Archbishop Linda Nicholls stated in an email to the Anglican Journal that provinces that did not attend the latest Lambeth conference have “separated from the Anglican Communion”.
Does she mean by this that Anglicans in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are fake Anglicans, pale imitations of the genuine article?
When Canadian Anglicans left the Anglican Church of Canada for the Southern Cone and later formed ANiC, this was the claim explicitly made by ACoC clergy, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that Nicholls it is implying this. The fact that the provinces that did not attend Lambeth have full, vibrant churches while liberal western Anglicanism is little more than a twitching corpse whose nervous system is still functioning but has disconnected from any resemblance of sentience does not bother the archbishop. One almost gets the impression she is glad to see the back of these troublesome conservative provinces.
The other interpretation is that liberal western Anglicanism “separated from the Anglican Communion” some years ago by abandoning orthodox Christianity. Not only is it an Anglican fake, but a Christian fake.
From here:
The Anglican churches in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda have effectively separated from the Anglican Communion by refusing to participate in the Lambeth Conference, says Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Like many other Canadian bishops, however, Nicholls also says she left this summer’s meeting in Lambeth, U.K. with a prevailing sense of hope for the future of the Communion.
About 650 bishops attended this summer’s Lambeth Conference, a gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world which last met in 2008. Much media coverage of the conference focused on disagreement over same-sex marriage, particularly after primates of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda refused to attend in protest at the invitation of bishops in same-sex unions. The same three provinces had already boycotted the 2008 gathering—attending a meeting of conservative bishops, the Global Anglican Futures Conference, in Jerusalem instead—as well as the meeting of Anglican Communion primates in March 2022.
Reached via email, Nicholls said the Lambeth boycott is a sign those provinces have left the global grouping of Anglican churches.
“Some have already indicated by their non-participation that they have separated from the Anglican Communion,” she said, confirming she meant the provinces of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. “Others continue to participate despite disagreement and I see that continuing into the future.”