Via VirtueOnline:
Commentary
By John P. Connolly,
The Philadelphia Bulletin
11/26/2008
A group of conservative Anglicans are making preparations to launch a new Anglican province for North America, a plan that reflects the deepening rift between theological perspectives in the Anglican Communion.
The Common Cause Partnership will publicly release the draft constitution of an emerging Anglican Church in North America Dec. 3, and formally subscribe to the Jerusalem Declaration of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and affirm the GAFCON Statement on the Global Anglican Future at an evening worship celebration in suburban Chicago. The Common Cause Partnership is a federation of Anglican networking and pastoral organizations encompassing more than 100,000 Christians in North America.
"One conclusion of the Global Anglican Future Conference held in Jerusalem last June was that the time for the recognition of a new Anglican body in North America had arrived," said Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of Common Cause Partnership in a press release. "The public release of our draft constitution is an important concrete step toward the goal of a Biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America."
Many conservative Anglicans have been concerned over departures from biblical precepts and traditional teachings in some parts of the Communion. Conservative frustrations reached a high water mark this summer, when a group of Anglican bishops spurned the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, opting to hold their own conference in Jerusalem instead.
GAFCON decried the acceptance of openly gay bishops and priests, and acknowledged that "God's creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family.
"We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married," continued the statement.
One of the other things the GAFCON statement called for was a new province for North America.
"We believe this is a critical moment when the Primates' Council will need to put in place structures to lead and support the church," said GAFCON's final statement. "In particular, we believe the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognized by the Primates' Council."
In a way, the new province raises some problematic questions for the structure of the church in North America. To truly be a province, the group would need recognition from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
"Those who are gathering next week to essentially declare a new province can only call it a 'province' in quotes," said Rev. Edward Rix, rector at All Saint's Parish in Wynnewood. "What will be controversial will be how they move forward on such issues that divide them."
Rev. Rix said there are many examples of overlapping jurisdiction that could provide a precedent, but those instances may be considered different than this one.
"It is the case that dioceses spring up from groups of parishes," said Rev. Rix.
He said some parishes incorporate as a diocese and than apply for membership as a diocese, essentially the same procedure that is being used for the new province.
Bishop David Moyer, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, knows many of the leaders of the movement. He said their intentions are good, but that their road will be difficult.
"I think these leaders are driven by Gospel imperatives," said Bishop Moyer.
But he also said he doesn't really expect Archbishop Williams to recognize the new province. "I don't see him in any way giving them the credibility they request," he said. "Because that will discredit the Episcopal Church. And there are still many traditional, orthodox Anglican people there."
The Common Cause Partnership is a federation of Anglican Christians that links together eight Anglican jurisdictions and organizations in North America. It includes the American Anglican Council; the Anglican Coalition in Canada; the Anglican Communion Network; the Anglican Mission in the Americas; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; Forward in Faith North America; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the bishops and congregations linked with Kenya, Uganda and South America's Southern Cone.
END
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