Fort Worth to Vote on Southern Cone Ties

From The Living Church:

Posted on: September 28, 2009

A member diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) will consider a resolution that maintains the diocese’s ties with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

The resolution is being proposed by the Diocese of Fort Worth’s standing committee. The diocese’s convention will meet on Nov. 6 and 7 in Arlington, Texas. The resolution commits the diocese to continued participation in the ACNA, but also “maintains its status as a member diocese in the Province of the Southern Cone while the formal process of recognition of [ACNA] continues in the Anglican Communion.”

“At this point, the Anglican Church in North America is not yet fully recognized as a province of the Anglican Communion,” the standing committee said in an explanation. “We are working towards that goal, but it is a lengthy process involving the primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Anglican Consultative Council.”

The standing committee also says it is important for the diocese to remain within ACNA, in order to “support and encourage an authentic Anglican witness in North America.”

Another resolution urges the diocese to adopt the Ridley Cambridge draft of the Anglican Communion’s proposed covenant. A third resolution would inform Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America that the diocese shares his vision to “live, to actualize, and to participate in the full integrity of the Catholic Church—the full integrity of Orthodox Catholicism.”

In other diocesan news, the reconstituted Diocese of Pittsburgh will consider a resolution that authorizes a study of reuniting that diocese with the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Northwestern Pennsylvania has not planned a study of its own, although the Pittsburgh resolution would invite participation by that Northwestern Pennsylvania's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, and other diocesan leaders.

The reunion study is one of 20 resolutions presented for Pittsburgh's diocesan convention, which is scheduled for Oct. 16 and 17 at Trinity Cathedral. Another resolution encourages congregations to submit their responses to the draft covenant “as a preliminary to a response by the diocese.” Fifteen more resolutions would offer the first of two necessary votes to reverse constitutional changes that were made as previous diocesan conventions prepared to separate the diocese from the Episcopal Church.