The Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) unanimously recognized the Anglican Diocese of the South and the Diocese of the Great Lakes on June 9 at its meeting in Amesbury, Massachusetts. More than 1,500 Anglicans from 20 churches in four states (AL, GA, NC, TN) have joined together to form the new regional Diocese of the South. More than 1,500 communicants from 14 congregations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana are uniting to form the regional Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes.
Following the Provincial Council’s meeting, the ACNA’s College of Bishops elected the Rev. Dr. Foley Beach as the first bishop of the Diocese of the South. Bishop-elect Beach, who had been nominated by the diocese’s inaugural Synod, is the Rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, GA. He is expected to be consecrated this Fall. The College of Bishops also approved the election of Bishop Roger Ames as the first bishop of the Diocese of the Great Lakes. Bishop Ames, who previously served as a suffragan bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, is tentatively scheduled to be formally installed as the diocesan bishop this coming October.
The ACNA has not been accepted as a new province of the Anglican Communion. However, it has been recognized as “fully Anglican” by the 20 provinces represented at the Global South to South Encounter held in Singapore back in April. The seven GAFCON provinces have already established a de facto provincial relationship with the ACNA by seating Archbishop Bob Duncan on the GAFCON Primates Council as the primate of North America.
ACNA has not been accepted as a province of the Anglican Communion. If memory serves, they have been referred to the official process which goes through the ACC, and that would take some time.
ACNA is, however, in individual communion relationships with many of the GS Anglican provinces.
Barbara (#22),
I’m glad to see you making one of your all-too-rare posts here, sister. You’re right, of course. I’d only add that the 20 GS provinces represented in Singapore represent something like 75-80% of the world’s practicing Anglicans. But while Ross (#3) is also right that there is a lengthy official process to being recognized by the ACC as a new Anglican province of the AC, so far the ACNA hasn’t yet made any official move to apply for that formal recognition. And we probably won’t do so until a positive outcome is assured.
But I can’t help adding a personal aside to Barbara. While I’m glad to see that the CANA Great Lakes District headed by +Roger Ames of Akron is now an official ACNA regional diocese, I was secretly hoping that maybe this new Great Lakes Diocese included the Chicago area churches and that a certain AMiA parish we both know and love had chosen to be a part of it.
Anyway, this is the first time I know of that a bunch of CANA churches have been spun off to form a geographical diocese. And I see that as a very positive step in the consolidation of the ACNA.
David Handy+