Further Revelations Related to Emerging Developments Affecting the Anglican Mission

By Robin G. Jordan

Beginning on May 1, 2011, I received a number of emails from an individual who represented himself as affiliated with the Anglican Church of Rwanda and who requested my assistance in the completion of an analysis of the Rwandan canons and the development of proposals for their revision. In these emails this individual stated that he was disturbed by the false impression of the doctrine and practice of the Anglican Church of Rwanda created by the new Rwandan canons adopted in September 2007. They did not reflect the Province’s longstanding Anglican doctrine and practice. He went on to state that the Rwandan House of Bishops was not given sufficient opportunity to examine the new canons or to make comments or suggest changes at the time the new canons were presented to them for endorsement and promulgation. The Rwandan Bishops were assured that Canon Kevin Donlan who had drafted the new canons was an expert in canon law. The endorsement and promulgation of the new canons was stressed as being urgent and not allowing for delay as it was essential for the legal changes that Anglican Mission needed to make in its charter.

A number of individuals and groups have consulted me regarding the proposed and existing governing documents of Anglican ecclesial bodies. A request for confidentiality therefore was not unusual. I publish a blog so the individual in question’s reluctance to disclose his identity also did not strike me as out of the ordinary. As far as he knew, I might be the type of person who would broadcast to the world that he had sought my assistance and thereby compromise what he was seeking to do.

I prepared a two-part assessment of the Rwandan canons with their doctrinal content as its primary focus. I identified the sources of most of the provisions of the canons and documented their heavy indebtedness to the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law (1983). I submitted the first part of the assessment with accompanying documents on May 25, 2011 and the second part of the assessment on May 30, 2011.

I developed a proposal for the revision of Canon 6, which governs missionary jurisdictions of the Anglican Church of Rwanda (See accompanying article, “A Proposal for the Revision of Canon 6.”) I submitted the proposal on May 31, 2011. I made a number of changes in the proposal and submitted them on June 1, 2011.

On June 22, 2011 I received for review a document identified as “2011 Revised Rwandan Canons.” I examined the proposed changes to the Rwandan canons and submitted a fourth document containing my suggestions and comments on August 17, 2011.

My analysis of the Rwandan canons confirmed my earlier examination of the canons. They are heavily indebted to the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law (1983). They replace Anglican teaching with Roman Catholic dogma as well as establish Roman Catholic governance structures.

As I wrote in my assessment of Canon 6, it attempts to recreate in the Anglican Church of Rwanda—at least in part—the papal system but on a smaller scale. The relationship of the Primate to the Primatial Vicar closely resembles that of the Roman Pontiff to a diocesan bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Canon 6 recognizes the Primate as the supreme legislator for the Province as the Code of Canon Law (1983) recognizes the Roman Pontiff as the supreme legislator for the Roman Catholic Church. It further recognizes that legislative authority may be validly delegated to the Primatial Vicar as his deputy and agent. The Primatial Vicar exercises legislative authority in the Missionary Jurisdiction on the behalf of the Primate. As the deputy and agent of the Primate the Primatial Vicar is the only legislator in the Missionary Jurisdiction, as is a Roman Catholic diocesan bishop the sole legislator in his diocese. As in the Roman Catholic Church authority in a Missionary Jurisdiction is derivative, descending from the Primate through the Primatial Vicar to the missionary bishops to the lower levels of the hierarchy in the Missionary Jurisdiction as authority descends from the Roman Pontiff to the various levels of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Unless a member of that hierarchy receives a direct commission from the Pope, whatever authority he exercises is derived from whoever in the hierarchy is his immediate superior.

The provisions of Canon 6 limit the Primate’s delegation of executive authority solely to the Primatial Vicar. Any executive authority that the Missionary Bishops exercise is derived from the Primate through the Primatial Vicar. The provisions in Canon 6 establish governance structures in Missionary Jurisdictions similar to those in the Roman Catholic Church with the Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda replacing the Roman Pontiff.

The Romanization of the governance structures in the Anglican Church of Rwanda is not limited to Canon 6. The preceding canon, for example, envisions the Diocesan Synod as a purely consultative body as in the Roman Catholic Church. Canon 23 establishes the Diocesan Bishop as the sole legislator in the Diocesan Synod, also as in the Roman Catholic Church. He alone makes canons for the Diocese.

One of the results of the adoption of the 2007 Rwandan canons was that it altered the doctrinal norms and formularies found in the Anglican Mission’s Solemn Declaration submitted at Kampala in 1999. Under the provision of Article V of the Solemn Declaration should these doctrinal norms and formularies be altered by any means, the Anglican Mission ceases to exist.

The adoption of the 2007 canons was out of character for the Anglican Church of Rwanda. The evangelical Church Missionary Society founded the Anglican Church of Rwanda. Rwanda was where the East African Revival with its commitment to Scripture and its emphasis upon repentance began. The Rwandan bishops, including Bishop Chuck Murphy, signed the GAFCON Statement and The Jerusalem Declaration. What is troubling is that they signed these documents after they endorsed and promulgated the new Rwandan canons, which are in conflict with the Anglican formularies affirmed in The Jerusalem Declaration.

What happened four years ago has bearing upon what is happening today. At that time there was pressure upon the Rwandan bishops to endorse and promulgate the new canons in time for the 2008 Anglican Mission Winter Conference. The new Rwandan canons and the new Anglican Mission charter were to be announced at that gathering. New initiatives in the Anglican Mission are typically announced at the annual Winter Conference. The Winter Conference is used to generate full support for these initiatives.

The theme of the upcoming Winter Conference is the Holy Spirit, which signaled to long-time Anglican Mission watchers like myself that some momentous development was in the works. The evidence pointed to a change in the relationship between the Anglican Mission and the Anglican Church of Rwanda. This change would be presented to the Anglican Mission faithful as a work of the Holy Spirit. They would be called to renew their commitment to the Anglican Mission and their efforts on its behalf.

The 2007 canons gave supreme authority over the Anglican Mission to the Primatial Vicar while requiring negligible accountability from him. The proposed restructuring of the Anglican Mission would separate the Anglican Mission from the Anglican Church of Rwanda and further expand the powers of the Primatial Vicar with the new title of Apostolic Vicar. As in the past, there is likely to be pressure to have the new structure agreed upon in time for the next annual Winter Conference.

Canon Kevin Donlon was the architect of the 2007 Rwandan canons. He is also the architect of the proposed restructuring. Canon Donlon is an ideologue. He is a strong proponent of Roman Catholic doctrine, order, and practice. The new structure for the Anglican Mission Donlon is proposing and Bishop Chuck Murphy is championing does not uphold what were the doctrinal norms and formularies of the Anglican Mission at its founding.

Bishop Murphy claims that the new structure would be the fulfillment of the Anglican Mission’s original vision—to be a missionary society. However, the Anglican Mission’s original vision was to be the Anglican Missionary Province of North America—a new orthodox Anglican province in North America. A constitution and a set of canons for this province were submitted with the Solemn Declaration at Kampala in 1999. The Anglican Mission became the missionary arm of the Anglican Church of Rwanda only after the Anglican Church of Southeast Asia declined to join the Rwandans in sponsoring the Anglican Mission.

The clergy, congregations, and mission partners of the Anglican Mission, its primary stakeholders, should be deciding for themselves what shape the Anglican Mission should take. Without their combined efforts and financial contributions, there would be no Anglican Mission. Considering the failure of Bishop Murphy to safeguard and defend the doctrinal norms and formularies found in the Solemn Declaration, it might be time for fresh leadership at the helm of the Anglican Mission, leadership committed to these doctrinal norms and formularies. This is something that the primary stakeholders of the Anglican Mission must decide.