Tag Archives: ACNA

Michael Coren can’t count

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This shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, since most of his other reasoning faculties abandoned him, too, when he converted to liberalism. In this predictably tendentious article about the Canterbury Primates’ gathering, he calls ACNA “a small group of Anglicans”.

ACNA presently has over 100,000 members and an average Sunday attendance of over 80,000, numbers that approach, if not exceed (who knows, the ACoC is too shy to publish statistics) those of the entire Anglican Church of Canada – to which Coren has just joined himself.

Up to now small groups of Anglicans, including a fringe in Canada, have left the communion over more progressive positions around sexuality, and while there has never been a central authority or leadership resembling that of Roman Catholicism, there is now a severe risk of a formal break between the Western churches and many of those in the developing world. What has traditionally been a loose but warm collective could become an absolute separation.

The “fringe in Canada” would be ANiC, the Christian version of Canadian Anglicanism.

Archdeacon Bruce Myers thinks ACNA should repent

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From here (page 5):

The Anglican Church of Canada has a number of ecumenical partners. One, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, has become a full communion partner with which we enjoy a full and mutual recognition of ministry and sacraments. With others, like the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, we’re still on that journey—an admittedly longer one.

To be an ecumenical partner means to repent of our divisions and to understand them as a scandalous contradiction of the will of Christ. It means to fervently desire reconciliation with the churches from which we are separated, and to manifest this desire in prayer, dialogue and action.

To be an ecumenical partner also means recognizing that the other with whom you are seeking to reconcile demonstrates signs of the Holy Spirit at work, even if you are in disagreement about some significant issues.

It’s far from clear that ACNA yet manifests these qualities of an ecumenical partner. Its repentance is, according to its constitution, limited to “things done and left undone that have contributed to or tolerated the rise of false teaching” in the Anglican churches from which it has chosen to walk apart.

It’s still in a legal fight over property with two dioceses in the United States. It seeks recognition as a new North American province of the Anglican Communion without desiring reconciliation with those already existing.

I suspect what is really troubling Bruce Myers is not so much the division in North American Anglicanism but the fact that ANCA has made it so conspicuous. The division existed for decades before the final split occurred; while it was hidden, conservatives could be safely ignored. By making the split so blatant, ACNA has clearly said in action and word that the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC are guilty of “false teaching”; their religion does not meet the standards needed to be called Christian. It is, at best, sub-Christian.

A liberal like Myers is tolerant of just about anything other than being firmly told he is wrong. The desire for reconciliation is little more than carefully disguised insecurity.

To illustrate the point: a number of years ago when a vote for same sex-blessings passed in the Diocese of Niagara, a number of clergy voiced their opposition and walked out. A liberal priest rose to his feet and spluttered indignantly that those walking out were declaring by their action that he was not a Christian. That wasn’t the intention, but the question is: why was he so desperate for the approval of those whose theology he had spent years despising? There is no insecurity quite as profound as liberal insecurity.

Myers wants affirmation not reconciliation.

Merry Christmas, Archdeacon.

Pope recognises ACNA, Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t

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From here:

Pope Francis has signalled his blessing to the breakaway traditionalist American church at the centre of the split which has divided the 80 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion over the issue of sexuality.

He sent a message offering his “prayers and support” to Archbishop Foley Beach, the new leader of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the conservative movement which broke away from The Episcopal Church after the ordination of the first openly gay bishop.

[….]

“Assure him [Archbishop Foley] of my prayers and support at this moment and in the future as he leads the Church at this very important moment of revival and mission.”

[….]

in an interview last week, Archbishop Welby underlined his view that ACNA is “not part of the Anglican Communion”.

The Pope has it right: ACNA is a catalyst for revival.

Although the Pope didn’t say it, Establishment Anglicanism represented by Canterbury and North America is an agent of decay.

The fruitless ARCIC meanderings have fizzled into endless vapid dialogue. It would be satisfying if some type of unity could be achieved between ACNA and the Roman Catholic church while Canterbury is still refusing to acknowledge the obvious – that ACNA really is a member of the Anglican Communion. Of course, if this takes too long, it will be transparently clear: ACNA will be a member of the only part of the Anglican Communion still left standing – GAFCON.

Justin Welby and the Idolatry of Reconciliation

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I’ve been sitting on the balcony of our apartment in Brisbane enjoying watching the river traffic and strolling along the river walk: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA _DSC0172-2 _DSC0245Although this is more entertaining than dwelling on the convulsions of the terminally sick Anglican Communion, I have taken the odd moment to listen to the ever louder death rattle.

Justin Welby is so keen on reconciliation, I had thought him a Reconciliation Fundamentalist; it seems to be worse than that, though. I suspect that when the time comes for man to judge the fallen angels, Welby will plead the case for a good disagreement rather than outright damnation.

Just as there is no reconciling good with evil, there is no reconciling the faux-Christianity of the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC with the genuine article. To pretend otherwise is to make an idol of reconciliation.

From here:

The ACNA is a “fellow member of the church of Christ in the world,” but added the “ACNA is a separate church. It is not part of the Anglican Communion.”

[……]

“We are committed ecumenically to reconciliation of the churches, to visible unity this is John 17 particularly the last few verses. That is a profound commitment, a profound emotional and theological commitment. Where there is the possibility of reconciliation with ecumenical partners, ACNA is clearly an ecumenical partner, it is a fellow member of the church of Christ in the world, as with all ecumenical partners we seek reconciliation.”

Anglican ups and downs

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The Average Sunday Attendance at ACNA churches has increased 16% over 5 years (2009-2014).

The Average Sunday Attendance at Anglican Church of Canada churches has decreased by 12.5% over 6 years (2001-2007). The ASA at TEC churches decreased 6% over 3 years (2009-2012)

Is there a message here? Yes.

Will the ACoC and TEC listen to it – they keep telling us they love to listen? No.

Another reason for belonging to ACNA

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Unlike the ACoC and TEC who ceaselessly prattle about social justice while studiously ignoring the systematic killing of millions of unborn children every year, ACNA takes a stand against abortion.

The best that TEC can do comes from Rev Katherine Ragsdale who has declared that abortions are a blessing and abortionists, heroes; the ACoC is too timid to say anything.

From here:

March for Life 2014

An invitation to the March for Life from Archbishop Duncan

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In Deuteronomy 30:19 Moses says, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

This exhortation reminds us of the profound importance God places on life, especially our children, born and unborn. Furthermore, the Canons of the Anglican Church in North America include this declaration of our commitment to life: God, and not man, is the creator of human life. The unjustified taking of life is sinful. Therefore, all members and Clergy are called to protect and respect the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death (Canon II.8.3).

ACNA bishops to participate in March for Life

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It’s heartening to see that in the midst of a wilderness of Anglican indifference to abortion, there are fifteen bishops from the Anglican Church in North America willing to stand against it.

From here:

Fifteen Anglican bishops, including the Archbishop Robert Duncan, are slated to join Anglicans for Life and thousands of others from across the nation on Friday, January 25, 2013, in Washington, D.C. for the 40th Annual March for Life. The Anglican bishops will start the day in prayer by attending the ecumenical service at Constitution Hall (1776 D Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.) called the National Memorial for the Preborn and their Mothers and Fathers.

“I am honored to stand, along with my fellow bishops of the Anglican Church in North America, in recognition of the millions lost through abortion and to demonstrate our commitment to uphold the sanctity of life for all of God’s children,” said Archbishop Robert Duncan.

“The Anglican Church in North America has a deep commitment to the sanctity of life,” said Bishop John Guernsey of the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.  “Our hope is that the presence of so many of our bishops for the March for Life this year will help spur the Church to even greater support for the sanctity of human life.”

Another heartfelt response to Rowan Williams’ retirement

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From here:

Good riddance to Dr Williams.

So the Archbishop of Canterbury, has finally announced his resignation. I believe the operative word is “Hallelujah”. I have long felt that the incumbent of this illustrious office has been what we nowadays call a “waste of space”. An airy-fairy academic out of touch with the feelings of common folk and a spouter of politically correct twaddle, a man of zero leadership qualities at a time when we require strong direction from the head of this country’s official religious establishment. Under Dr Rowan Williams’ watch the British have been in danger of utterly devaluing their ancient Judaeo-Christian tradition, which would have been tragic for both the religious and secular alike.

Poor Rowan Williams: he tried to please everyone – or, perhaps more accurately, tried to upset no-one, and, in doing so, earned almost universal opprobrium. Those who said kind things about his efforts, did so because they are his friends and even they struggled to find something good to say about Dr. Williams’ ten year quest to find unity through incoherent indaba babbling.

From a Canadian perspective, not only did he not protest at the deposing of one of the world’s most respected evangelical theologians, Dr. J. I. Packer, but his refusal to grant even a sliver of recognition to ACNA and ANiC effectively scuttled any attempt by ANiC parishioners to hang on to their buildings. The legal argument that crushed ANiC’s chances went along these lines:

  • Anglican church buildings are held in trust for Anglicans to use as places of worship.
  • The Anglican Church of Canada has strayed from being Anglican as defined by the Solemn Declaration of 1893.
  • ANiC members hold to the Anglicanism of the Solemn Declaration and, therefore, are the true Anglicans for which the buildings are intended.

Counter argument:

  • Anglican theology is not static.
  • The Anglican Church of Canada is the only recognised Anglican organisation in Canada – recognised by Lambeth and the Archbishop of Canterbury, that is.
  • The Anglican Church of Canada must, therefore, define what is “Anglican”.
  • The Anglican Church of Canada gets the buildings because the buildings are for the use of Anglicans.

Admittedly, those of us in ANiC, including the lawyers – especially the lawyers, perhaps – who thought it might have gone otherwise exhibited a superficially charming other-world naïvety, but, ultimately, it was Rowan Williams who delivered the coup de grâce to any possibility of success.

Good riddance.

I am Anglican

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But first and foremost, I am a Christian and don’t normally feel inclined to harp on about something that is peripheral to the kingdom of heaven, salvation, eternity and the forgiveness of sins.

I am going to make an exception for the moment, though. I belong to an ANiC parish that is a part of ACNA, the Anglican Church of North America. ACNA has not yet been recognised by Lambeth as an official Anglican body but, on February 10, 2010, the Church of England Synod passed a resolution that recognized the desire of ACNA to remain within the “Anglican Family.” This was not all ACNA hoped for, but it paves the way for full communion with Lambeth at some point.

While the Anglican Church withers in the West, it flourishes in Africa and most African Anglicans have declared full communion with ACNA: ACNA is in communion with 70% of the world’s Anglicans.

Does any of this really matter? As I remarked above, it is not of lasting significance, but I decided to make the point, nevertheless, because an Anglican priest from the Diocese of Niagara – who will remain nameless for the moment – on noting that the Niagara ANiC parishes intend to hang on to their prayer books, intoned: “you don’t need those, you are not Anglican”.

Contrary to the wish-fulfillment wet-dreams of this priest, ACNA is Anglican; ANiC is Anglican; I am Anglican.

The more important question is: “is the Diocese of Niagara Christian?”