A group of about 70 Anglican conservatives on Wednesday released a proposed constitution for a new Anglican province in the United States that will directly compete with the 2.1-million-member Episcopal Church.

The new Anglican Church in North America consists of various groups of conservatives who have split from the denomination over issues of biblical authority since the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop, including four whole dioceses of the Episcopal Church.

On Wednesday night, the new church released its provisional constitution and provisional canons. They declare the group part of “the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church,” confess to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and declare “eight elements as characteristic of the Anglican Way, and essential for membership.”

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I am interested in local reaction to the new Province story. If you have such in your area, please pass it long; do not assume I have seen it. Examples would be the Tenessee priests, the Chicago Bishop, and the South Carolina clergyman quoted in the stories so far posted. Please email them (KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com) to me, thanks–KSH.

The new Anglican Church in North America will include four Episcopal dioceses which recently split from the US church, as well as breakaway parishes from Canada.

Conservative Episcopalians have long been upset by the stance of the church’s leadership on various issues, particularly homosexuality.

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A collection of breakaway Episcopalians have formed a single denomination to rival the mainstream U.S. church, cementing a schism that was largely prompted by the election in 2003 of a gay bishop.

Their new “Anglican Church in North America” said it includes four dioceses that recently split from the Episcopal church, as well as several splinter groups, 1,000 clergy and an estimated 700 parishes, said the Rev. Peter Frank, spokesman for the Right Rev. Robert Duncan, bishop of Pittsburgh, who months ago lead his diocese away from the Episcopal church. A spokesman in the Episcopal church said he was dubious the numbers were that high.

The new church will seek recognition from the world-wide Anglican communion, including its leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams. It is unclear how the larger church will deal with a rival on American soil to an existing church body. The tension will no doubt spark fresh lawsuits over the ownership of church property, dozens of which have already been filed from California to Virginia in recent years.

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Other Memphis-area parishes intend to remain with the Episcopal Church.

“I don’t think there’s anybody left in the Diocese of West Tennessee that is going to be interested in that,” said Rev. Dr. Andrew MacBeth, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church. “It has been a long time coming, and I wish them well, but we really are of different views on how to interpret Scripture and a different view of authority.”

Rev. Jeffery Marx, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Collierville, expects the Episcopal Church to react to the conservative rebellion.

“There’s more and more anger toward those people,” he said of those leaving the church. “Especially the left-wingers are furious about what these people are doing. They have spent millions of dollars on lawsuits. It’s really unfortunate.

“It’s what people do when they’re mad.”

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The province’s constitution leaves property in the hands of individual parishes, limiting the potential for lawsuits down the line if parishes or dioceses decide to leave. Details such as how marriage and divorce will be handled are expected to be hammered out before the constitution is ratified in June.

Chicago Bishop Jeffrey Lee said he is disappointed by the group’s decision to leave.

“I’m saddened that some members of the Episcopal Church are choosing to affiliate with other parts of the Anglican Communion,” Lee said. “I think we’re impoverished whenever sisters and brothers are not with us at the same table for the same conversation. There’s real regret attached to that for me.”

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The Rev. Frederick Schmidt, an Episcopal priest and theology professor at Southern Methodist University, said that only the Archbishop of Canterbury can decide who is a part of the Anglican Communion.

“This would be a little bit like a group of people outside the 50 states of the United States claiming suddenly to be a part of the United States of America,” he said.

Schmidt also questioned the long-term viability of the denomination.

“The question becomes .”‚.”‚. Can you actually build a church around a negative?” he said.

David Holmes, a religion professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said he believes that the 100,000-strong denomination can survive.

He noted that one group joining the new denomination first split from the Episcopal Church in the 1870s.

“The point is that if a group that broke off .”‚.”‚. lasted over 140 years, this is a much larger group that has more substance in terms of membership and prestige,” he said.

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Here is one section:

1. The ACL welcomes this new development while remaining deeply saddened by the circumstances which made it necessary. Faithful Anglicans have been marginalised within The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada because of their determination to remain faithful to the Scriptures as expressed in the Creeds and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. We rejoice with these our brothers and sisters in this way forward out of the difficulties that have plagued them over the past five years and more.

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Under their new constitution, each of the nine constituent dioceses or groups that would make up the new province could follow its own teachings on women’s ordination. Each congregation would also keep its own property.

Told of this new Anglican entity, David C. Steinmetz, Amos Ragan Kearns professor of the history of Christianity at the Divinity School at Duke University, said in a phone interview, “It’s really an unprecedented and momentous event,” that all of these dissident groups had agreed to bury their differences.

“It’s certainly going to be deplored by one part of the Communion and hailed by another,” Professor Steinmetz said. “Are we going to end up with two families of Anglicans, and if so, are they in communion with each other in any way? There are so many possibilities and geopolitical differences, it’s really hard to predict where this will go.”

Read it all. Please note that this is a longer article that incorporates some of the material in the article previously posted from the Times, but there is much that is new here.

Conservatives from the Episcopal Church voted yesterday to form their own branch of Anglicanism in the United States and said they would seek new recognition in the worldwide church because of their growing disenchantment over the ordination of an openly gay bishop and other liberal developments.

In the past five years, a small but growing number of Episcopal parishes and dioceses have voted to leave the church, but yesterday’s vote, at a meeting in Wheaton, Ill., represents the biggest split for Anglicans and presents a new challenge to U.S. church leaders and the denomination’s world spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The conservatives remain upset about the 2003 ordination of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the role of female clergy, the church’s definition of salvation and changes to the main book of prayer.

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Here is one section:

4. Of Bishops and Their Election

Bishops shall be chosen by a diocese, cluster or network in conformance with their respective procedures and consistent with the Constitution and Canons of the Province. Eligibility for bishop must include being a duly ordained male presbyter of at least 35 years of age, who possesses those qualities for a bishop which are in accordance with Scriptural principles, and who has fully embraced the Fundamental Declarations of this Province.

An electing body shall certify the election of a bishop for consent by the College of Bishops, or may certify two or three nominees from which the College of Bishops may select one for the diocese, cluster or network.

Where the originating body is “in formation,” that body shall normally nominate two or three candidates, from whom the College of Bishops may select one.

Consent or, choice and consent, shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership of the College of Bishops, which consent shall be given within 60 days and in writing.

Upon the consent or choice of a bishop-elect by the College of Bishops, the Archbishop shall take order for the consecration and/or installation of such bishop.

In the event the bishop-elect or the nominees are rejected by the College of Bishops, the College shall so inform the originating body inwriting.

Read them carefully and read them all.

In the Name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We are Anglicans in North America united by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures and presently members of the Common Cause Partnership.

We know ourselves to be members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

We are grieved by the current state of brokenness within the Anglican Communion prompted by those who have embraced erroneous teaching and who have rejected a repeated call to repentance.

We are grateful for the encouragement of Primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion who gathered at Jerusalem in June 2008 and called on us to establish a new Province in North America.

We believe that this Constitution is faithful to that call and consistent with the Historic Faith and Order of the Church and we invite the prayers of all faithful Anglicans as we seek to be obedient disciples of Jesus Christ our One Lord and Savior.

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The Rev. Dr. Charles K. Robertson, Canon to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, has issued the following statement:

We will not predict what will or will not come out of this meeting, but simply continue to be clear that The Episcopal Church, along with the Anglican Church of Canada and the La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, comprise the official, recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America.

And we reiterate what has been true of Anglicanism for centuries: that there is room within The Episcopal Church for people with different views, and we regret that some have felt the need to depart from the diversity of our common life in Christ.

The Rev. Dr. Charles K. Robertson
Canon to the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
December 3, 2008

Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of U.S. Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province today, 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.

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Received via Email:

An after Chapel Address at Trinity School for Ministry
By the Very Rev Dr Justyn Terry, Dean and President
December 3, 2008

Today, in the town of Chicago, a new Province may be born. For some of you this will be a source of great joy and hope. For others of you it will be a source of great concern and discomfort. We have board members, faculty, staff, students and alumni on both sides of this. It is bound to be a time of tension. How are we to handle it? I ask us all to observe, and hold each other to account, to an ABC:

Be Aware of different feelings about all this. People with a high view of the Bible and a deep concern for world mission differ on how to respond to this crisis. Some see a need to withdraw from The Episcopal Church and realign with other parts of the Anglican Communion. Others see a need to stay in The Episcopal Church and witness to the Gospel from within. Both have deep concerns about where the leadership of The Episcopal Church is going. Both have a deep commitment to the Gospel. But they have reached very different conclusions about how to deal with it. Be aware of the differences.

Be Blameless in your talk. Controlling the tongue is notoriously hard, as James reminds us (Jas 3:8). But in this tense time, we need to be extra vigilant. Let us beware of letting our anger or our euphoria get the better of us. Let us look out for humor that puts other people down, and let us see instead how we can build others up. Remember Prov. 10:19: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” Be blameless in your talk.

Be Constant in prayer. Pray everyday for those with whom you disagree. Pray for the leadership of The Episcopal Church, for great blessing to be upon them. Pray for the witness of the Church to a watching world. Be constant in prayer.

We have an opportunity here to learn about living in the tension of a fallen world. May the Lord grant us abundant grace for these times of testing.

Bishop Martyn Minns, a leading figure in the formation of the new province, said of the Archbishop of Canterbury: “It’s desirable that he get behind this. It’s something that would bring a little more coherence to the life of the Communion. But if he doesn’t, so be it.”

Bishop Minns, a priest who led his large, historic church in Virginia out of the Episcopal Church two years ago and was subsequently ordained a bishop by the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, said: “One of the questions a number of the primates are asking is why do we still need to be operating under the rules of an English charity, which is what the Anglican Consultative Council does. Why is England still considered the center of the universe?”

The Episcopal Church has about 2.3 million members ”” with about a third of those attending worship services on an average Sunday. The Anglican Church of Canada had about 650,0000 members in 2001, the last year that statistics were published, according to its Web site.

James Naughton, canon for communications and advancement in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and a liberal who frequently blogs on Anglican affairs, said he doubted that a rival Anglican province could grow much larger.

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Traditionalist Anglicans are to formally announce that they are setting up a new church in the US and Canada.

The move will make the long-discussed split in the Anglican Church in North America a reality.

It means in each country there will be two competing churches, both claiming allegiance to the Anglican Communion.

The American Church’s liberal stance on homosexuality has led some traditionalists, including some whole dioceses, to leave the Church.

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Although the body is primarily seen as an orthodox alternative to the current national churches in North America, [Martyn] Minns stressed there is still diversity.

“I think what we’re saying is that there’s a theological heart to what we’re doing but there’s a variety there,” he explained. “There’s a common set of theological assumptions that unite us but we’re not all jumping out of the same box.”

Within The Episcopal Church, however, the diversity was too broad.

“Some pushed the envelope too far and so as a reaction some said we can’t go that far; we need to come out and at least have some definition to what we believe,” the CANA bishop said.

Minns labeled the new body as “orthodox, Anglican, mission-minded, biblically-centered.”

“I would it’s basically a fairly traditional Anglicanism with a passion for mission,” he briefly explained.

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“To say we are going to have two provinces, two sets of churches in the same geographic region because of theological or political differences … could have ramifications not just for us but for the rest of the Communion,” says [the Rev.] Canon [Charles] Robertson.

The debate over homosexuality and biblical authority has long spurred talk of schism. Many provinces have “impaired” or “broken” ties with the Episcopal Church over such issues. But last summer, traditionalists held a Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem and declared that, rather than split from the Communion, they were forming an orthodox fellowship within it. They urged formation of the new province in North America.

“Paradoxically, it may seem as though this step is a division, but it is really to help us not to divide by giving us more flexibility,” says Archbishop Jensen, secretary for GAFCON’s leadership council. He spoke by phone as a “close observer,” not officially for the council.

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Until two weeks ago, I strongly advocated the Anglican Communion refusing to establish a new province in North America and mandating that provinces cease violating provincial boundaries by conducting ministries or establishing congregations within the Episcopal Church’s jurisdiction.

Then I read that the Episcopal Church had spent in excess of $1.9 million in 2008 on lawsuits connected to the departure of parishes and dioceses from this Church. Daily I read about critical needs for healthcare, food, sanitation, and shelter in the United States and abroad. I see the spiritual illness and death that afflict so many. I remember that Anglicans have wisely never claimed to be the only branch of the Christian Church.

I started to wonder, Was I wrong? Why not another North American province?

Interesting to see this perspective from a reappraiser–check it out.

While it is technically possible for a vote on a third province to come before the primates’ meeting Jan. 31 thru Feb. 5 in Alexandria, Egypt, and then be forwarded to ACC-14 in May for action this year, it is unlikely as the necessary constitutional work in forming a CCP-based North American province is not likely to be completed.

The time line for final approval could take up to two years as the diocesan conventions of the four breakaway Episcopal dioceses: San Joaquin, Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth will have to endorse the constitution over two meetings of their convention, while the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, and the Kenyan and Uganda overseen churches in North America and other CCP members must ratify the constitution and amend their own governing documents so as to bring its terms into force.

International approval of the CCP document will likely be quicker, as the Gafcon (Global Anglican Future Conference) primates’ council comprising the primates of Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa and the Archbishop of Sydney are scheduled to meet after the Dec. 3 gathering in Wheaton to vote to receive the constitution. Meetings have been tentatively scheduled between the Gafcon primates and Archbishop Williams before the primates meeting in Alexandria, to seek his counsel and input into the process. However, Archbishop Williams’ approval is not a prerequisite for creating a new province for the Anglican Communion.

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THE Common Cause Partnership (CCP), a coalition of conservative Anglican groups in the United States and Canada, which have broken away from their national Churches, is to announce plans next week for a separate province.

The group will meet in the Evangelical Free Church in Wheaton, Illinois, next Wednesday to “release to the public” its draft constitution. Its moderator, the Rt Revd Bob Duncan, the deposed Bishop of Pitts­burgh, described it as “an im­portant concrete step towards the goal of a biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America”.

The CCP represents about 100,000 Anglicans, 3000 of them in Canada. It comprises diverse groups that have left the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada: four US dioceses (San Joaquin, Pittsburgh, Quincy, and Fort Worth); associations such as the Nigerian-led Convocation of An­glicans in North America (CANA); and seceded congrega­tions and de­nom­ina­tions, such as the Reformed Episcopal Church.

A spokesman for one of the con­stituent bodies, the American An­glican Council, said the new Anglican Church in North America “will have all the necessary features to be recognised as a province”.

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In a way, the new province raises some problematic questions for the structure of the church in North America. To truly be a province, the group would need recognition from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

“Those who are gathering next week to essentially declare a new province can only call it a ‘province’ in quotes,” said Rev. Edward Rix, rector at All Saint’s Parish in Wynnewood. “What will be controversial will be how they move forward on such issues that divide them.”

Rev. Rix said there are many examples of overlapping jurisdiction that could provide a precedent, but those instances may be considered different than this one.

“It is the case that dioceses spring up from groups of parishes,” said Rev. Rix.

He said some parishes incorporate as a diocese and than apply for membership as a diocese, essentially the same procedure that is being used for the new province.

Bishop David Moyer, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, knows many of the leaders of the movement. He said their intentions are good, but that their road will be difficult.

“I think these leaders are driven by Gospel imperatives,” said Bishop Moyer.

But he also said he doesn’t really expect Archbishop Williams to recognize the new province.

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The Dec 3 ceremony will not launch a new province, CCP moderator Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said, but will be an “an important concrete step toward the goal of a biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America.”

Speaking in Boston on Nov 15 in a sermon broadcast by Anglican.TV, Bishop Duncan said the CCP leaders will “receive and god-willing commend a draft constitution” for the “Anglican Church in North America.”

We want to “bring Jerusalem to American” and “claim our place as members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans,” he said.

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It can be argued that the establishment of an orthodox North American Province (even if it is initially recognized only by some of the GAFCON primates) is the best way to deal with the crisis in the Communion. (a.) The orthodox will be able to look after themselves, so “border crossing” for episcopal oversight by overseas bishops and primates can cease. (b.) Instead of being a beleaguered minority within TEC, the orthodox can be treated as equals in a dialogue intended to resolve the crisis of authority in Anglicanism. (c.) TEC will have greater incentive to respond to the calls of the rest of the Communion to return to Anglican norms, lest they lose credibility compared with the new Province. TEC’s leadership fears the realization of this last point, which is the main reason why they are working so hard to prevent establishment and recognition of a new Province….

While some may argue that the best way to preserve the unity of the Anglican Communion is to preserve the unity of the American Church (or, failing that, not to recognize any group that splits off from the American Church), I would argue the exact opposite. The best way to preserve the unity of the Anglican Communion is to allow the American church to divide (which is happening anyway, whether anyone likes it or not) and to recognize two North American provinces. Some overseas provinces will relate to one of the North American provinces more than the other. But there will not be the present level of vigorous advocacy (and border crossing) that now threatens to divide the Communion. And there will not be any reason why the other provinces of the Communion should be impaired in their relationships with each other or with Canterbury. However, if the present situation continues, and Canterbury does not recognize the new North American Province, it will eventually (and sooner rather than later) force some Global South provinces to end their relationship with Canterbury, and the Communion will be lost.

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Breakaway conservative Episcopal churches are planning to form a new Anglican church in North America.

Leaders of the Common Cause Partnership, a group representing more than 100,000 church members, say they will unveil a new church constitution December 3 at Wheaton Evangelical Free Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

Bishop Robert Duncan, who was ousted by the Episcopal church last month, has been elected to lead the new group.

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[Martyn] Minns, a former Episcopalian elevated to bishop by the Church of Nigeria and leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, said the new province could count on 100,000 people as its average weekly attendance. The Episcopal Church says its average weekly attendance is about 727,000.

Becoming a province would require approval from two-thirds of the primates and recognition from the Anglican Consultative Council, another church body.

“More than half of the Anglican world will support us,” Minns said in an interview, referring to the primates. “My guess is that we have provincial recognition from at least a majority.”

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The plan is scheduled to be publicly released on Dec. 3 in Chicago at a gathering of the Common Cause Partnership, a coalition of conservative Anglicans who oppose moves within the Anglican Church of Canada toward blessing same-sex unions and the ordination of an openly gay man as an Episcopal bishop in the U.S.

“What’s quite disturbing, in my opinion, about this proposal is the determination to create a province based on theological grounds,” Archbishop Hiltz said Nov.17. “The creation of provinces, as I have always understood it, is based on mission. It is based on a commitment to embrace and give flesh to an expression of the gospel in a particular context. There is a geography associated with that context, there is a set of cultural needs, a set of social needs.”

He also noted that the Anglican Consultative Council is the only body of the church that can create a province, and it does so, only after “after a long period of discernment and testing the viability and capacity for the province to maintain itself in the spirit of mission.” The Anglican Consultative Council is also the only body of the church that includes bishops, clergy and laity.

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The formation of this new “province” appears to be a fait accompli. It will presumably provide formal stability for the congregations and their plants who have left TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, as well as some kind of more easily grasped relationship with some other parts of the Anglican Communion. It is important to note, however, that such a new grouping will also not solve the problems of traditional Anglicans in North America , and that it will pose new problems to the Communion as a whole. As a member of the Covenant Design Group, committed to a particular work of providing a new framework for faithful communion life in Christ among Anglicans, I want to be clear about how the pressing forward of this new grouping within its stated terms poses some serious problems….

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