from the Bishop of Central Florida - on the Network and the AMiA and why the ECUSA Network is "orthodox"
Comment:
What I find missing in the mindset and productions of courageous Bishops such as John Howe of central Florida is any regular, obvious and stated concern for what I have been calling Extra-Mural Anglicans which includes the REC, the APA, and the traditional Continuing Churches - PCK, ACA & ACC plus their offshoots. I can see why they should be concerned about AMiA and why the latter wants to be free from association with an erring, lapsed church such as the ECUSA is.
However, in this present crisis for American Anglicanism there is surely an invitation from divine providence to find a way to bring together all Anglicans in the USA into some kind of new fellowship and to demonstrate to the Primates and their Commission (which begins work very soon) that there is a will by American Anglicans to put their own house in order.
It looks as though after this crisis we are going to have MORE Anglican denominations in the USA than before it arrived and that we are not listening to the gracious voice of Christian reason and unity prompted by the Holy Ghost, the unifier and purifier of the people of God. That is centrifugal forces of self-defence and self-promotion are more dominant in this current mess than are centripetal forces of grace and unity.
Please read what John Howe states in defence of his group and against the AMiA and pray for the unity of the Anglican Way and Household in the USA.
In terms of what is orthodoxy, and so that we all truly stand in one place, I once more propose that we need to return to the classic Anglican formulation of commitment to the Scriptures, the Creeds & the historic, classic Anglican Formularies (which do not include the 1979 prayer book to which the Network bishops are regrettably committed as their chief formulary - thus weakening their claim to historic orthodoxy! If only they would regard this 1979 book as a Book of Alternative Services and embrace the true Formulary of the Proestant Episcopal Church of the USA - the 1789/1892/1928 BCP!).
PT
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 12:14:29 -0500
Subject: John Howe: Why the Network is not a Compromise
TEN REASONS WHY THE 'NETWORK' IS NOT A COMPROMISE
1) Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini and Yong Ping Chung decided to proceed on their own in consecrating Chuck Murphy and John Rogers. There had been a very carefully orchestrated conversation for several years, with a large number of primates CONSIDERING the possibility of consecrating "missionary bishops." But their timetable was quite different. Had Kolini and Yong Ping waited it is probable there would have been a much more significant number of supporters for creating an AMiA type of effort. One that might have been irresistible to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Instead, they acted on their own, and ended up isolating themselves from the rest of the primates, with an endeavor that is at BEST tangentially related to the Anglican Communion, and specifically NOT recognized by either the former or the present Archbishop of Canterbury.
2) In the sharpest contrast to that, the newly formed Network has already been recognized by a dozen primates as being in "full communion" with the rest of the Anglican Communion, and it has the explicit encouragement of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
3) The Network is wholly committed to "upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as this Church has received them" (i.e., it is totally opposed to the innovations of the last six months regarding human sexuality), but unlike the AMiA, it is working within the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, and with the full backing of a numerical
majority of the world's Anglicans, and - we believe - shortly with a majority of the primates of the Anglican Communion.
4) Those who choose to leave the Diocese of Central Florida are leaving a bishop and a diocese that are as committed as they are to remaining orthodox. They are leaving not because of a quarrel with the bishop or the diocese, but because they cannot stand being part of a larger community (ECUSA) that accepts in some of its dioceses practices and teaching they find abhorrent. However, they say they want to remain Anglicans. To the
extent they ARE Anglicans (which is open to question; see #1 above), they are still part of a larger community (the Anglican Communion) that accepts in some of its provinces practices and teaching they find abhorrent. A somewhat strange parallel, I think.
5) Ironically, the key, essential element in being Anglican is being in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The AMiA is not in communion with the ABC, AND the present ABC personally favors the very things these folks find so objectionable (although, thankfully, he has pledged not to further that agenda).
6) So: in order to be "out from under" the compromise of ECUSA, those who would leave either a) abandon their property, leaving both themselves and the diocese greatly impoverished - themselves for having to start over with new facilities, and the diocese because it does not have the resources to maintain the properties once they leave, OR b) as we have seen in several places, they enter into a terrible lawsuit against brothers and sisters who believe the same things they believe - one that impoverishes everyone but
the lawyers, and one that flies directly in the face of Biblical teaching, and makes the Church's witness a laughingstock to the outside world.
7) This diocese has not only joined the Network, but it passed, by a super- majority, a Canonical change that makes same-sex blessings illegal. We are in a stronger position than we have ever been.
8) The Archbishop's Commission has not even met for the first time yet, and Archbishop Drexel Gomez has indicated that he believes it will not be a paper tiger.
9) The Global South primates published a schedule for the Episcopal Church to mend its ways. Their key date was Easter. No one expects there to be any change in the posture of ECUSA by Easter, but wouldn't it be prudent to see what the next steps are on the parts of the primates?
10) Every time an orthodox priest, deacon, family, vestry or congregation leaves an orthodox diocese, that diocese is greatly weakened, and the cause of the other side is strengthened.
Rt. Rev. John Howe is Bishop of Central Florida
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.),
Christ Church, Biddulph Moor & St Anne's, Brown Edge;
V-P of the Prayer Book Society of the USA
No comments:
Post a Comment