Anglicans Ablaze Goes A-Begging

By Robin G. Jordan

At the suggestion of a number of my readers I submitted to the Office of the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America a request for information regarding the College of Bishops’ reception of Bishop Derek Jones by email on Saturday, August 14, 2010.

Dear Archbishop Duncan,

I am investigating the details of the College of Bishops’ reception of CEEC Derek Jones as a bishop of the Anglican Church in North America for a story that I am writing for the web journal Anglicans Ablaze. As the senior bishop of the Anglican Church in North America, president of the College of Bishops, and spokesman for the College, I thought that you would be the one person who would know all the details in this matter and might be able to assist me.

A number of details were not released with the announcement of Bishop Jones’ reception. These details include:

(1) The basis of the College of Bishops’ decision to accept Bishop Jones’ orders rather than require his re-consecration.
(2) The extent of the College of Bishops’ own inquiry in the validity and regularity of Bishop Jones’ orders.
(3) What consideration the College of Bishops gave to Resolution 54 of the Lambeth Conference of 1958 in its recognition of Bishop Jones’ orders.
(4) The extent to which the Church of Nigeria was, prior to the College of Bishops’ decision, consulted especially in regards to the status of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches and the orders of its ministers in relation to Lambeth Resolution 54.
(5) What short-term and long-term effects the College of Bishops anticipated their decision might have upon ACNA relations with the CEEC and other independent Catholic and Convergent churches, its relations with the Anglican Communion, relations between the Church of Nigeria and the Anglican Communion, the direction of the ACNA, and the future of the global South Anglican community.

I would greatly appreciate any information that you might give me that sheds light upon these details of the Bishop Jones’ reception.

Sincerely

Your brother in Christ,

Robin G. Jordan,

On August 18, 2010 Peter Frank who identified himself as the interim communication director for the Anglican Church in North America posted this comment in response to an article I posted on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 and titled “A view of the emerging Anglican Church in North America.”

I work at the ACNA's provincial office - as interim communications director. In that capacity I have been given the questions that you emailed to Archbishop Duncan on Saturday (he is traveling).

As I look at your website, it is difficult for me to understand why I should suggest to the College of Bishops or the Task Force on the Episcopacy (which was responsible for looking over Bishop Jones' credentials) that we engage with you on this. Your website would seem to indicate that you have long ago made up your mind about us, our leadership and our Anglican identity. In fact, it appears you wrote four posts over two weeks about this issue before contacting our office for clarification. It causes me to wonder what your goal may be in this engagement.

Whatever our disagreements, and as is the case with all Christians, we wish you a successful ministry as together we seek to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with a broken world

- Peter Frank

The information request that I made was a reasonable one. There was no hidden agenda to my request—just a desire to bring into the light a number of yet undisclosed details. If I had received the information that I requested, I would have written my story, and would have moved on to other matters.

Letting outsiders like myself know how the College of Bishops came to a decision and what was and was not considered in that decision builds bridges between the ACNA and those who have become alienated from the ACNA for a variety of reasons. It also gives those inside the ACNA insight into how their leaders make decisions and fosters greater trust and confidence in their leadership.

I am still interested in writing that story.