Interview with Bishop Martyn Minns

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5938

[VirtueOnline] 4 May 2007--The Rev. Martyn Minns became an Episcopal priest in the late 1970s. As the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, priest-in-charge at Truro Church, his is one of several large, historic Episcopal congregations in Northern Virginia that have split from the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church.

A Brit by birth he has spent most of his adult life in North America. He is a former Mobil Oil executive. His alliance with the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, Primate of the fast growing Anglican Province of Nigeria has made him an international power player in the Anglican Communion. This weekend he will be installed by his Primate, Archbishop Akinola in an elaborate service that is expected to draw more than 3,000 Anglicans from across the country.

His supporters view Minns as a faithful, hold-the-line orthodox priest who will not waver on sexuality issues. He is a charismatic figure, more in sync with African Anglican Christians that hold 'the faith once delivered to the saints' than with post-modern liberal Episcopalians for whom he has little use and who have abandoned historic Christianity.

His detractors see him as a divisive figure, anti-gay, fomenting dissent, and perhaps with an agenda that has more to do with him than with the unity of the Anglican Communion.

VirtueOnline obtained an interview with the soon to be Bishop of the Truro-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a new, conservative U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion that will replace the Episcopal Church. CANA comprises more than 35 congregations and is growing fast across the country.