News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virftueonline.org
4/17/2009
The announcement this week from London that the GAFCON primates have formally recognized the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), signals a new day for orthodox Anglicans around the world.
A Communiqué from the GAFCON/FCA Primates' Council of eight archbishops reported on "the great progress made in North America towards the creation of a new Province basing itself on a biblical gospel of transformation and hope."
On any reading, this is a major slap in the face at Katharine Jefferts Schori, The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop and an embarrassing historical moment for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council under Canon Kenneth Kearon, both of whom have steadfastly refused to recognize the new province.
The GAFCON primates also praised the fledgling Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans "as a movement for defending and promoting the biblical gospel of the risen Christ."
Of course, none of this comes as a huge surprise. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," wrote William Shakespeare. It would seem that GAFCON takes an even firmer grip on the hearts and minds of the overwhelmingly orthodox majority of the Anglican Communion.
"We have worked very hard over the last decade to stand for the faith once delivered...to stand clearly and in these last years to stand together and to have the recognition of the GAFCON primates ...we represent a genuine Anglicanism and we want to be in full communion with like-minded Anglicans...we came for a blessing and we got a blessing," said Bishop Duncan in a video broadcast.
At a deeper level this signals the beginning of the end of the Anglican Communion, as we know it. GAFCON and the Lambeth Conference seem now to be locked in mortal combat.
Of course, the GAFCON primates were deferential enough to say that they valued their relationships within the Anglican Communion and their ecumenical friends. At the same time, they quickly moved on to say that "regional chapters and links were forming in many parts of the world with those who share the commitments expressed in GAFCON and FCA." Those are not words that will fill Lambeth Palace with joy.
They further noted that with the formation of ACNA, there would be an end to "cross border incursions" thus bringing a measure of peace in the US and Canada. Of course from the perspective of The Episcopal Church that is not going to happen. So long as parishes and dioceses flee and try to retain their properties, litigation will continue. So long as orthodox clergy and bishops leave TEC, they will be inhibited and deposed. While there are churches and dioceses to be litigated against, there will be no peace. It is a delusion to think otherwise.
While former TEC parishes and dioceses may join ACNA, they will not be recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore do not qualify for a hallowed seat at the next Lambeth Conference. As time progresses, they may not even care as GAFCON now represents more than 80% of the Anglican Communion, albeit with fewer bishops, (approximately 300).
The Lambeth Conference represents twice as many bishops (600) representing less than 20% of the Anglican Communion. Nine years from now, when the next Lambeth Conference rolls around, it may be a moot point. (Already ACNA is bigger than the Province of Wales and it is not yet fully in play.)
Furthermore, all the Anglican jurisdictions that ever intended coming to North America are already there. In June, when ACNA is formally recognized as a North American Anglican province, they will come under a single umbrella.
The Anglican leaders who met in London said they are saddened that the present crisis in the Anglican Communion remains unresolved. "The recent meeting of Primates in Alexandria served only to demonstrate how deep and intractable the divisions are and to encourage us to sustain the important work of GAFCON."
For this writer in Egypt, the full realization dawned that the Communion was irretrievably broken with two very different understandings of Anglicanism represented by two very different theologies, and two very different understandings of mission culminating in two very different definitions of the gospel message itself .
A case in point is homosexual behavior and the definition of repentance. Orthodox Primates believe that anyone who indulges in sexual behavior outside the confines of heterosexual marriage should cease and repent of that behavior. Liberal Primates, represented by Jefferts Schori (USA) and Fred Hiltz (Canada), believe repentance should be made for not being inclusive of non-celibate homosexuals into all orders of the church.
Those two positions are utterly irreconcilable. VOL's exclusive reports from Egypt revealed not an impaired communion, but a torn and broken communion. In London, the Primates were skeptical of an Anglican Covenant arguing that its adequacy depends on the willingness to address the crisis that has "torn the fabric" of the Communion. They were not fooled for a moment in believing that it would solve anything.
Skepticism was born out when the third Ridley Cambridge Draft Covenant came out with a single innovation designed to please liberals, but not conservatives. The draft focused on respect for the autonomy of individual national Churches, and gave assurances that the Covenant cannot override the Constitution and Canons of any province.
This would mean that TEC could persist in its innovations without worrying about a reprimand from the Archbishop of Canterbury or what Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola thinks. So don't look for any disciplinary action. There won't be any, if TEC passes same sex rites this summer in Anaheim at GC2009.
The GAFCON primates wisely noted that the Jerusalem Declaration insisted on already existing theological formularies of Anglicanism which they said provided an adequate basis for the restoration of the relationships within the Anglican Communion.
Clearly Bishop Duncan was pleased that the new Province in North America, with its 100,000 members, was given the green light by the GAFCON primates.
"As a result of this process, we celebrate the organization and official formation of ACNA around the same principles that gave rise to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and now the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA)...our fellowship with faithful Anglicans in North America remains steadfast."
A new day has dawned. There can be no going back to business as usual. Liberals can rail and rant all they like about homophobia, lack of inclusion, diversity, pluralism and fundamentalism, but orthodox Anglicans have chosen their own ship of state. They will not be diverted from their course to present the whole gospel to a whole but fallen world. To do otherwise is to preach "another gospel" a compromise they are not prepared to make.
END
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