Q: Tell me about this meeting in Pittsburgh. What are you and all these groups trying to accomplish here?

A: There are 10 jurisdictions who have been working together, a growing number, we started as six in 2004, who have committed to make common cause for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel as it has been received, and to make common cause for a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America. We are fragments, like some of us represent fragments, dioceses of the Episcopal Church that can’t go down the road that the Episcopal Church is on, can’t leave the faith once delivered, and other fragments [are] folks who as long as 134 years ago actually found themselves put out of the Episcopal Church because of their stand on the gospel and their belief that the Episcopal Church was shifting and wavering and moving away from its’ reformation position. This meeting is a meeting in which these fragments, as bishops, and for the first time it’s all the bishops of these 10 fragments from the US and Canada, they are together and we’re together and what we’ve done is agree to the way in which we’ll move forward, move forward forming a federation of the Common Cause Partners, pushing that schedule along, and before too long appealing to provinces within the communion to recognize this federation as a new ecclesiastical structure in the States, the very thing that a number of the primates just a year ago in September called for from Kigali as they looked to the problems in the US church and to the wavering and wandering of the majority.

Q: So the goal here is to create an alternative Anglican structure?

A: The goal has been to bring together all of those who stand on scripture, who stand with the tradition, who are committed to mission and who can’t bring themselves to separate from what Christians have always believed. So we’re working together as bishops, forming a college of bishops, again first ever meeting here, who can work together in mission. We’ve shared all kinds of ministry initiatives together, from ministry to youth, all kinds of exciting things with postmoderns to work with the global church in relief and development to the more ordinary matters of church planting. Indeed one of the calls of this conference was for us together to plant 1000 new churches, which would be quite something to see.

Read it all.

Experts on the church across the theological spectrum agreed that most splinter Christian groups withered over time. But they said that the Common Cause statement could not be easily dismissed, given how tense relations were in the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest Christian body.

“They’ve set up a timetable that means that they are moving forward,” said the Rev. Ephraim Radner, a leading Episcopal conservative and professor of historical theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto. “They will ask for recognition as an alternative to the Episcopal Church even before there’s been a resolution to the actual status of Episcopal Church in the Communion.”

In February, the archbishops of the communion’s provinces, or regional churches, issued the directive on gay bishops and on same-sex unions to which the Episcopal bishops responded earlier this week. The archbishops, various Anglican bodies and the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the communion, must now weigh that response and their next steps.

“Seeking recognition by these provinces looks to be part of an effort to replace the Episcopal Church with their new and improved province,” said the Rev. Mark Harris, a member of the Executive Council, which governs the Episcopal Church between the conventions it holds every three years. Common Cause is “hoping to use the argument that a majority of the provinces recognize them and not us.”

Read it all.

The formation of a separate ecclesiastical structure was called for by conservative Anglican leaders in the Global South last September. Former Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold had raised concerns, saying such a move would open the way to “multiple divisions across other provinces.”

Still, conservatives see The Episcopal Church drifting apart and say they want to stay aligned with the rest of the communion.

“We met deeply aware that we have arrived at a critical moment in the history of mainstream Anglican witness in North America. God has led us to repentance for past divisions and opened the way for a united path forward,” said Duncan in a statement.

Though some were expecting the announcement of a complete new structure in place this week, forming a separate Anglican body is only in its initial stages.

“To have the brand new squeaky clean thing in place [right now] is simply not realistic,” said the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, missionary bishop of the Anglican breakaway CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America). “Such a thing, frankly, takes far more time.”

“But we can begin working together far more deliberately,” he noted.

Read it all.

Fifty-one Anglican and Episcopal bishops announced plans yesterday to form a separate Anglican province in North America within 15 months, giving disaffected Episcopalians a chance to flee their increasingly liberal denomination.

The Common Cause partnership, which includes bishops from several Episcopal dioceses and leaders of nine Anglican organizations, met yesterday in Pittsburgh. The leaders represent 600 congregations and more than 100,000 people.

The bishops said they will meet in December to put together an office staff for a 39th province of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.

“We took some steps in the right direction,” said Bishop Martyn Minns, the former rector of Truro Church in Fairfax who now leads the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a group of 60 former Episcopal churches that have left the denomination. “It was quite a journey but I am pleased with the movement we made.”

Read it all.

[via e-mail. Update: here’s the link on the Network website]

A number of folks in the comment threads have asked to know which bishops were in Pittsburgh. Here is a partial list we received by e-mail.
——

Bishops Attending the Common Cause Council of Bishops

An incomplete list of bishops present at the Common Cause Council of Bishops. We plan to finalize this list in the very near future.

Bishops
The Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman (The Episcopal Church – Quincy)
The Rt. Rev James Adams (The Episcopal Church – Western Kansas)
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Bill Atwood (Kenya)
The Rt. Rev. Fitz Allison (The Episcopal Church – Retired)
The Rt. Rev. Peter Beckwith (The Episcopal Church – Springfield)
The Rt. Rev. David Bena (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)
The Rt. Rev. Richard Boyce, OCD (Anglican Province of America)
The Rt. Rev. C. Peter Brewer, OSF (Anglican Province of America)
The Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavalcanti (Guest, Network International Convocation)
The Rt. Rev. Alex Dickson (The Episcopal Church – Retired)
The Rt. Rev. Charles Dorrington (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan (The Episcopal Church – Pittsburgh)
The Rt. Rev. Andrew Fairfield (Uganda)
The Rt. Rev. Michael Fedechko (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. George Finke (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. Sandy Green (Anglican Mission in the Americas)
The Rt. Rev. Royal Grote, JR. (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, D.D. (Anglican Province of America)
The Rt. Rev. John Guernsey (Uganda)
The Rt. Rev Donald Harvey (Anglican Network in Canada)
The Rt. Rev. Paul Hewett (guest)
The Rt. Rev. David Hicks (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. Jack Iker (The Episcopal Church ”“ Fort Worth)
The Rt. Rev. T.J. Johnston (Anglican Mission in the Americas)
The Rt. Rev. William Love (The Episcopal Church ”“ Albany)
The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons (International Convocation)
The Rt. Rev. William Millsaps (guest)
The Rt. Rev. Maryn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)
The Rt. Rev. Daniel Morse (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. Winfield Mott (Anglican Province in America)
The Rt. Rev. William Murdoch (Kenya)
The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy (Anglican Mission in the Americas)
The Rt. Rev. Donald Parsons (The Episcopal Church – Retired)
The Most Rev. Leonard Riches (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. John Rodgers (Anglican Mission in the Americas)
The Rt. Rev. Henry Scriven (The Episcopal Church ”“ Pittsburgh)
The Most. Rev. Dr. Larry L. Shaver, Obl./OSF (Anglican Province of America)
The Rt. Rev. Ray Sutton (Reformed Episcopal Church)
The Rt. Rev. William Wantland (The Episcopal Church ”“ Retired)
The Most Rev. Yong Ping Chung (guest ”“ Anglican Mission in America)

Bishops-Elect
The Rev. Cn. Roger Ames (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)
The Rev. Cn. David Anderson (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)
The Ven. Amos A Fagbarniye (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)
The Rev. Nathan Kanu (Convocation of Anglicans in North America)

Anglican TV has now posted the video of the press conference from yesterday afternoon in Pittsburgh. Here’s the link.

Anglican bishops from ten jurisdictions and organizations pledged to take the first steps toward a “new ecclesiastical structure” in North America. The meeting of the first ever Common Cause Council of Bishops was held in Pittsburgh September 25-28.

The bishops present lead more than 600 Anglican congregations. They formally organized themselves as a college of bishops which will meet every six months. They also laid out a timeline for the path ahead, committed to working together at local and regional levels, agreed to deploy clergy interchangeably and announced their intention to, in consultation “with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted,” call a “founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union,” at the earliest possible date agreeable to all of the partners.

“We met deeply aware that we have arrived at a critical moment in the history of mainstream Anglican witness in North America. God has led us to repentance for past divisions and opened the way for a united path forward. To him be the glory,” said Bishop Robert Duncan, convener of the council.

The full text of the bishops’ joint statement follows:

Common Cause College of Bishops Statement

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, to whom belong all might, majesty, dominion and glory.

We, the College of Bishops of the Common Cause Partnership, meeting together in Pittsburgh, September 25-28 in the Year of our Lord 2007, solemnly affirm this agreement.

In the grace, mercy and power of God, and in repentance for past disunity and disharmony, in thanksgiving for our full reconciliation in the Lord Jesus Christ, to give expression to our unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church as Anglicans in North America, and for the sake of our mission to extend the Kingdom of God, nurture faithful disciples through Word and Sacraments, seek the lost, and partner globally with other orthodox Anglicans, we hereby commit to do the following:

1. In order to achieve greater unity and strengthen our partnership in the Gospel, we the undersigned commit ourselves to the Common Cause Partnership as set forth in the Articles of the Partnership (see Appendix 1).

2. We declare clearly that we are taking this as a first step in the formation of the “separate ecclesiastical structure” in North America called for at Kigali in September, 2006.

3. In consultation with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted, we intend a founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union (see Appendix 2).

4. Those presently-participating bodies which have not yet joined the Common Cause Partnership will decide at the next meeting of their legislative bodies, either to enter the Partnership or leave full membership in Common Cause, becoming observer bodies. It is expected that all presently-participating bodies will be able to enter the Partnership.

5. We will work together on the regional and local levels and avail ourselves of the various ministries of the Common Cause Partners. We will deploy clergy interchangeably as outlined in the Articles of the Partnership. We are free to invite our fellow bishops in this College to share episcopal acts and our sacramental life.

6. The College of Bishops will meet every six months in order to accomplish our stated objectives. The leading bishop of each Partner will serve on a Lead Bishops Roundtable, which may be expanded as they may determine. The Roundtable will advise us in matters referred to it (see Appendix 3).

7. We are committed to the Great Commission. We will make disciples who make disciples and plant churches that plant churches, not resting until the millions of unreached souls in North America are brought to Christ, until all groups on the earth have indigenous churches firmly begun within them and our Lord returns in glory.

8. We ask our Chairman to inform the Primates of the Anglican Communion of these commitments in the hope that our emerging common life will commend us to them as full partners.

* Note Kevin Kallsen should be broadcasting this very shortly *
link: http://www.anglicantv.org/blog/index.cfm/2007/9/25/Common-Cause-PIttsburgh-Tuesday-Stream
[hat tip to Stand Firm]

A total of 51 bishops and bishops-elect representing tens-of-thousands of Anglicans in North America are meeting together Sept. 25-28 in Pittsburgh , PA. The meeting of the first-ever Common Cause Council of Bishops brings together bishops and observers from the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the Anglican Communion Network, Anglican Network in Canada, the Anglican Province of America, Anglican Essentials Canada, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Forward in Faith North America and the Reformed Episcopal Church.

In welcoming the assembled bishops, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh and convener of the gathering, said that before any unified orthodox Anglicanism could be expected to emerge in North America relationships among bishops and jurisdictions need to be reordered. “Our shortcoming is not ‘right Faith.’ Our shortcoming is ‘right Order’ and ‘right Mission ,'” said Bishop Duncan.

Bishop Duncan went on to suggest that the bishops discuss a number of practical points that could contribute to building a more unified orthodox Anglicanism in North America . Among those points, he asked that the bishops agree to consult each other as they plant congregations, mutually review candidates for bishop before consecrations, share ministry initiatives instead of duplicating efforts, work actively together at the local level, and allow those ordained in one jurisdiction to function in all jurisdictions.

“Our theme for this Council of Bishops is ‘Together in Mission : Restoring Confidence in an American Episcopate.’ The whole world is watching. After speaking the truth to each other, we will need to speak the truth about what we have done – or not done – to the world,” said Bishop Duncan.

The full text of Bishop Duncan’s opening remarks follows:
A HISTORIC CONCLAVE

“Together in Mission : Restoring Confidence in an American Episcopate”
Welcome to Pittsburgh ! Welcome to the Common Cause Partnership Council of Bishops! Welcome to three days of worship, fellowship, teaching, sharing and incredibly hard work.

Welcome Bishops, Bishops-elect, Bishops-designate, Wives, Presenters, Intercessors, Staff, Friends. Welcome to Dr. George Hunter of Asbury Seminary, our keynote speaker tonight, and welcome to Prof. Justyn Terry of Trinity School for Ministry, our Scripture expositer for the next three mornings.

During the early hours of yesterday, the Lord reminded me of the word “conclave.” Bishop’s meetings are sometimes “with the key withheld,” the literal meaning of the Latin root. Bishops gathering in conclave cannot come out until they have a successful result. While there will be no one “locking us in,” the whole Anglican world is expecting something great of us in this meeting. They are expecting some “key” to unlock a more hopeful future. Let us not fail them, or our God.

RE-STRUCTURING RELATIONSHIPS

Most of our work here is behind closed doors. This is an intentional decision on the part of the seven lead bishops who did the planning: Bishops Ackerman, Grundorf, Harvey, Minns, Murphy, Riches and myself. We need to speak the truth to one another. We need to do some hard thinking and hard talking. The future of Anglicanism in North America is at stake.

On Trinity Sunday in 2004, the leaders of the first six (now ten) Partners wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury “signifying our commitment to make common cause for the gospel of Jesus Christ and common cause for a united, missionary and orthodox Anglicanism in North America.”

The Primates of the Global South, writing from Kigali exactly one year ago, stated that the time had come for a “separate ecclesiastical structure in the United States [ North America ].” What we come together to do is to see whether we can so re-order the relationships among us that the way might be opened for such a structure to emerge.

Our shortcoming is not “right Faith.” Our shortcoming is “right Order” and “right mission.”

– Can we agree to interchangeability of those in holy orders?

– Will we work actively together at the local level?

– Will we consult with one another as we seek to plant congregations?

– Can we agree to mutual review of candidates for bishop before consecrations?

– Will we share ministry initiatives or needlessly duplicate efforts?

– Can we agree about appropriate ratios of bishops to congregations, attendance and membership?

– Would each one of us be willing to give up episcopal function for the good of the whole, were that in the best interests of all?

– Could each one of us become a missionary bishop over a growing Church?

Our theme for this Council of Bishops is “Together in Mission : Restoring Confidence in an American Episcopate.” The whole world is watching. After speaking the truth to each other, we will need to speak the truth about what we have done – or not done – to the world.

Anglicanism appears to be failing in the West. We cannot answer for how others have failed, or are failing, but we must surely answer for what we do – or do not do – here in this place, in this conclave, wherein we hold the key.

WELCOME

Again the warmest of welcomes, for the most important of tasks. Almost upon us is Global Anglicanism’s September 30th deadline for bishops in America to make response about “walking together” or “walking apart.” It is to walking together that we are called, is it not? I am confident in the company gathered here and, above all, in the Lord who has called us. We are here to make common cause for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and here to make common cause for a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America . We have our work cut out for us, we whose highest calling is as servants of the servants of God, and God’s servants all across the land very much have their eyes set upon us and upon this place for these days. May God’s help be ours in abundance.

Kevin Kallsen of Anglican TV is in Pittburgh now. He plans a live stream of the Common Cause Bishops Council tonight at 8 pm Eastern (11:00 GMT / midnight London)

Here’s the post where the stream from Pittsburgh will be broadcast.

You can read about Kevin’s schedule and broadcast plans here.

NOW scheduled for approx 8 p.m. eastern (not 7) since there is no wifi to enable him to broadcast live:

Update: There is no internet in the William Penn Ballroom. There is free internet in the lobby. Sssoooo, I will tape the opening address of Bishop Duncan and then run up to the lobby and broadcast it. I would imagine it would be sometime around 8:00pm.