Seventeen bishops have already been ordained by a variety of African churches to lead splinter groups in the United States, and there are more on the way.
Rwanda has almost as many bishops in America as it does at home.
And there is gathering momentum to unite into an independent new church and compete for recognition as the authentic voice of Anglicanism in the United States.
John Guernsey, ordained a bishop earlier this month in Uganda, presides over All Saints, and 32 other parishes.
He says a united traditionalist Anglican Church cannot come soon enough, and looks to their meeting in Pittsburgh to take a big step towards establishing it.
“Clearly we want to be fully unified as a biblical, missionary, Anglicanism that is one”, he says.
“We certainly hope that the Anglican Communion will give recognition and standing to those who are holding to the teaching of the Communion here in America.”
Another inaccurate representation of the issues and the situation from the press. I was interested in the statement that Rwanda has almost as many bishops in the US as in Rwanda; perhaps that includes the three bishops-elect. Perhaps he feels he needs so many now that he has divided his North Armican mission into three bodies to take care of those divided over women’s ordination.
I think it is unkind and unfair to characterize ++Jefferts Schori’s statement about boundary crossings as “waspish.” That kind of attitude has not characterized any of this soft-spoken woman’s public statements, and she is absolutely right to object to these violations of the Windsor Report recommendation, Lambeth, and ancient councils. “Waspish” strikes me as part of the catty vocabulary of the British media, not a word ordinarily used by Amercan journalists.
Bp. Guernsey warns the rest of the Communion to “watch out.” Will those in other provinces who truly want to engage the issue that is currently causing conflict be quaking in their boots? We shall see.