- Quote:
-
NEW YORK • Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of U.S. Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province Wednesday in a long-developing rift over the Bible that erupted when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop.
The announcement represents a new challenge to the already splintering, 77-million-member world Anglican fellowship and the authority of its spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
The new North American Anglican province includes four breakaway Episcopal dioceses, many individual parishes in the U.S. and Canada, and splinter groups that left the Anglican family years, or in one case, more than a century ago. It is estimated that the Anglican province will be made up of about 700 congregations and have roughly 100,000 members.
In the Colorado Springs area, four Anglican churches will become part of the North American Anglican province, including Grace Church & St. Stephen's downtown, which last year left the Episcopal Church to become a missionary of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, operating under the name of Convocation of Anglicans in North America. The other three are new congregations that were not formed under the Episcopal umbrella.
Over the past five or so years, as conservative churches have left the Episcopal Church, they've aligned with different groups. The North American Anglican province is an attempt to bring them into one body.
"The reorganization is an opportunity to build or rebuild institutions or agencies that the Communion needs, such as schools, seminaries, publishing houses," said Alan Crippen, an Anglican priest who occasionally conducts service at Grace Church & St. Stephen's.
"This will formally bring us together," the Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of Grace Church & St. Stephen's, said in a statement.
The North American Anglican province's status within the Anglican Communion is unclear. It is unprecedented for a new Anglican national province to be created where two such national churches already exist. But traditionalists say the new group represents the true historic tradition of Anglican Christianity and is vital to counter what they consider policies that violate Scripture.
Bishop Robert Duncan, who leads the breakaway Diocese of Pittsburgh, is the proposed new leader of the new North American province. In a phone interview from Wheaton, Ill., where leaders of the new group met, Duncan called Wednesday's announcement an "exciting and remarkable moment" for traditionalists.
Williams has been striving for years to find a compromise that would keep liberal and conservative Anglicans together, but unlike a pope, he lacks the power to force a resolution.
The Anglican Communion links 38 self-governing provinces that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S., while the Anglican Church in Canada represents the communion in that country.
Anglicans have been debating for decades over what members of their fellowship should believe. Tensions erupted in 2003 when Episcopalians consecrated New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who lives with his longtime male partner.
Around the same time, some Canadian Anglican leaders began authorizing blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions, saying biblical teachings on social justice required them to do so. The actions pushed the Anglican family to the brink of schism.
A London spokesman for the Anglican Communion did not respond to a request for comment.
But Michael Pollesel, general security of the Anglican Church of Canada, said the new province leaders "really have no standing with the Anglican Communion at this point."
The Rev. Charles Robertson, adviser to the head of the Episcopal Church, underscored that the U.S. and Canadian churches are "the recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America."
The new province will not be fully formed for months, or perhaps longer, as it goes through the process of approving a new constitution and leadership.
They also must resolve their own theological differences, over ordaining women and other issues.
-
Mark Barna of The Gazette contributed to this report.
DETAILS The split came after more liberal actions seen as running counter to Scripture.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/church_44350___article.html/anglican_episcopal.html
|