Category : Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Tom Heneghan–Vatican-Anglican: where in the details will the devil be hiding?

There is little clarity yet on either side. The Vatican has not spelled out the conditions of the “Apostolic Constitution” to accept Anglicans who want to join Catholicism while maintaining some of their own traditions. Additionally, there are varied faces of Anglicanism, which in its dogmas and practices stands somewhere between Roman Catholicism and Protestant traditions such as the Lutheran or Reformed churches. This will clearly take a while to work out.

The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, played down any problems when the offer was announced. But several reactions from Anglicans to Tuesday’s announcement, including from some inclined to make the switch, have begun to trace the outlines of the looming doctrinal debates among Anglicans worldwide and between the Vatican and Anglicans knocking at its door.

Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), posted a succinct summary of sticky issues on his group’s website….

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Canada, Church of England (CoE), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

NPR: Vatican's Overture To Anglicans Rankles, Delights

The Vatican made waves last week with a controversial overture to disaffected Anglicans upset over the ordination of gays and women. Under the new plan, entire Anglican congregations could switch their allegiance to Rome, while still keeping their own traditions. Some conservative Anglicans welcomed the Vatican’s actions, while the mainline Episcopal Church in America called it an affront.

Host Guy Raz sorts out the decision and its impact with a range of Christian thinkers: Episcopal Church spokesman Jim Naughton; Archbishop Robert Duncan, of the breakaway conservative Anglican Church in North America; Jesuit priest Thomas Reese of Georgetown University; and former nun Karen Armstrong.

Listen to it all (Around 11 minutes)

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), Episcopal Church (TEC), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

David Gibson: Is Pope Benedict a closet liberal?

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005, all the world rejoiced — or recoiled — with the certain knowledge that the cardinals had settled on the one man who would be more conservative than John Paul II.

For those who weren’t so enthused about the Holy Spirit’s selection, there was grim consolation in the fact that Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, was 78 years old and was himself predicting a brief papacy that would serve as a transition to whatever came next.

Some transition. In less than five years Benedict has shown himself to be quietly yet deliberately engaged in reshaping Catholicism. Even more surprising are the remarkably liberal means he has used to achieve his ends — means that could lead to places the pontiff may not intend to go.

A case in point is last week’s stunning announcement (it took even the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, by surprise) that the pope is creating a novel “church within a church” so that Anglicans can join with Catholics without giving up their rites and traditions.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: New Vatican Policy on Anglicans

BERNETHY: What do you both think, John first, what do you think about the numbers that will be involved here? Will it be a lot of people that are switching, or just a few?

ALLEN: Well, the signals from the Catholic side, at least, is that expectations are this is going to be a fairly small number of folks. When Cardinal Levada was asked this question at a Vatican briefing earlier in the week, he said that there were 20 or 30 Anglican bishops in various parts of the world who had put out feelers, but of course putting out feelers is different than signing on the bottom line. And at the grassroots the expectation is that at least in the early stages you’re talking about fairly small pockets of people who will be coming over.

LAWTON: And especially, well, here in the United States, the people that are unhappy with the Episcopal Church, which is the US branch of the Anglican Communion””they come from two different wings of the church. One certainly are those who are more Catholic in their traditions and their style of worship, but there are also evangelicals, who are conservative theologically but not so comfortable with the idea of Rome and the pope, and those two groups here in the US have come together. They’ve formed their own structure, the Anglican Church of North America, and they’re really focusing on building that. So I think a lot of the traditionalist Anglicans here in the US may not immediately head to the Catholic Church.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, - Anglican: Latest News, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), Episcopal Church (TEC), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

Nearly 40 Congregations Join the Anglican Church in North America

In just three months, the Anglican Church in North America has welcomed 39 new congregations. When the Anglican Church in North America officially launched in late June, it included 703 churches in the United States and Canada. Today, there are 742 congregations affiliated with the Anglican Church.

“We have an ambitious goal of planting 1,000 new churches in the next five years. It is very encouraging to see how much progress has already been made,” said Archbishop Robert Duncan.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

NC Reporter: Vatican welcomes Anglicans–Catholics, Anglicans try to sort out what this means

The traditional Anglican group in England, Forward in Faith, seemed enthusiastic: “It has been the frequently expressed hope and fervent desire of Anglican Catholics to be enabled by some means to enter into full communion with the see of Peter whilst retaining in its integrity every aspect of their Anglican inheritance which is not at variance with the teaching of the Catholic church.

“We rejoice that the Holy Father intends now to set up structures within the church which respond to this heartfelt longing. Forward in Faith has always been committed to seeking unity in truth and so warmly welcomes these initiatives as a decisive moment in the history of the Catholic movement in the Church of England.”

But traditionalists in the United States were more circumspect.

Robert Duncan, who as bishop of Pittsburgh led his diocese out of the Episcopal church and is now archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church in North America, issued a statement on the Web site Standfirminfaith.com.

“We rejoice that the Holy See has opened this doorway,” he wrote, but “we believe that this provision will not be utilized by the great majority of the Anglican Church in North America’s bishops, priests, dioceses and congregations.”

They still have problems with the Roman church, Duncan points out, namely: “historic differences over church governance, dogmas regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary and the nature of Holy Orders.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, - Anglican: Latest News, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

Keith Ray Putman on his recent experience at St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta

The morning of October 11, 2009, all of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, La Crescenta were to worship in our original building for the last time before it was confiscated and handed over to the L.A. Diocese of the Episcopalian Church. It was sure to be an emotional time for all of us ”“ maybe even gut-wrenching.

Personally, I had many reasons to be angry and sad over losing the building. This was the place where I had met my wife, Kathy. This was the sanctuary where we were wed. This was where my Godson and his little sister had been baptized. This was where I had experienced the Spirit in worship for the first time after a long dry spell elsewhere. And I am only a member of five years ”“ how much more a loss for those to whom the beautiful stone and wood sanctuary and grounds had been a home for up to five generations!

Yet, that Sunday, as we began to sing familiar songs and speak the liturgical words, I did not feel anger or sadness. I did not witness people wailing and clinging to the walls. Instead, I found myself joining in with loud, strong voices of praise to our faithful God. There was strong emotion all right, but it wasn’t lamentation or mourning ”“ amazingly, as we left the building, the lingering emotion was joy.
Maybe this feeling was on account of the fact that we’d spent so many months letting go already (including the many notes of remembrance that members had posted around the grounds and were now collected in a Book of Testimony). Maybe it was a sense of release from the legal suspense. Maybe it was the word shared by Fr. Rob from Hebrews, Chapter 10 that rang so true and truly prophetic (read the entire chapter and be amazed). It was probably all those things. Most of all, though, the joy was from the living Spirit of Christ Our Savior, present with us in such a way that, afterwards, a member of the press was heard to say that he’d never heard worship quite like what he’d witnessed that morning. Even my 3-month-old boy, Jake, had been compelled to join in, shouting out during each chorus of “Lion of Judah.”

As we all gathered afterwards to check out our new worship space — and again as we had our first service there this past Sunday ”“ I was struck by the full reality of what had before been a concept: the Church, including our little St. Luke’s, is not a building. We had lost the beautiful building, yes. Yet, here was my wife. Here were the smiling faces of the ladies who had coordinated our wedding. Here was our baby boy, to be baptized next month. Here was my Best Man and his lovely wife; my Godson; my pastor; my buddy who had helped me to finish my last short film; so many friends who had brought Kathy and I meals and other support when we brought our baby home. Here was my spiritual family. Here was the Body of Christ.

I’d mentally assented to the concept before, but now I have experienced the reality anew: the Church is God living in and amongst all those peculiar and particular people who love him and are called according to his purposes. So, whether we win or lose legal battles over property, no judge and no religious authority can ever confiscate the Church.

Or our Joy.

Thanks be to God, hallelujah, hallelujah,

Keith Ray Putman

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Parish Ministry, TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles, TEC Departing Parishes

ACNA Responds to Vatican Announcement

We rejoice that the Holy See has opened this doorway, which represents another step in the growing cooperation and relationship between our Churches. This significant decision represents a recognition of the integrity of the Anglican tradition within the broader Christian church.

While we believe that this provision will not be utilized by the great majority of the Anglican Church in North America’s bishops, priests, dioceses and congregations, we will surely bless those who are drawn to participate in this momentous offer.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, - Anglican: Latest News, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

USA Today–Vatican makes Anglicans an offer: Come back to the church

“When people hear the word ‘Anglican,’ they assume it might affect us, but we are largely spectators. I don’t expect it to have as much impact in the USA as in England,” said James Naughton, canon for communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C.

But the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, saw the Vatican announcement as a global event, “maybe one of Benedict’s biggest moves.

“Rome is trying to find a structural solution to an unbearable pastoral problem,” Harmon said. Vatican leaders “clearly feel that if they don’t intervene now, it will get worse. Their motive is the reunification of Christianity. If Anglicanism wasn’t going to provide a catholic solution, the worldwide church would fracture even more.”

Still, Harmon said, he doesn’t expect to see any “snap moves” ”” particularly because most traditionalist bishops in the USA are married.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, - Anglican: Latest News, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), Episcopal Church (TEC), Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

In Southern California St. Luke’s Anglican moves into its new home

A visiting parishioner stood before the congregation of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, instructed patrons to bring both wrists together as if bound by shackles, and told them to cast the symbolic chains aside.

“You’re free,” he said, inside the unfamiliar confines of Seventh Day Adventist Church in Glendale.

The Rev. Rob Holman cast a knowing smile over the sermon Sunday, the first since surrendering the keys to the stone-facade church at 2563 Foothill Blvd. following a three-year legal battle for ownership of the building.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Parish Ministry, TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles

In Canada St. Luke's Anglican marks its first service in new chapel

St. Luke’s is one of 30 parishes in the Anglican Network in Canada which averages a Sunday attendance of around 3,500 to date. It was established in 2005 to commit to the foundational principles and historic standards of the Anglican tradition. Two years later, however, the network announced it would provide episcopal oversight for Canadian Anglicans and parishes that no longer had a home in the Anglican Church.

Attending this inaugural service was the church’s bishop, the Right Reverend Donald Harvey. He said he was pleased the congregation now has a home and praised them for maintaining a robust membership.

“It’s one of the jewels in our crown,” said Bishop Harvey. “Now the challenge is to go out into the community and bring souls to Christ.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * International News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Canada

For area Anglicans in New York State, visit is a milestone

Since its inception in 2004, the Anglican Community Church’s goal has been to become a part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), member Terrey Lee says.

That goal has now become a reality, since the church was accepted into “this communion of Anglicans” earlier this year. The move will officially be christened with a visit from Bishop David Bena, Lee and church leaders said.

Bishop Bena plans to visit the church at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 at the corner of Richmond Avenue and North Lyons Street. All are welcome to attend the service.

“With Bishop David Bena’s visit to our church later this month comes a real sense of completion of our goal to be a part of this great body of Anglicans,” Lee said. “It is a great pleasure as well as a great honor to have his presence known in our church. This single accomplishment has been of the utmost importance to our church and each of its members.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Parish Ministry

Washington Times: Lutherans leave over vote on new Sexual Ethic

The Lutherans aren’t sitting around for three years like the Episcopalians did. For them, the writing clearly is on the wall.

“One of the messages we heard loud and clear from the Episcopalians is that by waiting several years, they lost some of their best and brightest lay people,” Mr. [Ryan] Schwarz told me. “We intend to have our plans in place a lot faster.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Lutheran, Other Churches, Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths), TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Virginia

Salem News: In Massachusetts a new Anglican parish, a traditional creed

A core membership of 200 former Christ Church members have raised $370,000 to pay for the initial startup, with the hope of raising more to buy the church outright.

This new parish has its roots in a deep division among conservatives and liberals within the Episcopal Church as a whole, strife that came to a head in 2003 with the consecration of the openly gay Right Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

The founders of this new church don’t consider this a split from the Hamilton parish, but the founding of a new church under the Anglican Communion, said David Greening, 58, of Beverly, a retired marketing and communications manager from Osram Sylvania. He’s the church’s senior warden.

“It’s more of a pioneering effort on our part,” Greening said. “This is not a schism.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Ethics / Moral Theology, Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion), TEC Conflicts, TEC Departing Parishes, Theology

A Living Church Article on the Pittsburgh decision about which I am increasing Troubled

The letter refers to Canon III.9.8 but does not cite it by title: “Renunciation of the Ordained Ministry.” That language has proven a stumbling point, in recent years, as other priests have received occasional offers for release without deposition.

The canon applies to any priest who wants to resign from the Episcopal Church’s holy orders, “acting voluntarily and for causes, assigned or known, which do not affect the priest’s moral character.” The canon’s wording sometimes has left priests uncertain of whether they are being asked to renounce only their ministry within the Episcopal Church or their future ministry as priests.

Read it all. While I appreciate that the desire to be generous is motivating those taking this decision, the problem is the canon which is being used. This is not what the canon is for. The more time I have had to ponder this, the more troubled I have become. There were other ways to undertake this which do not involve misuse of the canons–KSH.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Cono Sur [formerly Southern Cone], Episcopal Church (TEC), TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Pittsburgh, TEC Polity & Canons

Robert Duncan Issues Pastoral Letter

We lost. In human terms we lost. Bishop and Standing Committee, together with Board of Trustees, thought we understood the document that was signed on our behalf in 2005 that ended the first phase of the Calvary lawsuit. But yesterday, the judge found against us on the basis of that document.

The team that has provided extraordinary legal counsel to us, and to others in similar cases across the country, has issued the following statement: “We believe the opinion and order is contrary to applicable law, disregards the agreed assumption of valid withdrawal by the Diocese from TEC, violates the assurances given us that the issue of the ‘true diocese’ was not part of this proceeding and denies us due process of law.” Accordingly we reserve all of our rights to appeal.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Christ the King: A New Anglican Church in Albuquerque

A recent press release concerning the church said: “The new church will emphasize thoughtful and biblically-centered preaching and teaching and weekly Eucharist/Communion, along with classic Christian spiritual formation, pastoral care, and mission and outreach””all in the historically beautiful, rich, and compelling Anglican liturgical tradition.”

There will be two services on Sunday mornings: a traditional service at 8:00 a.m. and a more contemporary service at 10:30 a.m. with worship music led by artist-in-residence, Fernando Ortega, and Christian education for all ages.

Both Christ the King Anglican and ACNA have a bright future, sharing an overt yearning to reach their communities with the love of Christ.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Parish Ministry

Church Split Leads to New Anglican Parish in Massachusetts

The church split from the Christ Church in Hamilton, said curate Brian Barry this week, although he more gracefully referred to it as a “planting.”

“Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church is a new missionary church plant birthed out of Christ Church (Episcopal) of Hamilton-Wenham, of which I was rector for 12 years,” wrote Rector Jurgen Liias on the new church’s Web site, www.ctr-anglican.org.

“If you seek a spiritual home for you and your family, if you seek to give your life away in joyful service to others in the name of Jesus Christ, come join us as we build God’s house,” Rector Liias continues.

Curate Barry explained that the church is a member parish of the Anglican Church in North America, which was formed earlier this year.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion), TEC Conflicts, TEC Departing Parishes

Living Church: Fort Worth to Vote on Southern Cone Ties

A member diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) will consider a resolution that maintains the diocese’s ties with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

The resolution is being proposed by the Diocese of Fort Worth’s standing committee. The diocese’s convention will meet on Nov. 6 and 7 in Arlington, Texas. The resolution commits the diocese to continued participation in the ACNA, but also “maintains its status as a member diocese in the Province of the Southern Cone while the formal process of recognition of [ACNA] continues in the Anglican Communion.”

“At this point, the Anglican Church in North America is not yet fully recognized as a province of the Anglican Communion,” the standing committee said in an explanation. “We are working towards that goal, but it is a lengthy process involving the primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Anglican Consultative Council.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Cono Sur [formerly Southern Cone], Episcopal Church (TEC), TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Fort Worth

Post-Gazette–Christian and Buddhist faithful focus prayers on value of resolving conflict

Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican) and Pentecostal Bishop Joseph Garlington of Covenant Church of Pittsburgh in Wilkinsburg, led the congregation in noon prayer, swaying together to the songs as they prayed aloud above the music.

Karen Phillips, an administrative assistant from Greensburg, told the congregation that she felt the history of conflict between many G-20 nations.

“Each one has built a wall. They know how to walk into a room and greet one another, but in their hearts, the walls are up,” she said. “I pray that true feelings and emotions will be exchanged, and that in that exchange there will be healing.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Buddhism, Economy, G20, Other Faiths, Pittsburgh Summit September 2009, Religion & Culture, Spirituality/Prayer

NewsOK: Anglican archbishop visits Oklahoma City

The leader of a newly formed Anglican denomination said mainline Protestant churches are failing because they have gotten off track from the Gospel.

The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, said his new denomination won’t join those who have faltered.

During a Sept. 13 visit to Oklahoma City, Duncan said he and other leaders are aiming to plant 1,000 churches in the U.S. and Canada.

Duncan, 61, presided over services at St. James Anglican Church, 204 SW 104. He was elected leader at the denomination’s inaugural assembly in June at Bedford, Texas.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Saint Dunstan's in Florida Realigns with Anglican Diocese of Quincy

Via email:

Largo, Florida ”“ By a vote of 174 to 13, the membership of St. Dunstan’s Church today voted to sever its ties with The Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as a parish within the Anglican Diocese of Quincy, Ill. The vote took place during a special meeting convened following regularly scheduled church services this past weekend.

The ACNA unites some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes into a single church. Jurisdictions which have joined together to form the 28 dioceses and dioceses-in-formation of the Anglican Church in North America include four former Episcopal dioceses (the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin); the Anglican Mission in the Americas; the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Anglican Coalition in Canada; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the missionary initiatives of Kenya, Uganda, and South America’s Southern Cone. Additionally, the American Anglican Council and Forward in Faith North America are founding organizations. The ACNA is headed by the Archbishop Robert Duncan, Archbishop and Primate.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), TEC Conflicts, TEC Conflicts: Quincy, TEC Departing Parishes

Religious Intelligence: ACNA consecrates two bishops

The ACNA has consecrated and elected two bishops for its dioceses, which represent the full span of its theological spectrum, while also highlighting the fragility of the new province-in-waiting’s theological boundaries.

On Aug 22, the Rt Rev William Ilgenfritz was consecrated Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of All Saints by Archbishop Robert Duncan. The new diocese consists of 13 congregations across the United States, and is part of the wider ACNA.

In 2002 FiFNA elected Fr Ilgenfritz and the Rev David Moyer to be consecrated as bishops in order to fulfill an episcopal ministry in the US similar to that exercised by the ”˜flying bishops’ of the Church of England. Their names were then “lain on the table” pending their consecration at the hands of sympathetic Anglican bishops.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Jacksonville priest becomes bishop for Anglican diocese

A Jacksonville priest who led thousands from the Episcopal Church has been elected the first bishop of a new diocese that will oversee about 5,000 conservative Anglicans in North Florida and South Georgia.

The Rev. Neil Lebhar was elected Saturday by clergy and lay leaders in what will be called the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America.

The Anglican Church in North America itself is a new American denomination, having been formed in June largely by those who left the Episcopal Church after an openly gay priest became bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.

Lebhar said he’s eager to lead but also glad the position has a seven-year term limit.

“I think the greatest impact for the kingdom takes place through the ministry of local Christian communities,” Lebhar said. “So my heart has been, and always will be, for the parish.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

From the Email Bag (II)

Dear Dr. Harmon:

……

I know that I greatly understate myself when I say that Anglicanism on this continent is currently quite complex and confusing, especially when it comes to predicting the future direction of our great tradition. I personally am strongly committed to ministering within the Anglican tradition in a way that upholds the orthodox faith, both in theology and polity. For this reason I am both encouraged and troubled by the recent formation of the ACNA. As has been expressed by many, most notably the Communion Partners and the Anglican Communion Institute, the ACNA does seem to be significantly compromising its ecclesiology in order to move beyond the tensions that have for so long plagued our Communion. As a current parishioner at an ACNA church and as someone looking towards ordination, I find this deeply troubling. At the same time, recent decisions in TEC provide little comfort or hope, reinforcing my belief that the possibility of finding in TEC a place to minister in faithfulness and integrity all but impossible.

As a faithful leader of our communion and someone who I know to be committed to the orthodox faith, both in belief and practice, I am writing to ask for your input into this complex situation. Do you still see the Communion Partners remaining in TEC long term, and therefore is there still hope for young ordinands to pursue Holy Orders through the traditional means? On the other hand, do you believe that as the ACNA develops there is hope for a strengthening of its ecclesiological foundation? To this end I am comforted by the involvement of the Rt. Rev. Jack Iker and the Rev. Dr. Robert Munday, as well as the ecumenical voice of Metropolitan Jonah.

With these two “tracks” (to employ recent Anglican terminology) to orthodoxy, is there any hope that the two might eventually partner together and become a unified voice? Closer to home, I think of the presence of the AMiA within the Diocese of South Carolina. I know very little of the relationship between the two, but do you see any hope for partnership in ministry and mission between the two?

I know I have asked more than can possibly be answered, so I would appreciate any thoughts or remarks that you may have on any part of the aforementioned topics.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), TEC Conflicts

Bishop Jack Iker: First Bishop consecrated for new Anglican province

It was my joy and privilege on Saturday, Aug. 22, to share in the consecration of the Rt. Rev. William H. Ilgenfritz, the first new bishop for the Anglican Church in North America. Archbishop Robert W. Duncan was the chief consecrator, and the other co-consecrators were Bishop Keith Ackerman, Bishop Edward MacBurney, and Bishop William Wantland, who also preached at the service. Thirteen bishops participated in the apostolic laying on of hands in the historic ceremony. Bishop Ilgenfritz continues to serve as Rector of St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Charleroi, Pa., in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The service took place at the local Roman Catholic parish a few blocks away, called Mary, Mother of the Church. The new bishop previously served here in the Diocese of Fort Worth as Rector of St. John’s Church in Brownwood from 1990 to 1994.

It is important to recognize that this first consecration was of a Forward in Faith Bishop and that it creates a new diocese for FIF congregations across the country. This new Missionary Diocese of All Saints begins with about 13 congregations and is charged with planting new churches for traditional anglo-catholics in the United States and Canada. Bishop Ilgenfritz continues to serve as Vice-president of Forward in Faith, North America.

This consecration fulfills the vision of the Episcopal Synod of America, formed in 1989 here in Fort Worth, to create a non-geographic diocese or province for congregations upholding the faith and practice of the historic catholic church, including the tradition of an all-male priesthood. It secures a continuing line of apostolic succession for traditional anglo-catholics, which is no longer possible in The Episcopal Church in the United States.

Please continue to pray for Bishop Ilgenfritz and this new missionary diocese.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth
Aug. 25, 2009

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Colorado Springs Gazette: Ex-Episcopalians struggle with where to go from here

“There is very little chance that the Anglican Consultative Council would approve two provinces in the same geographic area, especially when the ACNA is, in fact, quite small,” said Lawrence R. Hitt III, professor of Anglican Studies at the Ilif School of Theology in Denver.

Kevin Ross, rector of the ACNA International Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, is skeptical that the organization will ever be officially recognized.

“To recognize (the ACNA) they would have to de-recognize the Episcopal Church,” Ross said. “You have a greater possibility of the worldwide Anglican Communion splitting than having the Episcopal Church de-recognized.”

The ACNA is scrambling to organize itself into a hierarchical system similar to that in Anglican Communion provinces, and it is also establishing various ecclesiastical councils.

Read it alll.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Warren Tanghe: ACNA's Challenges

The dominant stream’ in ACNA is Evangelical. But the fundamental question is, will that prove the dominant stream’ within a coherent identity clearly rooted in and affirming in its fullness ‘the Catholic Faith of the ancient Catholic Church’, or will it prove the ACNA’s predominant identity, with Catholics as an odd, honoured, but basically just tolerated minority outside its mainstream? ACNA may be a welcome refuge for Catholics who cannot remain in TEC or have been pushed out of it. It may offer them, for the time being, the only safe place available which is connected with the Communion? But will it prove a true and permanent home for those of our integrity, or only a stopping-point on the way elsewhere?

The divisions within ACNA at its founding, both practical and theological, are real. The leaders of ACNA are very much aware of them. So are the overseas Primates who are offering them support and guidance.

But what is remarkable about ACNA is the degree to which, despite their fractious history, the Lord’s hand resolved issues that once stood between the disparate elements of which it is composed. Where once one had seen a ‘trajectory of disintegration’ (in Archbishop Duncan’s words) there has been a will to find a way forward together at each crucial moment since 2003. But if the Lord has done this, he can continue to do it, so long as ACNA’s constituent members hold fast to that will.

But that will can hold only if ACNA’s constituent parts have time to grow together into a more consistent whole. ACNA’s focus on local mission in obedience to the Great Commission, each part supporting each other part at the local level in the common work of sharing the Gospel, Archbishop Duncan asserts, is thus also the best means by which that body can develop the coherence necessary to address the issues which divide it.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

Unionville Maryland church joins ACNA

The Anglican Church in North America unites 700 Anglican parishes in 12 Anglican jurisdictions in North America into a single church, according to an ACNA press release sent out last spring after recognition by the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). The jurisdictions coming together include the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the dioceses of Fort Worth, Texas, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin, Calif., the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, the Reformed Episcopal Church and several missionary initiatives.

By forming the new Anglican Church in North America and seeking recognition from African provinces, the province of the Southern Cone of South America and other Anglican provinces, the ACNA hopes to join the worldwide Anglican Communion, but separately from the Episcopal Church U.S.A.

The Most Rev. Robert William Duncan Jr., former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Episcopal Church U.S.A.), now serves as the first archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America.

In mid-June, at a conference in Texas attended by about 900 church leaders, the ACNA formally adopted a constitution and canons. Zampino attended and when he returned, he said, his small congregation unanimously voted to join the movement, joining an estimated 100,000 church members in the U.S. and Canada.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), TEC Conflicts

Anglican Arrival: First priest for young Texas congregation sets tone of acceptance

Sunday morning was a milestone for a tiny Lubbock Anglican congregation.

It’s been nearly 20 months since Lubbock’s St. James Anglican church formed in the wake of a national controversy stemming from the role of homosexuals in the Episcopal church.

And Sunday marked the first day the church’s pulpit had a leader – a priest from Hays, Kan., who hopes to lead his congregation closer to God and to be accepting of all people while maintaining their admittedly conservative beliefs.

“This is a huge day for us,” said Jo Vaughan, a founding member of the congregation, which meets Sunday mornings in a 90-seat theater at the Science Spectrum Museum.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Parish Ministry, TEC Conflicts