Bishop Martyn Minns was installed as Missionary Bishop in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) by Archbishop Peter Akinola, at Woodbridge, Virginia, on Saturday. Among the many greetings was one from 30 members of the Church of England General Synod, including the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Bishop of Rochester.
“We want to remain faithful members of the Anglican Communion,” said Bishop Minns at a press conference preceding his installation. He thanked Archbishop Akinola for establishing CANA, which is now a duly constituted convocation of the Church of Nigeria.
CANA, which has more regular worshippers than nearly 50 of The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) dioceses, currently consists of 34 parishes, with others queuing up to join. About one third are in Virginia and the rest are spread across 11 other states. About a dozen of the churches have predominantly Nigerian membership.
Saturday’s ceremony took place at a non-denominational chapel, and Archbishop Akinola was accompanied by a number of Nigerian bishops along with several American and Canadian bishops, including the Bishop of Pittsburgh.
The service started with representatives of each of the CANA churches carrying their banners, followed by a procession of the dignitaries. As the service progressed it became more informal, with Bishops dancing at the front and Bishop Minns holding his tambourine aloft.
Breaking with tradition, Archbishop Akinola did not preach and it was Bishop Minns who delivered to the 1,500-strong congregation, a sermon, which touched on the tensions in the global Anglican Communion. “The Communion is wrestling with irreconcilable truths,” Bishop Minns said of the dispute over homosexuality. “It’s not clear how it will turn out.”
“My priority,” he said, “is to support the growing movement of Anglicans who wish to honour the authority of Scripture as the Word of God and remain steadfast in the historic teachings of the Church. CANA hopes to replicate the growth of, and enthusiasm for. Anglicanism now evident in the Global South.”
Martyn Minns grew up in Nottingham, graduated from Birmingham University and sensed God’s call to the ordained ministry while working for [the] Mobil [Oil Corporation] in New York. For the last 16 years he has been Rector of Truro Church in Fairfax Virginia, ministering to its congregation of over 2,000 people.
By the end of the ceremony, some Nigerian congregants danced and all broke into a spirited singing of “Days of Elijah.” Archbishop Akinola told those gathered that the ceremony was “simply the first step” on a long road.
He said: The Church of Nigeria itself stands to gain nothing from this. We are doing this on behalf of the Communion. If we had not done this many of you would be lost to other churches, maybe to nothing at alL”
The Washington Post came out with a report on Sunday headed “Rebel Anglicans appoint a bishop.” It might have been nearer the mark to say that estranged Episcopalians were reasserting their true Anglican identity.
–The Church of England Newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment