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Friday, April 13, 2007
"This is what the Lord
says—Israel's
King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)
Message from Canon David Anderson, AAC President
April 13, 2007
Beloved in Christ,
The events of this first week after Easter are reflective
of the fact that many clergy simply collapse after the full schedule of Holy
Week, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and multiple Easter Day services. One of
the disappointing news items is the
ruling of a Florida judge against Fr. Neil Lebhar and his Jacksonville
congregation, Redeemer Anglican Church, in Bishop of Florida John Howard’s
lawsuit against them. Bishop Howard welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury's
Panel of Reference investigators when they came to examine facts in the
dispute after Redeemer Church's appeal to the Panel. However, when the
recommendations were not to his liking, he apparently changed his mind on
Anglicanism.
Although the Panel of Reference took too long to set up –
too long to accomplish anything – and,
in my opinion, was overly biased in favor of Bishop Howard in this case in
the Diocese of Florida, the bishop in effect told the panel to take a hike
and butt out of his business. He totally ignored the panel's
recommendations, disproportionately favorable as they were to him, and
pressed forward with the lawsuit. For Bishop Howard, it is, “Take no
prisoners, shoot the wounded.” Word has been received that very recently –
after the Panel of Reference recommendations were made and, more
importantly, after the primates' communiqué was issued with its pastoral
scheme demands – Bishop Howard received
a personal and confidential letter from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams urging him to adopt the Panel's recommendations, resolve the
dispute, and drop the lawsuit. Bishop Howard blew Archbishop Williams off
too. Is this what it means to be truly Anglican—
to tell the leadership of the entire Communion to "buzz off"? Although
Bishop Howard claims to be orthodox, he is part and parcel of the
persecution of the saints, and his actions speak louder than any
protestation as to what his beliefs really are.
It has not been a very good season for Archbishop
Williams: First, before the February Primates' Meeting in Tanzania, Canon
Kenneth Kearon, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, was caught
in an unguarded e-mail to Louie Crew (a five-time deputy to General
Convention and partnered homosexual in the Diocese of Newark) severely
criticizing his boss (Dr. Williams). Then, on the eve of Archbishop
Williams' trip to visit Canada, the primate of Canada has publicly
criticized Williams in very clear terms. This is an odd way of saying, “Your
Grace, Welcome to the Anglican Church of Canada!"
As reported last week, the Communiqué Compliance Office of
the American Anglican Council (AAC) has released its first monthly report on
The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) actions, and the report is now in circulation.
We have posted the document in PDF format on the AAC Web site, and
electronic copies are being provided to interested Anglican primates of the
Communion. Hard copy editions, which include all the background documents,
are only being printed in very limited numbers. Too many trees have to die
for all that paper, and too much postage would be needed to mail them
anywhere, so please get your copy electronically from our Web site (see
below for direct download link).
News has just reached us that Bishop of New Hampshire Gene
Robinson will speak tomorrow at the University of the South in Sewanee,
Tenn. A gay-straight organization at the University has invited him to speak
at Guerry Auditorium at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 14 as a part of the
Southeast Regional Gay Straight Alliance Conference. It is generally thought
that this type of invitation is a precursor to his receiving an honorary
Doctorate of Divinity degree from the University later this year, perhaps at
graduation.
In the U.S. legal system, there is for the accused a
presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of competent
jurisdiction, and we would hope that this presumption would be extended to
ecclesial jurisdictions as well, not only de jure but also de
facto . We are alarmed at statements coming from the bishop of
Colorado’s office that accuse a priest of tax fraud, for instance. I wonder
if the Diocese of Colorado hasn’t gotten on the wrong side of both slander
and libel of the cleric it is accusing? It may well be another indication of
the exalted position that TEC's revisionist bishops feel they have,
believing that they determine both civil law and tax law, as well as
ecclesiastical law.
On a very positive note, many Anglicans from various North
American churches are gathered this weekend in Ridgecrest, N.C., for the New
Wineskins Conference. Held approximately every three years, the conference
focuses on mission and ministry, and gives those who work in those fields
(and other interested persons) a chance to come together to pray, be
nurtured, grow in understanding, and network with one another. If you are
interested in mission work, it is the best conference you could attend.
One final note: Although in the last several AAC Weekly
Updates I have included a message, this will not always be possible, so some
weeks you may see one and other weeks you will not.
Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
Communiqué Compliance Office's February/March
Report Available for Download
AAC Press Release
April 13, 2007
The Communiqué Compliance Office (CCO) of the American
Anglican Council (AAC) has released its first report, which covers the
latter half of February and the month of March, and has posted it online for
downloading from the AAC
Web site ( under Current Resources). You may also download
the report here directly (PDF).
The document contains links to articles on the AAC Web
site that support the information provided in the report. Although hard copy
versions of the CCO report, including this background information, are
available in very limited numbers, the AAC strongly urges online downloading
in an effort to conserve resources.
The CCO was formed by the AAC immediately following the
February 2007 meeting of the Anglican primates in Tanzania as a means for
monitoring The Episcopal Church's compliance and defiance with respect to
the requirements called for in the primates' communiqué. The CCO will
monitor the actions and words by TEC bishops, dioceses and leaders in the
period leading up to the Sept. 30 deadline, by which time the primates have
requested the Church's response to the communiqué's requests.
The CCO will issue similar reports in the future on a
regular basis. In addition, the AAC welcomes the continued assistance from
readers in helping collect information for the CCO files. If you have
information pertaining to your parish and/or diocese that indicates TEC's
compliance and/or defiance of the primates' communiqué, please send it to:
compliance@americananglican.org.
Executive Council Group Begins Communiqué Response
Work
Source: Episcopal
Life Online
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
April 10, 2007
Executive Council group begins
communiqué work
Members will draft response for Council’s June consideration
[Episcopal News Service] An Executive Council work group,
appointed by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of
Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, has begun considering the role,
responsibilities and potential response of the Executive Council to the
issues raised by the recent communiqué from the Primates of the Anglican
Communion.
The Executive Council called for the work group via
Resolution EC008, passed at its March 2-4 meeting in Portland, Oregon.
The work group members are Bishop David Alvarez (Diocese
of Puerto Rico); Bishop Jon Bruno (Diocese of Los Angeles); the Rev. Dr. Ian
Douglas (Diocese of Massachusetts; Sherry Denton (Diocese of Western
Kansas); Dr. Delbert Glover (Diocese of Western Massachusetts); the Rev.
Canon Mark Harris (Diocese of Delaware); the Rev. Gay Jennings (Diocese of
Ohio); the Rev. Timothy Kimbrough (Diocese of North Carolina); and Bishop
Stacy Sauls (Diocese of Lexington). Resolution EC008 named Anderson, who is
also vice president of Executive Council, to chair the work group. (Jefferts
Schori is president of Executive Council.) Sally Johnson, Anderson’s
chancellor, is a consultant to the work group.
Anderson convened the group by conference call for the
first time on April 4. The members reviewed a draft foundational working
paper, compiled at Anderson’s request by Sally Johnson, her chancellor.
After a final review by the group, the resulting draft will be used as the
foundational working document regarding the role and responsibilities of
Executive Council, Anderson said... Continued
here
Anglican Church of Canada Bishops to Meet Next
Week
The Anglican Church of Canada's House of Bishops will meet
next week, April 16-20, in Niagara Falls, Ont. The Canadian bishops' meeting
comes approximately two months ahead of the Church's General Synod in June
(comparable to the U.S. Episcopal Church's General Convention), when the
Church will elect a new primate, vote on resolutions dealing with same-sex
blessings, respond to the Windsor Report, and act on several other issues.
The bishops' spring meeting will play a significant role in crafting
responses to these issues. (More
on Synod here)
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will lead a
one-day retreat at the Canadian bishops' meeting on April 17; he will also
answer questions on Monday, April 16 at a morning news conference. (Details
here) The Archbishop's visit to Canada –
which was widely seen as provocative to begin with, given the tension
surrounding the North American province's actions with regard to same-sex
blessings – comes a week after the
Church's head, Andrew Hutchison, criticized Williams for being an
"indecisive" leader and called his handling of the current crisis in the
Anglican Communion "disappointing and lacking" at critical points. (See
Telegraph article on this topic)
Anglican Essentials Canada, a group advocating for
biblical orthodoxy and historic Anglicanism, has written an open letter to
the Canadian bishops ahead of their spring meeting, and it is printed below.
The proposed resolutions referenced in the letter may be found here.
Anglican Essentials Canada Press Release
April 10, 2007
Dear Bishops,
Greetings to you in this season of the resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
This letter is an expression of grave concern that the motions recently
proposed by the Council of General Synod for debate at this summer's
meeting will lead us to exclusion from the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Primates, in their Dar es Salaam Communiqué, clearly request that
The Episcopal Church and, by implication, the Anglican Church of Canada
reaffirm Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference as the teaching
of the Communion on human sexuality and also that the necessary
assurance is made that we will not authorize the blessing of same-sex
unions. It is clear to us that unless you, as a House, call us back from
the edge we will lose our place as a full member of the Communion that
we hold dear. If that does not happen it appears likely that the
following events will unfold:
1. If motions 3-5 are passed, it will be understood that
the Anglican Church of Canada has chosen to "walk apart" from Canterbury
and the International Communion. "Communion" (koinonia) is not a human
creation but a gift of the Holy Spirit. We know that living in
“communion” is difficult but it does require us to make decisions in
mutual submission and in an ordered way. The willingness to settle the
issue of same sex blessing as Communion members does not appear to have
a place in these motions. If we will not make clear our willingness to
remain within the Communion it will be determined that we have walked
away from it.
2. If these motions are passed we will be on our way
to changing the Marriage Canon. Changing the Marriage Canon to include
all those legally eligible to marry will, as mentioned above, result in
our walking apart from the Communion. Also, it will result in our
departure from the received teaching of the Church through the ages and
from our current fellowship with other denominations. It is not within
our authority to make this change on behalf of the Christian Church.
3. If the motion for 'local option' returns to the
floor and is passed, our Church will be ministering in contradiction and
division. Firstly, the unrecognized fact is that a vote for local option
will declare that God does in fact bless same sex unions. We cannot say
in one church God blesses such unions but in the church down the street
that God does not. The contradiction is illogical and unworkable.
Secondly, 'local option' will plunge the Anglican Church of Canada into
an extended period of the most painful and diversionary turmoil. At
every level of church life - national, diocesan and parish - votes will
be forced which will divide God's people and bring discredit to the
cause of Christ in the world.
4. If resolutions 3-5 put forward by CoGS FAIL to
pass, we are left in almost as much danger. UNLESS General Synod has the
opportunity to debate and vote on one or more clear motions in SUPPORT
of the Primates specific requests in Windsor, and again in the Dar es
Salaam Communiqué, simply defeating the CoGS motions produces nothing
more than continued confusion, debate and uncertainty. The Primates have
explicitly requested clarity and may interpret continued ambiguity as a
choice to walk apart. General Synod delegates deserve a clear
unambiguous choice: to walk with the Communion or to walk apart. “Choose
this day.”
We urge you to hold fast to the advice that you gave
to General Synod at your House of Bishops' meeting on October 26, 2006
that the Marriage Canon should not be revised. We also ask that you
would bring to the floor of Synod a motion clearly affirming those
marker points of Communion as set out by the Primates' Dar es Salaam
Communiqué. This will clearly assert our desire to walk in communion
with Canterbury and the worldwide Anglican Church as opposed to “walking
apart” from it.
We understand the matters before us as a Church are
complex but we fear that the recent set of resolutions proposed by the
Council of General Synod for debate constitutes an adventure in
ecclesial brinkmanship. We acknowledge the heaviness of the
responsibility which God has placed upon your shoulders and we assure
you of our prayers as you work to preserve the unity and integrity of
the Communion which has been entrusted to you.
Yours in witness to our risen Lord Jesus Christ,
The Rev'd Canon John Paul Westin
Co-Chair, Anglican Essentials Canada
Chair, Anglican Essentials Federation
The Rev'd George Sinclair
Co-Chair, Anglican Essentials Canada
Chair, Anglican Network in Canada |
