The Secretary General, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, has stressed that the Anglican Church of North America is not a province of the Anglican Communion. Speaking to ACNS as he delivered his report to the Standing Committee, Archbishop Josiah said he wanted to correct any suggestion that ACNA was the 39th province of the Communion rather than Sudan, which was inaugurated in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is simply not true to say that ACNA is part of the Anglican Communion,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be part of the Communion a province needs to be in communion with the See of Canterbury and to be a member of the Instruments of the Communion. ACNA is not in communion with the See of Canterbury \u2013 and has not sought membership of the Instruments. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a long-standing process by which a province is adopted as a province of the Communion. It was a great joy for me to see Sudan go through this process and it was a privilege to be in Khartoum in July to see it become the 39th member of the Communion. ACNA has not gone through this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cACNA is a church in ecumenical relationship with many of our provinces,\u201d he went on. \u201cBut that is also true of many churches, including the Methodist, Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.\u201d<\/p>\n