Proposed Resolution Defines the Duties of ACNA Officers

Church or Corporation?

By Robin G. Jordan

At its February 2011 meeting in Phoenix the ACNA Executive Committee approved this resolution for submission to the Provincial Council at its next meeting.

DRAFT

RESOLUTION No. ____

DUTIES OF OFFICERS

WHEREAS, the Provincial Cannons provide that the Provincial Council shall define the duties of each officer of the Church (Title I, Canon 1, Section 5), and

WHEREAS, the Council finds that the duties and responsibilities of the officers are still developing, so that fixing the duties by Canon is not appropriate at this time and that the same should be accomplished by this Resolution.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED by the Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America that the duties of the officers of the Church shall be as follows:

I. The Archbishop: The Archbishop shall be the Presiding Officer of the Anglican Church in North America, its Council and its Executive Committee, and shall be the principal executive officer of the Corporation. The Archbishop shall convene the meetings of the Provincial Assembly, Provincial Council, Executive Committee, and College of Bishops and shall represent the Province in the Councils of the Church. The Archbishop, in general, shall discharge all duties incident to the office of the president or chief executive officer of a nonprofit corporation as articulated by the Anglican Church in North America’s Constitution and Canons.

II. The Deputy Chair: The Provincial Council shall appoint a Deputy Chair, who shall preside over the meetings of the Executive Committee and the Provincial Council in the absence of the Archbishop or at the Archbishop’s pleasure. The Deputy Chair, in general, shall discharge all duties incident to the office of Deputy Chair and such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Executive Committee from time to time.

III. The Dean: The Dean shall be a senior Bishop, in good standing of the ACNA College of Bishops. If the Archbishop appoints a dean, the dean shall be appointed annually and shall support the Archbishop by representing the Archbishop at events and meetings when the Archbishop is unable to attend or at the Archbishop’s pleasure. He may express the will or message of the Archbishop in matters of importance when the Archbishop is absent, but does not possess any of the canonical authority of the Archbishop.


IV. The Secretary: It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep the minutes of the proceedings of the Executive Committee Meetings and the Provincial Councils and Assemblies; record them, with all reports, preserve the Journals and Records of the Council; deliver them to the Registrar, as hereinafter provided, and perform such other duties as may be directed by the Archbishop and/or Council. The Secretary may, with the approval of the Council, appoint Assistant Secretaries, and the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries shall continue in office between meetings of the Provincial Council.

V. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor(s): The Archbishop shall nominate a Chancellor and such Vice-Chancellors as he deems advisable for appointment by the provincial council to serve at his pleasure. They shall be lay persons learned in the law and members of a parish in a diocese or voting jurisdiction holding membership in the Provincial Council (e.g., Dioceses in Formation, Cluster, etc.) of the Province. The duties of the Chancellor shall be to act as legal counselor to the Archbishop, the Executive Committee, the archbishop's Cabinet, the Provincial Council, the College of Bishops and other Provincial organizations in matters affecting the interests of the Church (ACNA). The Vice Chancellors shall perform such duties as shall be delegated to them by the Chancellor or the Archbishop.

VI. The Treasurer: At an annual meeting of the Provincial Council a Treasurer shall be chosen by said body, and shall remain in office until the next stated Council, and until a successor is appointed.

1. It shall be the Treasurer's duty to receive and disburse all moneys collected under the authority of the Anglican Church of North America, and of which the collection and disbursement shall not otherwise be prescribed; and to invest, from time to time, available surplus funds.

2. The Treasurer's account shall be rendered at all meetings of the Executive Committee and annually to the Provincial Council and shall be audited yearly at the direction of the Provincial Council.

3. The Treasurer may appoint, subject to the confirmation of the Archbishop, such assistants as may be necessary, to hold office during his pleasure, and until their successors are appointed and confirmed.

4. The Treasurer shall also deliver to the Official Auditor:

a) Books of account(s),
b) A report of the aforementioned, with,
c) Another showing the details upon which the said summary was based, and
d) Vouchers pertaining to the above, all for critical examination.

5. The Treasurer shall cause a sufficient number of copies of the said summarized report, bearing certificate of audit, to be printed, at the expense of the Council, and distributed to all the members at the opening session.

6. The Treasurer shall give bond in such amount as the Council may require.

7. The Treasurer’s books of accounts and vouchers shall at all times be open to the examination of the Executive Committee, or any member thereof.

VII. The Registrar: The Provincial Council shall appoint a person of suitable qualifications to be known as the Registrar of the Provincial Council, whose duty it shall be:

1. To receive all Journals, files, papers, reports and other documents or articles that are, or shall become, the property of the Provincial Council, College of Bishops, Executive Committee, or Archbishop's Cabinet; to arrange, label, index, and put them in order, and to provide for the safe-keeping of the same in some fireproof, accessible place of deposit, and to hold the same under such regulations as the Provincial Council may, from time to time, provide.

2. It shall also be the duty of the said Registrar to procure a suitable book, and to enter therein the record of the ordinations and consecrations of all the Bishops of this Church, designating accurately the time and place of the same, with the names of the consecrating Bishops, and of others present and assisting; to have the same authenticated in the fullest manner practicable; and to take care for the similar record and authentication of all future ordinations and consecrations of Bishops in this Church.

3. The Registrar shall receive notice of all ordinations, receptions and removals of clergy in the annual reports filed by the several diocese.

4. It shall also be the duty of the said Registrar to continue the List of Ordinations and keep a list of the Clergy in regular standing, corrected to the first day of January, in each year, and furnish a certified copy of the same to any applicant at the applicant’s expense or to the Secretary of the General Council upon request.

5. The Registrar shall maintain the lists of eligible voting members (both clergy and Lay) for any meetings of the Provincial Council and Assembly.

Be it further RESOLVED that this Resolution may be revised or amended as future requirements may develop.

This Resolution was adopted by the Provincial Council at its regular meeting in Long Beach, California on June __, 2011.

The relatively late submission of this resolution lends credibility to the criticism heard in some quarters that the leaders of the ACNA “are making things up as they go along.” The wisdom of allowing denominational officers leeway to write their own job descriptions and to exercise wide discretionary powers instead of giving them clearly defined constitutional limits in which they must operate is open to question. It sets a dangerous precedent that the ACNA is likely to regret in the future. The Enron executives’ misuse of investors’ money, liberal Episcopal bishops’ abuse of authority, and Roman Catholic hierarchy’s cover-up of the sexual predations of Roman Catholic priests are lessons from recent history that should not be overlooked out of the mistaken belief that the leaders of the ACNA are different from these men. The leaders of the ACNA are not infallible. Authoritative leadership and infallibility are not the same.

What is notable about this proposed resolution is that it describes the duties of the Archbishop in corporate terms rather than ecclesiastical terms. It envisions the Archbishop as the president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of a corporation, not the chief pastor of a Church. It must also be noted that the governing documents of the ACNA for the most part prescribe the functions and powers of the Archbishop in relation to the ecclesiastical organization of the ACNA, not its secular corporate organization. The word “incident” means “naturally attached to.” This resolution would recognize the Archbishop as having much more authority in his role as corporate executive than the governing documents give him as Primate of the Province. This is likely to cause problems in the future. It also defines the primary role of the Archbishop as an administrator, not a spiritual leader. This has been identified as one of the problems besetting The Episcopal Church.

The resolution also relegates the Dean of the Province to the role of an assistant and a subordinate to the Archbishop, which is quite different from the role that the Provincial Dean plays in Anglican Provinces like the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Anglican Church of Rwanda, the Church of Nigeria, and the Church of Uganda. The Provincial Dean in these Anglican Provinces does have canonical authority in certain situations. The Provincial Dean typically serves as the presiding officer of the Provincial Synod in the absence of the Primate or at the request of the Primate. In the event of the prolonged absence or physical or mental incapacity of the Primate he becomes the Acting Primate. He may perform other duties prescribed by the provincial constitution and/or canons.

The Provincial Council needs to reevaluate and rethink the roles of Archbishop, Deputy Chair, and Dean of the Province. The Council should be determining these roles rather than allowing the current occupant of the office of Archbishop to shape the roles of the Deputy Chair and Provincial Dean as well as his own role. All three roles need to be prescribed by canon in clear and precise language so it is evident to all when the occupant of an office exceeds the authority of his office. The governing documents need to contain provisions for the censure, suspension, and removal of office-bearers, including the Archbishop, when circumstances warrant their censure, suspension, or removal. Without such basic safeguards in its constitution and canons the ACNA is inviting trouble.