Conservative Anglicans will declare a split from the U.S. Episcopal Church on Sunday, but will stop short of schism with the archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
”There will be permanent division, one way or the other,” said Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia, one of the organizers of the weeklong Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), adding that he expected “long-term consequences” for the Anglican Communion.
Archbishop Jensen pinned the blame for the schism on the Episcopal Church, calling its 2003 consecration of a practicing homosexual as bishop of New Hampshire “an extraordinary strategic blunder” that has divided the church.
In a statement to be released here Sunday morning, the GAFCON churches, mostly from Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, are expected to form a “church within a church,” breaking with the liberal churches of North America that also have permitted the blessing of same-sex unions.
Relations with the office of the archbishop of Canterbury will not be severed, but it appears likely that they will be qualified in some form.
I’d like to say, since there were some unhappy feelings about the accidental early release of the Declaration, that Mr. Conger’s reporting is what I always look for and rely upon. He avoids excessively emotional reporting and tries to achieve the goal of sticking to the facts. This is a great gift to the confused Anglican situation of our day.
Katherine, this elf agrees wholeheartedly with your comment. Kendall commented to me several times during GAFCON that George Conger’s reporting was particularly helpful and accurate. His reports for the Washington Times, The Living Church, Religious Intelligence and the Church of England News (CEN) have all been must reading for those of us following GAFCON. He was one of the very few reporters there who “got it” and didn’t buy into massive media hype or spin.
Thank you George+
#1 I agree. George Conger is the best journalist covering the Anglican beat. Accurate and well informed and fair. A true professional. I remember especially George’s reporting of the Tanzania primates meeting as a highlight. Thanks George for your hard work.
Pas du tout, George. You are quite mistaken.
This is not a split or a schism – it’s a reformation or a restoration declared by over half the Anglican world.
The GAFCON Communique and the Jerusalem Declaration are also a gracious invitation… offering a choice between the traditional Christianity of the ages and the new-blend neo-gnostic self-worship religion of the revisionists/agendites.
Or you could also see it as a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to the creeping rot and aggressive activism that overtaken orthodox Christianity in all denominations for the last century.
It’s: “You’re not the boss of me, Jesus is.”
Assuming a split of some kind is inevitable I’ll go out on my limb as is my custom sometimes and say that this seems to be the case. I totally disagree with the TEC to try and blame everyone else in the remainder of a multi-million worldwide communion as responsible. The gauntlet has been tossed at the feet of the TEC PB and if she does nothing then the split will totally occur.
Conger helpful and accurate? In what universe? It is so hard to find good accurate reporting, and I have found him disappointingly full of spin. TEC may have to take a lot of abuse, but we stand for justice, freedom and peace for all God’s people. If he wants to put self-aggrandizing words in someone’s mouth, he should write fiction.