http://www.evangelicals.org/news.asp?id=1050
[EV News] 8 Sep 2009--Christ Church, Plano, the largest church in the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) has issued a paper outlining its support for women being ordained to the presbyterate.
This highlights a problem all along with ACNA (Anglican Communion in North America) in that they are an amalgam of parishes and organisations, including AMiA, some of whom are standing for Biblical teaching and some of whom appear to be willing to make some of the mistakes ECUSA made 30 years ago.
This is only a problem if (1) one wishes to deny safe harbor to all others who hold differing views on secondary issues; (2) one sees things purely statically; and (3) one holds that Reformed Anglicans are at the helpless mercy of the ecclesiastic structure under which they currently reside.
ReplyDeleteThere is lots of variety in AMiA, including a non-prayerbook and very charismatic congregations in Washington's former church.
ACNA is a safe harbor. If there is a need for a Reformed Anglican ecclesiastic structure, one will emerge.
Is there a need? That is the question.
Why did Christ Church Plano, knowing that its own view of WO was favorable, choose to join AMIA in the first place? Hadn't they read AMIA's study on WO that was chaired by Bp. Rodgers several years ago, which came to the opposite conclusion? Wouldn't it have made more sense for them to join CANA, or to fetch one of the new ACNA bishops? And why did AMIA accept their application, knowing that this enormous parish would ultimately dominate its politics?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I had been thinking that AMIA would eventually become a safe harbor for conservative evangelicals (aka reformed catholics). So much for that dream. The REC is the only 'diocese' in ACNA where the term 'evangelical' retains anything close to its original meaning.
aaytch,
ReplyDeleteAt the time AMiA was launched, there was not an moratorium upon women's ordination and the AMiA included a number of women priests. According to the websites of the AMiA and the Province of Rwanda:
"In 2007, the Anglican Mission expanded its structure at the request of Archbishop Kolini by creating the Anglican Mission in the Americas. This umbrella organization includes the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), the Anglican Coalition of Canada (ACiC) and the Anglican Coalition in America (ACiA). This structure embraces two countries (the US and Canada) as well as two positions on the ordination of women. Both the ACiC and the ACiA ordain women to the priesthood, as does the Province of Rwanda, while the AMiA maintains its policy of ordaining women only to the diaconate. The Anglican Mission in the Americas provides a way to maintain the integrity, and honor the consciences, of those with differing opinions and policies on women’s ordination."
Peter Toon popularized the use of the term "Reformed Catholic" for Anglican--a term the Scottish Episcopal Church rejected in the nineteenth century for "Protestant Episcopal" because the Scots equated "Reformed Catholic" with "Roman Catholic." I am an Anglican who stands squarely in the evangelical and Reformed tradition of Anglicanism. I am not a "Reformed Catholic." I am a Protestant! Once one starts thinking of and referring to oneself as a "Reformed Catholic," its just a step away from thinking of and referring to oneself as a "Catholic" and abandoning one's Protestant and Reformed principles.
As for the REC being a safe harbor for conservative evangelicals, in posts on the Internet I have encountered on a number of occasions members of the REC dismissively referred to as "Presbyterians" their fellow REC members who are authentically evangelical and Reformed in their views. Sutton and Grote, two of the bishops of the REC, boast on the Internet that they played an instrumental role in the drafting of the Common Cause Theological Statement that is now embedded in Article I of the ACNA constitution and which mandates a Catholic view of the historic episcopate and emasculates the Anglican Formularies. The 2005 REC BCP incorporates the 1928 BCP which is both liberal and Catholic in doctrine and upholds such Catholic doctrines as eucharistic sacrifice and the Real Presence and downplays the gravity of human sinfulness. The REC has also abandoned its historic position on baptismal regeneration. The General Council celebrated the adoption of the 2009 REC BCP with High Mass! Charlie Ray was disposed as an REC deacon because he did not subscribe to the Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession. In the REC Reformed-Evangelicals are not going find the sheltered cove they are seeking to weather the storm.
I disagree with Dom. The ACNA is not at the present time a safe harbor for Reformed-Evangelicals and if it is to become a safe harbor for Reformed-Evangelicals its constitution and canons must be amended to eliminate the privileged status granted Catholics and Catholicism. Reformed-Evangelicals must also be given their own non-geographic jurisdiction like the one the ACNA has granted to FIF North America, as well as the freedom to nominate, elect, and confirm their own bishops. The jurisdiction should be divided into judicatories, or dioceses, each with its own bishop, and the bishops of the juridiction should confirm the election of each new bishop elect. This is the practice in Australia, Canada, and other parts of the Anglican Communion.