The Arch-Bishop of the Province of West Africa and Accra Diocese of the Anglican Church Most Rev. Dr. Justice Offei Akrofi has declared that the Diocese of Accra has finally agreed to the ordination of women as Priests of the Church. He said the issue which has been on board for almost 10 years is a breakthrough for the Accra Diocese. He made this known at the closing ceremony of the 20th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Accra.
Disappointing to this observer.
I try not to comment on Anglican issues but I cannot hold back on this one. It is another example of a strange Anglican tendency to ‘Balkanization’, ie units of the Church decide for themselves without reference to the greater whole. First of all the diocese of Accra is one of several Anglican dioceses in Ghana. What do the other dioceses say on the issue? Secondly, these dioceses all belong to the ecclesiastical province of West Africa which includes Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal. Again, what about the wider provincial horizon? No mention of that there.
The report is from the secular media. The report from the church may deal with some of the questions raised above.
While the report may be from the secular media,Terry Tee is corect in his observation about the “strange Anglican tendency to ‘Balkanization’, ie units of the Church decide for themselves without reference to the greater whole”. Even ACNA was reluctant to embrace this approach. (American money lurking in the shadows?)
[Comment deleted by Elf]
While some of you may regard this development as “unfortunate,” it is hardly surprising. The Province of West Africa has accepted women as deacons and priests since before 1997. A former Archbishop of the province was, in fact, married to a priest (in Sierra Leone, I believe). So, this is simply a diocesan decision by Accra to implement the provincial local option. Not really a big story, since dioceses and provinces of the Anglican Communion have fairly regularly moved into the ordination of women camp from the other side since the 1970s. I am not aware of any recognized Anglican province (other than ACNA, of course) that has moved the other direction.
I don’t find it strange at all that the national church body is fundamental to Anglicanism, it being the Church of England that got the ball rolling by declaring allegiance to their king. Anglicans are quite clear that the Archbishop of Canterbury has no administrative or doctrinal authority, but presides over a communion bound together by “affection”. It is at the national level that hard-core canonical and constitutional order begins.
Elf,
Are comments critical of W/O off limits here?
Now as I recall … according to many conservatives such as those at the ACI … the diocese is the be all, end all … not the national church.
Liberia is I think also a diocese of the Province of West Africa. I am glad to read that the province has decided to permit local option on the ordination of women as priests. On balance I think that the “balkanization” fear is not as much a problem for the church at large as is the present centralization direction of the General Convention church.
Perhaps a bit of nuancing or clarification about the state of WO in worldwide Anglicanism may be in order. While women priests and deacons have been accepted in many places in the Global South as well as the industrialized Global North, it’s highly significant that no women BISHOPS have been consecrated in the Global South. The Anglicani provinces in the USA, Canada, New Zealnad, and Australia have all started ordaining women bishops, but this hasn’t yet happened in the theologically conservative provinces. And it’s not likely to happen any time soon.
In that sense, the ACNA’s restriction of the episcopate to men is not regressive, but simply a sign that the new North American province in formation is simply aligning itself with the orthodox Global South on this issue, just as on other matters.
David Handy+
I agree with the Advocate that it might be interesting to look at the state of WO in worldwide Anglicanism. [url=http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/23531/#375846] I have done so [/url] in the thread up the page on women clergy in the ACNA.