A Pope for the Anglican Church in North America?

By Robin G. Jordan

Everything that was incorporated into the College of Bishops’ January communique was intended to influence the ACNA memberships' view of the College of Bishops and what it is doing. This is what is known as “spin.” The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines “spin” as “a certain way of describing or talking about something that is meant to influence other people's opinion of it.”

The College of Bishops’ January communiqué is in a number of places quite pretentious. For example, the communiqué states, “The bishops of the Anglican Church in North America have made it clear that it is a high priority to be together to pray and meet in council to carry forward the apostolic ministry of the Church.” The bishops apparently have a different understanding of the nature of “the apostolic ministry of the Church” from that of the New Testament. If the bishops had been engaging in “the apostolic ministry of the Church” in the New Testament sense, they would not have been meeting in Orlando, Florida, but would have been busy in their respective dioceses and networks evangelizing, preaching, and teaching and planting and strengthening new churches like the apostle Paul. Indeed all Christians who evangelize, preach, and teach and plant and strengthen new churches are engaging in the same ministry as the apostles.

Jordan Lavender who blogs at The Hackney Hub drew my attention to the following passage in the communiqué and its reference to “the bishops’ conclave.”

As Archbishop Duncan is retiring as Archbishop in June, 2014, the bishops also discussed and prayed about the process of electing a successor and the subsequent transition. Archbishop Duncan reflected with the College on his experience in the office and the bishops expressed gratitude for his courageous and persevering leadership. Archbishop Duncan then graciously absented himself so we could pursue facilitated conversation with Dr. Cynthia Waisner, who again served as our consultant. Seeking to avoid a political process, the bishops committed to a covenant of behavior and a season of prayer as we move toward the bishops’ conclave in June. The College of Bishops will have regular days of prayer and fasting in the coming months, and then gather the week before the Provincial Assembly to discern in prayer the one whom God is calling as successor to Archbishop Duncan.

Jordan thought that the process that the bishops had adopted for selecting a successor to Archbishop Duncan bore a strong resemblance to the procedure that the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church follow in choosing a new Pope.

The choice of the word "conclave” to describe the College of Bishops' July meeting certainly reinforces this impression. Merrium Webster Online Dictionary defines "conclave" as "a private meeting or secret assembly; especially: a meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals secluded continuously while choosing a pope…."

While searching for information on Dr. Cynthia Waisner, I came across an article, “On Presiding Bishop and Archepiscopal changes in Episcopal and ACNA land,” Mark Harris had posted on his blog Preludium. Harris makes a number of observations in his article.

Note that (i) the Bishops elect, but there is no provision for lay and clerical confirmation / affirmation / or concurrence, nor is there any provision for a nominating committee at all. So much for participation by all orders of the church in the governance of the Church. (ii) There seems to be no required retirement age for bishops and a person already elected as Archbishop for a five year period can be re-elected. So Archbishop Duncan could have stood for re-election as Archbishop. Apparently he has decided not to.

Mark Harris goes on to express the view that the Holy Spirit works through the political process. He also does not see what is gained from “copying the Roman practice of election behind closed doors.”

Mark Harris should know by now that the ACNA leaders are inclined to secretiveness. They are not known for openness or transparency.  A conclave like the one that elects a new Pope would hold a certain appeal to them.

My search for information on Dr. Waisner revealed that she is a professional facilitator with a doctorate in leadership and change. She specializes in transitions. Whether the bishops actually needed her services is a question that must go unanswered as I am not party to what goes on behind the scenes in the Anglican Church in North America. The bishops could have employed her because they are divided over a successor to Archbishop Duncan or they want the transition to a new Archbishop to go smoothly. A number of explanations for hiring her suggest themselves. The bishops themselves do not offer any explanation.

On January 13, 2014 in an interview on Anglican TV’s Anglicans Unscripted Archbishop Duncan admitted that the procedure that the College of Bishops has adopted to elect a new Archbishop is the same procedure that the Roman Catholic cardinals use in electing a new “Bishop of Rome,” in other words, a new Pope. Instead meeting in seclusion at the Sistine Chapel, the College of Bishops will be meeting in seclusion at a Roman Catholic monastery. The rationale Archbishop Duncan gives for the College of Bishops’ adoption of this procedure is that the bishops wished to focus on spiritual qualifications rather than issues. They wished to select an Archbishop who would unite them. The interview is on Anglicans Unscripted Episode 89 and begins at 22.22.

Another similarity between the Anglican Church in North America and the Roman Catholic Church is that the election of a new ACNA Archbishop like the election of a new Pope requires a 2/3 supermajority of the electors.

Duncan hinted at what may be the main reason for adopting this procedure: The College of Bishops will be able to attribute their selection of a new Archbishop to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a claim that is invariable made by the College of Cardinals upon its election of a new Pope.

One of the problems with this particular method of selecting a new Archbishop is that the Archbishop may in some minds become vested with the kind of supernatural authority that Anglicans have not historically viewed their bishops and archbishops as possessing. In the case of the Pope it would contribute to the belief that the Pope has a special anointing of the Holy Spirit and is infallible. An Homily concerning the coming down of the holy Ghost, for Whitsunday, which the Thirty-Nine Articles commends as containing “godly and wholesome doctrine” and being “necessary for these times,” rejects this belief as contrary to the teaching of Scripture.

In recent years a number of proposals have been made to reform the method by which a new Pope is selected. These proposals would increase the number of papal electors and would include papal electors from outside the College of Cardinals. At one time the Pope was elected by the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. The candidate was then submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval.  

If the College of Bishops has adopted this process of selecting an Archbishop because they mistakenly believe that it is more spiritual than any other method, they need to think again. The Holy Spirit is not limited to a particular way of doing things. The Holy Spirit can be operative in any number of ways of selecting a bishop or archbishop.

Anglicans who are committed to the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies should be particularly concerned that the ACNA College of Bishops has adopted this method of selecting an Archbishop. The College of Bishops has to date shown a strong predilection for the doctrine, church order, and practice of unreformed Catholicism.

As I have written elsewhere, the College of Bishops has usurped the role of the Provincial Council in a number of key areas. They include but are not limited to common worship, standards for ordination, ecumenical relations, and administration of the province.

The ACNA constitution identifies propagating and defending the faith and order of the church and serving as a visible expression and sign of the unity of the church as the “chief work” of the College of Bishops (Article X, Section 1) The only other responsibilities the constitution assigns to the College of Bishops is the election of an Archbishop every five years (Article IX, Section 1) and confirmation of the election of a new bishop for a diocese or network and in some cases the selection of a new bishop for a judicatory (Article X, Section 5). This is the extent of its “work” under the provisions of the constitution.

To propagate is to make something known to many people. To defend is to fight or work hard in order to keep something safe. In this particular case the “something” that the College of Bishops is responsible for propagating and defending is “the faith and order of the church.” This means that the bishops as individuals and a group are responsible for ensuring that all the congregations and clergy under their oversight are doing everything within their power to spread the gospel and make new disciples.  They are also responsible for ensuring that no false teaching is allowed to grow and flourish in constituent churches of the Anglican Church in North America. This means that the College of Bishops would play a role in the development of a Prayer Book and a Catechism for the ACNA but it would not be the kind of role that the College of Bishops has taken upon itself, wrongly exercising authority which is rightfully that of the Provincial Council. The College of Bishops has adopted a role closer to that of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops than the one that the ACNA constitution envisions for that body. It acts as if it is the ACNA’s board of governors.

As I have written elsewhere, the College of Bishops has not so far demonstrated much ability to defend the Protestant Reformed faith of authentic historic Anglicanism. Rather it has shown a greater willingness to embrace false teaching and associated practices and to foster their growth. The “theological lens” that the College of Bishops approved to guide the Prayer Book and Liturgy Taskforce in its development of rites and services for use in the Anglican Church in North America permits the inclusion of unreformed Catholic doctrines and practices in these rites and services. The ordinal that the College of Bishops endorsed for use in the ACNA incorporates such doctrines and practices, as do the trial services of Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion that it has also endorsed. At its January meeting the College of Bishops “unanimously approved” a 345 question-and-answer Catechism for use in the ACNA, which is modeled upon The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The procedure by which a new Archbishop is selected should not be determined by the College of Bishops itself. How a new Archbishop is chosen is too important a matter to leave solely to the College of Bishop’s discretion. That procedure should be delineated in the canons. A provision should be added to the constitution that would automatically nullify any archiepiscopal election in which the procedure delineated in the canons was not followed.

Also see
An Ancient Future Catechumenate in the Anglican Church in North America?
The Office for Making a Catechumen