishops-elect representing tens-of-thousands of Anglicans in North America are meeting together Sept. 25-28 in Pittsburgh , PA. The meeting of the first-ever Common Cause Council of Bishops brings together bishops and observers from the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the Anglican Communion Network, Anglican Network in Canada, the Anglican Province of America, Anglican Essentials Canada, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Forward in Faith North America and the Reformed Episcopal Church…

From the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church
New Orleans, Louisiana
September 25, 2007

Representatives of Global South Provinces of the Anglican Communion gathered at the New Coco Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana, between 19th and 22nd September 2007 to continue the work of the Economic Empowerment Track. Nine Provinces were represented at the meeting. 

Just prior to his departure from New Orleans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told The Living Church that the primates will be consulted as part of the process of evaluating whether The Episcopal Church has satisfactorily complied with the primates’ requests, but he has not decided whether to call for another primates’ meeting before the Lambeth Conference of Bishops meets next July.

Andrew Goddard on New Orleans and the Anglican Communion.

Friday’s press conference can be viewed in full by going to Episcopal News Service.

Andrew Carey wrote in the Church of England Newspaper Schism is not the Answer.

Kendall Harmon wrote on Titusonenine: What Would a Radical Solution Look Like?

“Despite what has been claimed, there is no ‘ultimatum’ involved,” Archbishop Williams said, reciting from memory a written statement distributed to reporters. “The primates asked for a response by September 30 simply because we were aware that this was the meeting of the house likely to be formulating such a response. The ACC and Primates Joint Standing Committee will be reading and digesting what the bishops have to say, and will let me know their thoughts on it early next week. After this I shall be sharing what they say, along with my own assessments, with the primates and others, inviting their advice in the next couple of weeks.”

We keep on praying that Dr Rowan, who we love very much and keep on praying for every day for God’s guidance and God’s wisdom, we still believe that somehow he will resume with us and do what we ask him. Should he refuse to the end, we might have to call our meeting.’

‘Each meeting is very prophetic,’ he said. The Global South does not see itself as forming its own, separate communion however. ‘We see ourselves as the Anglicans.The Anglican fathers came together in 1998 and set a standard of faith. We have not violated that. Those who broke the standards are the ones who are walking away.’

He ended by saying he was still hopeful and he and all his Global South colleagues are praying for Dr Williams. ‘We are still full of hope. Remember we are Christians. If we lose hope, then everything has gone. We are praying that Ecusa will do what has been asked of them. If they do, we will be on the path to reconciliation. If they do not, they will have chosen to walk apart.’

Hat tip - Matt Kennedy @ Stand Firm

“ My friends, if you really believe that the truth revealed to you is different from that shown to the rest of the Communion, then you need to uphold that claim with boldness even at the risk of losing unity. If you think it is right and necessary to ordain and consecrate practicing homosexuals and that you should bless same sex partnerships or even marriages, you should be true to what you believe is right and accept the consequences.”

Kendall Harmon: Honesty or Obfuscation in New Orleans?

Ephraim Radner--Violence and Communion: Why the World Looks to Anglicanism, Or Will Pass It By

Andrew Goddard: Thoughts on the Anglican Communion at the very edge of the Precipice

Graham Kings: The Edge: The Episcopal Church, September 2007

I was deeply disappointed that the paper never really addressed the legal question of why we cannot comply with the Primates’ directives. Nothing in our Constitution and Canons would prevent us from putting a freeze on lawsuits. Nothing prevents the House of Bishops from pledging to oppose the consent to the election of any practicing homosexual to the episcopate, or to agree to issue a godly admonition to clergy to refrain from same sex blessings. Nothing would prevent them from agreeing to allow the alternative primatial oversight plan to be put into operation. After all, it is almost exactly what the present Presiding Bishop proposed before Tanzania.

I have just met with leaders of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). I have great respect and admiration for them as I see them remaining steadfast in their faith. The ADV embraces several Global South ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and represents the renewal of Anglicanism in America whose unity is based in the Word of God and demonstrated through its Bishops who work together cooperatively and collaboratively for increased mission in America...- Abp Orombi

A response to The Constitutional Crisis, 2007: A Statement to the House of Bishops, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Honored Visitors

Ed: Good read

This is a OCR scanned version from Standing Firm. There are still some minor areas but the major points are there. For a pdf version, go here.

The proposed Anglican Communion Covenant is the one way for us to uphold our common heritage of faith while at the same time holding each other accountable to those teachings that have defined our life together and also guide us into the future. It has already received enthusiastic support from the majority of the Communion…

The Covenant website has been set up by a group of American Episcopalians in the United States, who describe themselves as ‘evangelical catholic’. The website, which also contains a blog facility, will focus on ‘the present struggles and gifts’ of the Episcopal Church in an attempt to create greater humility and reconciliation among Christians.

To see the Covenant website go to http://covenant-communion.com

Where are we going? Nowhere. We stand where we have always stood. We are who we have always been. It is The Episcopal Church that has moved. It is The Episcopal Church that has become something new. If the Convention adopts the constitutional amendments proposed, it is re-alignment within the Anglican Communion that would be made possible. The argument is that this re-alignment would free the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh from any claim that it can be forced to be something different, from being carried somewhere outside the mainstream of Anglicanism, from being lured somewhere outside the mainstream of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

“We are praying that the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops makes these votes unnecessary by unequivocally accepting all the requests of the worldwide Anglican Communion when they meet in New Orleans Sept. 20-25,” said the Rev. David Rucker, president of Diocesan Council. “While we continue to pray for the House we must also prepare for the very real possibility they will not respond favorably. Thus, we are beginning the process that will allow our convention to consider this action in the event the Episcopal Church does not turn back,” he added.

Abp Nzimbi said the Anglican Church in Kenya would make its decision by December. He did feel, however, that participating and having dialogue would be better than declining to attend altogether. Church leaders opposed to the ordination of homosexuals would be eager to meet with like-minded bishops at the conference and decide the way forward on the issue, he added.

What I noticed then were several trends in the Episcopal Church in the USA which have probably become more pronounced over the intervening years. Some, if not all, of these first-hand but subjective observations bring into focus key issues which are at the heart of the new ways of understanding the faith in The Episcopal Church today. These highlight the fact that the divisions we are experiencing in the Anglican Communion are not simply to do with sexuality.

From The Church of Ireland Gazette. 

The Anglican Communion Network provides for parishes that are not part of The Episcopal Church via its International Conference (ICON).

Common Cause Partners, AMiA and CANA are also able to provide episcopal oversight through foreign jurisdictions for American parishes.

Over the past few days Angela, Rachel, and I have had the joyful privilege of taking part in the consecration of three new bishops from Kenya and Uganda to serve in the USA. We were there, along with representatives from most of the provinces of the Global South, to demonstrate our solidarity with each of these new bishops and their families as they begin their ministries. The actual services were exuberant celebrations attended by thousands and both lasted approximately five hours! They were also important milestones in our effort to build a united, biblically based, missionary-minded expression of Anglicanism in the USA…

The Bishop of Uyo “denied making such a statement,” Canon Popoola said. While the bishop’s address to his diocesan synod did speak to the issue of human sexuality dividing the Communion, and the Church of Nigeria’s position on these issues, “he did not say that [gays and lesbians] are to be hated, nor that they are insane or unfit to live.”

Which way will Rowan jump? With just a fortnight to go before the crucial meeting of the Episcopal House of Bishops in New Orleans, that question is becoming ever more pressing. But the answer remains frustratingly elusive. Few believe that the American bishops are willing or able to deliver the moratoriums asked for in the Dar Es Salaam communiqué...