Anglican Mission – Anglican Church of Rwanda Split Holds More Surprises in Store

By Robin G. Jordan

I have been looking at the comments left in response to articles related to the possible split between the Anglican Mission and the Anglican Church of Rwanda on a number of web sites. I have found that those who left comments are poorly informed about the canonical charter of the Anglican Mission and the constitution and canons of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. The charter of the Anglican Mission and the constitution and canons of the Anglican Church of Rwanda are posted on the Anglican Mission web site along with a number of other documents relating the ecclesiastical structure and organization of the Anglican Mission. The only documents that are not posted on the Anglican Mission web site are its articles of incorporation and by-laws as a non-profit corporation, a fact to which I have drawn attention in past. More than one those who left comments evidenced surprise that the Anglican Mission was so hierarchical. If they read these other documents they would be even more surprised. The Anglican Mission when it was originally formed in 1999 adopted a Solemn Declaration of Principles. Article V of this Solemn Declaration states:

The teaching of this Church is defined by adherence to the doctrinal norms and formularies found in the Solemn Declaration, consequently we make no provision for their alteration by addition or subtraction. Should this Solemn Declaration be altered by any means, this Church would thereby cease to exist. Any money or property owned by the Province per se would be returned to the donors or their heirs and where that was not possible it would be sold and given to an orthodox Christian missionary society as soon as possible.

While the Anglican Mission has not formally altered its Solemn Declaration, Bishop Chuck Murphy and Canon Kevin Donlon, when they persuaded the Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to accept the draft revision of the canons of the Anglican Church of Rwanda that Canon Donlon had prepared and to present that revision of the Rwandan canons to the Rwandan Provincial Synod for adoption, effectively changed the doctrinal norms and formularies found in the Solemn Declaration. They by this means caused the Anglican Mission to cease to exist under the provisions of the Solemn Declaration of Principles. Canon Donlon in his draft revision of the Rwandan canons substituted the dogmas of the Council of Trent and other doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church for the doctrinal norms and formularies found in the Solemn Declaration. The Rwandan Provincial Synod in adopting the draft revision of the Rwandan canons and the Rwandan House of Bishops in endorsing and promulgating them made the doctrinal content of the revised canons not only the official teaching of the Anglican Church of Rwanda but also all of its missionary jurisdictions. The Anglican Church of Rwanda at the time of the adoption, endorsement, and promulgation of the revised canons had only one missionary jurisdiction—the Anglican Mission. By the provisions of the Solemn Declaration the Anglican Mission ceased to exist in 2008, on the very day that the revised canons were promulgated.

Some might argue that the Solemn Declaration is not binding upon the Anglican Mission because the Anglican Mission never formally adopted the constitution and canons of the Anglican Missionary Province of North America to which the Solemn Declaration was prefaced. However, Anglican Mission clergy have been gathering annually to formally subscribe to the theological norms, formularies, and guidelines found in the Solemn Declaration in accordance with Article IV of the Solemn Declaration. This shows that the Solemn Declaration has been recognized as an authoritative statement of doctrine in the Anglican Mission for the past eleven-odd years.

The proposal that Bishop Murphy and Canon Donlon have presented to a gathering of Anglican Mission pastors show every indication of being an attempt by Murphy and his special assistant to preserve the power and influence that Murphy has aggrandized to the position of chairman in the Anglican Mission and to consolidate the doctrinal changes that Donlon has made with Murphy’s connivance. While Donlon clearly subscribes to this theology, it is questionable whether Murphy himself does. However, Murphy does appear to recognize the usefulness of Anglo-Catholic/Roman Catholic ecclesiology that Donlon incorporated into the canonical charter of the Anglican Mission and the revised Rwandan canons, to his hold upon the reins of power in the Anglican Mission. This ecclesiology and the Anglo-Catholic/Roman Catholic theology to which Donlon subscribes are closely tied to each other. The second forms the basis of the first.

What Bishop Murphy and Canon Donlon are proposing will be Anglican in name but it will not be Anglican in doctrine and governance. Under the proposal Murphy would become an “Apostolic Vicar” in place of a “Primatial Vicar.” Instead of being a deputy for the Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, he would become a deputy for the Apostles themselves, second only to Christ’s most intimate circle of followers. This is not quite as elevated an office as vicegerent of God, a title claimed by the Roman Pontiff, but it comes pretty close. A vicar is a person’s deputy or agent. A vicar acts in his place. While “vicar apostolic” is a Roman Catholic term used for a missionary or titular bishop, “apostolic vicar” as Murphy and Donlon describe the office is closer to a metropolitan or a patriarch or even a pope.

The Anglican Mission does not need the type of hierarchical organization and structure that Murphy and Donlon are championing to effectively plant churches. For those who are under the false apprehension that this type of hierarchical organization and structure is African, it is not. It comes from the Roman Catholic Church. A genuine Anglican organization and structure would be synodical, not prelatical as is the organization and structure of the Anglican Mission and the Roman Catholic Church. In a genuine Anglican organization and structure bishops would share governance of the Anglican Mission with synods of clergy and laity. This is the way that the Anglican Mission was supposed to have been organized under its proposed constitution and canons submitted at Kampala in 1999.

At this stage, the Anglican Mission having ceased to exist under the provisions of the Solemn Declaration, the clergy and congregations of the Anglican Mission, if they wish to remain together as an ecclesial body, need to hold a constitutional convention to draft a constitution and canons for that body. A good starting point would be the proposed constitution and canons of the Anglican Missionary Province of North America.

North America needs an orthodox Anglican province that is committed to Scripture, the classic formularies, and the Great Commission. God is presenting North American Anglicans with an opportunity to establish such a body. My prayer is that they recognize this opportunity and make use of it.

Related articles:
Anglican Mission and Anglican Church of Rwanda Deny Split
A Statement from the Archbishop of Rwanda and the Primatial Vicar of the Anglican Mission in the Americas
Anglican Mission and Anglican Church of Rwanda to Sever Ties?
Anglican Mission Spins Break with the Anglican Church of Rwanda
Is the AMiA’s New "Missionary Society” Structure the Best Way Forward?
No Surprise in News of Possible Split Between Anglican Mission and the Anglican Church of Rwanda