An Innocents' Guide to Things Anglican in USA
Jonathan has done an excellent story in the Daily Telegraph, a follow to the other Jonathan's offering in the Sunday. I mentioned this story to my newsdesk this week, who groaned. "Schism mark 27? No thank you. Can't you give us more on the Bishop of Southwark?" One problem I believe is that people might be confused by who is who, which covenant is which, what separates the AAC from the ACC (quite a lot), Nigeria from the US. (Ok, well maybe people are not confused about that last one.) In any case, the latest schism with all its ramifications can be followed with links on Thinking Anglicans. The response from Inclusive Church is up there too.
What this latest story does perhaps reflect is that the obsession with TEC is something of a diversion. Schism, if it happens, will happen here first, in the CofE. Even so, I don't believe it will be a full-blooded schism, although it might well be full-bloodied. But this could be one unexpected consequence of the opposition to women priests that led to the Act of Synod. A precedent of alternative oversight has been set which it will be difficult for the Archbishop of Canterbury to ignore. Another thing that cannot be ignored is that the evangelical constituency is large and getting bigger all the time. It has grown beyond what the liberals of the last century ever imagined it could. Analysis by Peter Brierley of his English Church Census shows that in the Church of England, evangelical churches make up 26 per cent of the total, actual worshippers make up 34 per cent and of the largest churches with a membership of more than 350, 83 per cent are evangelical.
Anyway, if you are not confused by the whole scene, I certainly am. So I asked a friend to compile an "idiot's guide" to the conservative scene in the US for me. He politely sent back what he called an "innocent's guide". So here it is.
The innocent's guide to US orthodox Anglicans.
The Episcopal Church – TEC. This was formerly known as ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. The name change this year was because it has members and dioceses in 18 nations in the Americas, and even a jurisdiction in Europe which overlaps with the Church of England Diocese of Europe. Some see wider ambitions in the name change.
The Anglican Communion Network. This is a coalition of eight dioceses within TEC, whose bishops and conventions have rejected the direction that ECUSA is taking, and claim to be the ones who are faithful to the title deeds of ECUSA. They have appealed to the Primates of the Anglican Communion for alternative oversight to that of TEC. They have not left TEC because if they do they fear law suits for their property.
Overseas Jurisdictions. Parishes outside these eight dioceses have appealed to archbishops and bishops in Africa and Latin America to give them oversight. They have left ECUSA, and in many cases their property, salaries and pension arrangements. They receive oversight from overseas. They form a convocation linked with the ACN. They have no bishop in America.
The Anglican Mission in America. This began in 1992 when Charles Murphy and John Rodgers were consecrated bishop in Singapore by the Archbishop of South East Asia, Moses Tay, and the Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini. They sit in the House of Bishops of the Church of Rwanda. They oversee churches which have decided they cannot in conscience be identified with ECUSA. These churches have left their buildings. The priests have left their salaries and their pension arrangements behind. "They express joy at being free of the church arguments over homosexuality in order to get on with the task of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ," says my source. About 100 churches belong to the Mission. They hold an annual conference in January, attended by a number of Anglican Primates.
Convocation of Anglicans in North America. This is under the jurisdiction of Peter Akinola's Church of Nigeria which consecrated Bishop Martyn Minns to be a bishop in America for them. Their initial constituency is congregations of Nigerian Anglicans in North America. But other large churches outside the Anglican Communion Network dioceses are voting on whether to join them. (Truro, The Fall’s Church, All Saints' in the Diocese of Virginia).
All these four groups have formed a movement called Common Cause, to work together on issues which they hold in common.
The Common Cause movement also includes some older continuing Anglican churches such as The Reformed Episcopal Church, formed in the 1870s, which are Anglican Churches not currently in formal communion with Canterbury.
All the above are churches which have bishops and a formal ecclesiastical structure. There are also movements which embrace people who belong in one or other of these structures.
These are Forward in Faith, and the AAC. These act as advocacy and activist groups advising and supporting parishes and persons who are seeking to be biblically orthodox. They are not formal ecclesiastical structures.
Best blog sites representing the debates around these groups are on the Classical Anglican site. They include Lord Carey's son Andrew, and Kendall Harmon's widely-read TitusOneNine. Another must read for this constituency is Matt Kennedy's exhaustive StandFirm, always with interesting comments. And then there is the distinctively personal but well-informed blog of Peter Ould, whose vidcast on Katharine Schori, below, will give you a good idea of how things stand between her and the US conservatives at present. Anglican Mainstream also documents events worldwide, including the US. And AAC also has a terrific blog.
If anyone can send me a similar guide to the other side, I'll post that too. And the same goes for the conservative and liberal scenes in the UK.
What this latest story does perhaps reflect is that the obsession with TEC is something of a diversion. Schism, if it happens, will happen here first, in the CofE. Even so, I don't believe it will be a full-blooded schism, although it might well be full-bloodied. But this could be one unexpected consequence of the opposition to women priests that led to the Act of Synod. A precedent of alternative oversight has been set which it will be difficult for the Archbishop of Canterbury to ignore. Another thing that cannot be ignored is that the evangelical constituency is large and getting bigger all the time. It has grown beyond what the liberals of the last century ever imagined it could. Analysis by Peter Brierley of his English Church Census shows that in the Church of England, evangelical churches make up 26 per cent of the total, actual worshippers make up 34 per cent and of the largest churches with a membership of more than 350, 83 per cent are evangelical.
Anyway, if you are not confused by the whole scene, I certainly am. So I asked a friend to compile an "idiot's guide" to the conservative scene in the US for me. He politely sent back what he called an "innocent's guide". So here it is.
The innocent's guide to US orthodox Anglicans.
The Episcopal Church – TEC. This was formerly known as ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. The name change this year was because it has members and dioceses in 18 nations in the Americas, and even a jurisdiction in Europe which overlaps with the Church of England Diocese of Europe. Some see wider ambitions in the name change.
The Anglican Communion Network. This is a coalition of eight dioceses within TEC, whose bishops and conventions have rejected the direction that ECUSA is taking, and claim to be the ones who are faithful to the title deeds of ECUSA. They have appealed to the Primates of the Anglican Communion for alternative oversight to that of TEC. They have not left TEC because if they do they fear law suits for their property.
Overseas Jurisdictions. Parishes outside these eight dioceses have appealed to archbishops and bishops in Africa and Latin America to give them oversight. They have left ECUSA, and in many cases their property, salaries and pension arrangements. They receive oversight from overseas. They form a convocation linked with the ACN. They have no bishop in America.
The Anglican Mission in America. This began in 1992 when Charles Murphy and John Rodgers were consecrated bishop in Singapore by the Archbishop of South East Asia, Moses Tay, and the Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini. They sit in the House of Bishops of the Church of Rwanda. They oversee churches which have decided they cannot in conscience be identified with ECUSA. These churches have left their buildings. The priests have left their salaries and their pension arrangements behind. "They express joy at being free of the church arguments over homosexuality in order to get on with the task of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ," says my source. About 100 churches belong to the Mission. They hold an annual conference in January, attended by a number of Anglican Primates.
Convocation of Anglicans in North America. This is under the jurisdiction of Peter Akinola's Church of Nigeria which consecrated Bishop Martyn Minns to be a bishop in America for them. Their initial constituency is congregations of Nigerian Anglicans in North America. But other large churches outside the Anglican Communion Network dioceses are voting on whether to join them. (Truro, The Fall’s Church, All Saints' in the Diocese of Virginia).
All these four groups have formed a movement called Common Cause, to work together on issues which they hold in common.
The Common Cause movement also includes some older continuing Anglican churches such as The Reformed Episcopal Church, formed in the 1870s, which are Anglican Churches not currently in formal communion with Canterbury.
All the above are churches which have bishops and a formal ecclesiastical structure. There are also movements which embrace people who belong in one or other of these structures.
These are Forward in Faith, and the AAC. These act as advocacy and activist groups advising and supporting parishes and persons who are seeking to be biblically orthodox. They are not formal ecclesiastical structures.
Best blog sites representing the debates around these groups are on the Classical Anglican site. They include Lord Carey's son Andrew, and Kendall Harmon's widely-read TitusOneNine. Another must read for this constituency is Matt Kennedy's exhaustive StandFirm, always with interesting comments. And then there is the distinctively personal but well-informed blog of Peter Ould, whose vidcast on Katharine Schori, below, will give you a good idea of how things stand between her and the US conservatives at present. Anglican Mainstream also documents events worldwide, including the US. And AAC also has a terrific blog.
If anyone can send me a similar guide to the other side, I'll post that too. And the same goes for the conservative and liberal scenes in the UK.
posted by Patrick Townson at 10:46 PM
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