At the close of the General Audience of 28 Nov 2012, the leader of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Robert Duncan met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya, leader of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, was to have also attended the General Audience, but was delayed. Joined by the chairman of the ACNA’s ecumenical relations commission, Bishop Ray Sutton of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Archbishop Duncan spoke with the pope. The three later met with Vatican officials. Details of the conversations have not been released. Claims of the significance of the meeting or of its symbolism are also premature, one Vatican watcher said, until the substance of the conversation is known. Read more
Is Bob Duncan fishing for some form of recognition of the Anglican Church in North America from Benedict XVI? Is Duncan engaging in the kind of activities in which denominational leaders engage when their denomination is not not doing well in critical areas and by which they seek to divert attention away from their failings in these areas? Is he trying to bolster his position in the ACNA and garner more influence and prestige for himself? Is this the wisest use of ACNA funds? How does this trip to Rome fit with the supposed primary focus of the ACNA--mission? Will it help the ACNA to reach and evangelize the unchurched and to plant new churches?
3 comments:
Anglo-Catholic's reporting to their Pontiff?
Absolutely. I do not see how far the REC has strayed only in 20 years. I do not see how it happened. Small increments and then someone took a daring step without checking with the original founders who by the way are not around any more. But then was it not supposed to be that when you passed the torch on to the next generation you made sure they actually believed what the founders believed???????????
David,
The Reformed Episcopal Church has undergone the most radical changes under its present leaders. They have either ignored the principles of the denomination's founders or reinterpreted them. Among the results is that REC seminaries are producing clergy who are not committed to these principles. Rather they have been indoctrinated in a completely different set of beliefs and values. The fact such leaders could rise to positions of influence and power in the REC points to substantial theological drift in the REC prior to their election. The influx of disaffected Episcopalians from The Episcopal Church may have contributed to the present state of the REC but the REC was already drifting in the direction of Anglo-Catholicism and liberalism before their arrival. They may have nudged it further in that direction. The newcomers would support the changes the "Catholicizers" were introducing.
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