Bishop Martyn Minns, a leading figure in the formation of the new province, said of the Archbishop of Canterbury: “It’s desirable that he get behind this. It’s something that would bring a little more coherence to the life of the Communion. But if he doesn’t, so be it.”
Bishop Minns, a priest who led his large, historic church in Virginia out of the Episcopal Church two years ago and was subsequently ordained a bishop by the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, said: “One of the questions a number of the primates are asking is why do we still need to be operating under the rules of an English charity, which is what the Anglican Consultative Council does. Why is England still considered the center of the universe?”
The Episcopal Church has about 2.3 million members ”” with about a third of those attending worship services on an average Sunday. The Anglican Church of Canada had about 650,0000 members in 2001, the last year that statistics were published, according to its Web site.
James Naughton, canon for communications and advancement in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and a liberal who frequently blogs on Anglican affairs, said he doubted that a rival Anglican province could grow much larger.
It would seem that TEc s spin machine is up and running. Why does everyone say that conservatives are the schismatic party? TEc and AC of C are the ones who left Christianity, not the conservatives. Not following them down the yellow brick road to hell and millinium goals hardly counts as schismatic. That is staying where you were, true Christians. TEc proved long ago that that following their heretic presiding ??? was what they would do and the rest of the world could get onboard with them or not. My choice? NOT.
And yet more spin from James Naughton:
[blockquote]“I think this organization does not have much of a future because there are already a lot of churches in the United States for people who don’t want to worship with gays and lesbians,†he said. “That’s not a market niche that is underserved.â€
[/blockquote]
He knows darn well that worshipping with gays and lesbians is not a problem for these groups leaving TEC behind.
I wonder whether Naughton thinks TEC can grow smaller than it is?
What is Naughton afraid of then? Why should he waste breath and ink on an Anglican Province that isn’t going to grow?
[blockquote]Bishop Iker of Fort Worth said in a recent interview with a Web site that he considers himself in a “state of impaired communion†with women priests from Pittsburgh, and that they would not be allowed to celebrate the eucharist in his diocese.[/blockquote]
The sun has barely set on the meeting and the next split is already in the making.
[i]Please keep this thread focused on the content of the article and don’t turn it into a discussion of Jim Naughton. Thanks.[/i]
“Of course, it will be something other than Anglican … no matter how it refers to itself.”
At least it will be recognizable as Christian.
[i] Some . . . even prefer that Anglican Communion expel the Episcopal Church because it refuses to conform to some particular definition of Christianity [/i]
ECUSA courts expulsion as its radical leaders increasingly show their disdain for orthodox Christianity—indeed, for anything that stands in the way of essentially secular agenda.
An amazingly uneditorialized report from Episcopal Life Online:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103344_ENG_HTM.htm
Naughton would never have said this if Schori and Company weren’t nervous and reactionary in their comments about us. They’re running scared, it seems to me!
Where the “good news” is preached there will always be new disciples. Where is isn’t preached, or its tepidly presented, or mixed-in with universalism, well…
RE: “I think this organization does not have much of a future because there are already a lot of churches in the United States for people who don’t want to worship with gays and lesbians,†he said. “That’s not a market niche that is underserved.â€
This comment succeeds in sounding both spiteful and bitter. It’s always good for the reality to be congruent with the message communicated.
Hopper, many things may be Christian that are not Anglican; but nothing may be Anglican that is not Christian, for instance the baptising of same-sex fornication.