Let’s face it. We who call ourselves “orthodox Anglican” (or like terms) are embarrassed – very much – by the way in which more and more Anglican jurisdictions and affiliations are being created by (a) departures from the Episcopal Church; (b) schisms within existing groups and jurisdictions; (c) the founding of new Anglican congregations from evangelical roots and ethos; and (d) combinations of the former and other novel means. As one well-known blogger has put it: Anglicans are an alphabet of affiliations. And as I have often expressed it – the centrifugal forces are much more evident right now than the centripetal ones (which suggests the absence of the Holy Spirit in some specific way!).
Do we know believe that there is only one Anglican Way, the way of Reformed Catholicism which is comprehensive in churchmanship and style? If so, then should we not desire to see and pray for a coming together of these groups in North America into at least a basic fellowship and cooperation for joint service of our Lord Jesus Christ. A house divided cannot stand – when the tough times come.
Several years ago the late learned and wise Dr Tarsitano with my help wrote a series of essays in which we advocated a national Congress, chaired by a distinguished person [High Court Judge, Senator, Film Star or the like] whom virtually all could respect, and with a specific agenda, as a means of bringing on to one site for a few hours representatives of all the Anglican groups, inside and outside the Episcopal Church, as a starter. This never got off the ground because (a) it was too visionary, and (b) others organized congresses of a portion, and only a portion [and usually dominated by ECUSA clergy], of the groups in the Anglican Way.
I cannot see the Congress method achieving unity – at least in the immediate future. Yet it may serve other good ends.
What I do see as a viable way of uniting most of the groups and jurisdictions of the Anglican Way is rather simple to state; but it will require a lot of work to achieve, especially where groups have adopted canons which limit their ability to seek unity and have adopted stances that separate them from others.
I propose that each group, jurisdiction and association seeks the godly patriarchal headship of an Archbishop, whose province within the Anglican Communion is known genuinely to be orthodox in both foundation [based on the Bible and the historic and classic Anglican Formularies] and in practice in worship, doctrine and discipline.
Thus when all groups have achieved this, then all the American groups will be within the Anglican Communion and all will be in communion with each other. Thereby the basis for cooperation in witness and service in the USA will be firmly laid and the possibility of unity with comprehensiveness will be before us.
What I propose is a real possibility!
Right now we have exemplars. The Anglican Mission in America is tied to the Province of Rwanda; the Reformed Episcopal Church (with APA) has a covenant with the Archbishop of Nigeria, and multiple congregations are under the pastoral care of Bishops in a variety of provinces around the world from South America via Africa to Asia. Further, the Traditional Anglican Communion (= ACA in the USA) has put itself off this map by chartering a course over the River Tiber to the Vatican and this has served somewhat to clear the horizon and show that other Anglican groups truly wish to be Anglican in the long term.
Maybe there are better ideas and suggestions for uniting the very much divided membership of the Anglican Way. If so perhaps this short essay will help to bring these to light. Meanwhile I invite the serious-minded to consider what I have written above. Thank you.
petertoon@msn.com January 27, 2006
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