The Anglican Church in North America: Catholic but NOT Reformed

A Survey of the ACNA Doctrinal Statements and Their Theological Leanings: The Canons – Part 2

By Robin G. Jordan

On Saturday I posted the first part of this article on the theological leanings of the ACNA canons and the implications of a number of provisions of that doctrinal statement. Today I am posting the second part of the article.

Title III Of Ministers, Their Recruitment, Preparation, Ordination, Office, Practice and Transfer

Canon 5, Sections 1 and 3. As used in these two sections of Canon 5, the term “the Historic Episcopate” is a reference to a line of succession of bishops that is believed to go back to the apostles. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Old Catholic, Moravian, and Independent Catholic churches and the Assyrian Church of the East take the position that apostolic succession is such a line of succession of bishops and only an individual in this line of succession of bishops can be a bishop. Only such an individual can validly ordain clergy and only clergy ordained by such an individual are validly ordained.

This view of apostolic succession underpins the sacramental theology of these churches. It is believed that the imposition of hands and/or anointing with oil by bishops in this line of succession of bishops conveys a special gifting or grace of the Holy Spirit to the individual so ordained as a bishop. Through these actions the individual ordained as a bishop is not just recognized as having authority to confirm and ordain but is spiritually empowered to do so. In these churches confirmation and ordination are viewed as sacraments along with Baptism, the Eucharist, matrimony, penance, and unction.

When a bishop imposes hands on the baptized and/or anoints the baptized with oil at confirmation, he imprints a character upon the baptized and enriches the baptized by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When a bishop lays his hands on a candidate for ordination to the priesthood and/or anoints such a candidate with oil, he imprints an indelible character upon the candidate and empowers him spiritually to infuse the water of Baptism with the Holy Spirit so that those baptized in the water are made regenerate. The bishop empowers the candidate spiritually to confect the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the Body and Blood of Christ and to reiterate or represent the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. What the priest offers at the altar are not representations of Christ’s Body and Blood but Christ himself substantively present in the eucharistic elements. The sacrifice that the priest offers is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, not a repetition of that sacrifice. Christ having offered himself to God on the cross at Calvary through the ministry of the priest continues to offer himself at each celebration of the Eucharist. His self-offering on the cross and his self-offering on the altar are one and the same. As well as offering himself to God in the Eucharist, Christ gives himself to his people as spiritual food.

Through the imposition of hands and/or anointing with oil the bishop also spiritually empowers the candidate to bless, to remit sins, and to anoint the dying and convey to them the grace of salvation.

When a bishop lays hands on a candidate for ordination to the episcopate and/or anoints him with oil, he transmits to the candidate the special grace or gifting of the Holy Spirit that he himself received at his ordination as a bishop, a grace or gifting that Christ bestowed upon the apostles and which they bestowed upon their successors.

This view of apostolic succession or a variation of it is held by Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England and other Anglican provinces but it is not shared or accepted by all Anglicans. The English Reformers rejected the belief that apostolic succession was a line of succession of bishops going back to the apostles. They found no real basis for this belief in the Holy Scriptures. They, like the Continental Reformers, took the position that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops. Whatever linage a bishop might claim, if the bishop did not uphold apostolic teaching, he was no successor to the apostles. For a variety of reasons the English Reformers chose not abolish the office of bishop or to conflate the offices of presbyter and bishop together. Up until 1662 a number of clergy who had been ordained in the Continental Reformed Churches were appointed livings in the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 would bar from ordained ministry in the Church of England anyone who lacked episcopal ordination. This development was a reaction against the abolition of episcopacy during the Interregnum that followed the English Civil War.

The belief that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine has its share of adherents in the present day Anglican Church. Ordination is not viewed as a sacrament conferring a particular grace. It is viewed as the public recognition of an individual’s calling to ordained ministry and to a particular office and of the individual’s gifts and qualifications for that office. Ordination in the case of deacons and presbyters and consecration in the case of bishops confers the authority to execute a particular office in the Church and to do the work of that office. This view of apostolic succession and ordination is commonly but not exclusively held by Anglicans who are evangelical in their theological outlook and loyal to the Protestant and Reformed principles of the Anglican Church, which are based on Holy Scripture and are set out in the Anglican formularies.

It is evident from the use of this terminology in Canon 5 that those who drafted the canons favored the Anglo-Catholic position on apostolic succession and incorporated it into the canons to the exclusion of any other view of apostolic succession even though the excluded view is a legitimate one in historic Anglicanism, the view held by the English Reformers, present day conservative Anglican Evangelicals, and other Anglicans. In making the Anglo-Catholic position on apostolic succession the canons’ position on apostolic succession, they also made the Anglo-Catholic position on ordination the canons’ position. If they had wished to comprehend more conservative schools of Anglican thought in the ACNA – specifically the conservative Evangelical school of thought, they would have used different wording. See Canon 1, Section 1. The wording in this section does not reflect the doctrine of any particular school of Anglican thought. All it requires is the recognition and acceptance of the orders of the church in which an individual was ordained. It does not set out the basis of this recognition and acceptance and side with the doctrinal positions of one school of Anglican thought. They would also have used different wording not only in this part of the ACNA canons but elsewhere in that doctrinal statement.

Canon 5, Section 2. This section of Canon 5 contains a provision that enables a bishop who is strong proponent of the Anglo-Catholic school of thought favored in the ACNA doctrinal statements or an institutionalist to require the examination of ordained ministers from other denominations in the teaching and liturgical practice of that school of thought as a requirement for reordination in the ACNA. The bishop may defer reordination until he is satisfied that such ministers are sufficiently indoctrinated in its teaching and liturgical practice. This is one of a number of provisions in the ACNA canons that bishops may use to ensure that the ACNA’s clergy, if they are not entirely Anglo-Catholic in their theological outlook, are in alignment with Anglo-Catholic teaching and liturgical practice. Among these provisions is Canon 1, Section 4, which enables the bishop of a diocese to determine the norms for ordination in the diocese, subject to the provisions of the canons.

  

Canon 8, Section 2. Canon 8 relates to bishops. Section 2 of this canon is adapted from the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law – specifically Canon 375 §1.

“Bishops, who by divine institution succeed to the place of the Apostles through the Holy Spirit who has been given to them, are constituted pastors in the Church, so that they are teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship, and ministers of governance.”

Canon 8, Section 2 reflects the unreformed Catholic view of apostolic succession and the episcopate. It also infers Church tradition is more authoritative than Holy Scripture.

With Canon 5, Sections 1 and 3, Canon 8, Section 2 establish the position of unreformed Catholicism as the position of the ACNA canons on apostolic succession and the episcopate. They exclude any other position on apostolic succession and the episcopate from the doctrine of the ACNA.

Canon 8, Section 4. Section 4 of this canon relates to the election of bishops in the ACNA. Subsection 3 of this section commends the practice of the College of Bishops electing the bishop of a diocese rather than the diocese itself. This practice would enable any party or faction that has come to dominate the College of Bishops to maintain its dominance of that body and its influence over the direction of the ACNA. While the diocese would nominate a slate of two or three candidates for the College of Bishops’ consideration, the College of Bishops is not bound to elect any of these candidates. There is nothing in the canons to prevent the College of Bishops from rejecting the candidates that a diocese nominates until the diocese nominates a candidate to its liking. There is also nothing in the canons to prevent the College of Bishops from nominating and electing its own candidate for bishop of the diocese. While such a nomination and election might be irregular, it would not be unlawful under the current provisions of the canons. In a number of areas the College of Bishops has encroached upon the authority of the ACNA’s official governing body, the Provincial Council, as well as assumed authority that the ACNA governing documents do not assign to that body or recognize as inherent in it. The College of Bishops strongly influences the proposals of the various ACNA task forces and vets any legislation that is to go before the Provincial Council. Once a party or faction has gained control of the College of Bishops, it would be in a position to shape the doctrine of ACNA along whatever lines it preferred. At the present time the College of Bishops is dominated by Anglo-Catholic – philo-Orthodox bishops, which accounts for the particular theological leanings of its doctrinal statements to date.

Canon 8, Section 5. Section 5 of this canon requires all candidates for ordination to the episcopate in the ACNA to subscribe to a similar declaration to the one that all candidates for ordination to the diaconate and the presbyterate in the ACNA are required to subscribe. The only difference is that the vow of canonical obedience is to the archbishop instead of to the bishop. In subscribing to this declaration the candidate binds himself to conform to the official doctrine of the ACNA with all its implications. He is not free to preach or teach any other doctrine even though it may be consistent with Holy Scripture and the Anglican formularies and preached and taught by Anglicans outside of the ACNA. He is not at liberty to permit the preaching and teaching of such doctrine in the diocese where he will carry out his episcopal ministry.

Title IV Ecclesiastical Discipline

Canon 2 lists the charges or accusations on which ACNA clergy, including the archbishop and bishops, may be presented. It includes “heresy, false doctrine, or schism;” “violation of ordination vows;” “a violation of any provision of the Constitution of this Church;” disobedience, or willful contravention” of the provincial canons or the pertinent diocesan constitution or canons; “acceptance of membership in a religious jurisdiction with purpose contrary to that of this Church”; and “willful refusal to follow a lawful Godly Admonition,” that is, the written directive of his bishop. One or more of these charges or accusations could be used to present, try, and censure, suspend, or depose clergy who fail to conform to official ACNA doctrine or join an organization that while upholding doctrinal positions consistent with the Bible and the Anglican formularies is not in alignment with the ACNA doctrinal statements on key issues.

There are those who scoff at the idea that the disciplinary canons might be used to enforce the doctrinal uniformity that the ACNA canons impose upon that jurisdiction. But they are whistling past the graveyard. The ACNA doctrinal statements make no real attempt to comprehend other conservative schools of Anglican thought beside the one favored in these documents. The ACNA constitution and canons do not provide any safeguards to prevent their use to discourage other conservative schools of Anglican thought from flourishing in the ACNA. These schools of Anglican thought have no official standing in the ACNA.

This completes our examination of the four main parts of the ACNA canons. The canons do have a fifth part which contains the provisions related to the enactment of new canons and the amendment or repeal of existing canons. On paper this is a two-step procedure involving the Provincial Council and the Provincial Assembly but in practice it is a three-step procedure since no legislation finds its way to the floor of the Provincial Council for its consideration unless it enjoys the backing of the College of Bishops. The role that the Provincial Assembly plays in this process is largely cosmetic. The Assembly has no authority to initiate or modify legislation. It may only ratify it or send it back to the Provincial Council without amendment. There is little likelihood of meaningful reform making the ACNA comprehensive of other conservative schools of Anglican beside the one favored in its doctrinal statements coming from within the ACNA itself. To date those occupy influential positions of leadership in the ACNA have shown no inclination to move in that direction. 

Also see
The Anglican Church in North America: Pulling Back the Curtain
The Anglican Church in North America and the Struggle over Anglican Identity
The Anglican Church in North America: Different Emphases?
The Anglican Church in North America - a Church for All Conservative North American Anglicans?

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain