By Robin G. Jordan
The roots of a number of developments in the Anglican Church
in North America go back to the Common Cause Partnership—a coalition of
conservative Anglican organizations that was established in 2004. The original
members of this coalition were the Anglican Communion Network,
the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Mission in America, Forward
in Faith North America, the Anglican Province of America, and
the American Anglican Council. The
Anglican Province of America would subsequently drop out of the alliance after
a planned merger with the Reformed Episcopal Church fell through. The coalition
would draft a theological statement in 2006. The Common Cause Partnership would
lobby the global South Primates to support the formation of a new Anglican
province in North America. Its efforts would see fruition in the Jerusalem
Statement issued by the 2008 Global Anglican Future Conference.
As early as 2006, if not earlier, it was evident that the
various organizations forming the Common Cause Partnership were not committed
to the Anglican confessional formularies. This included the Anglican Mission in
America. In its Solemn Declaration the AMiA appeared to commit itself, its clergy, and
its congregations to the Anglican confessional formularies. But by 2006 it was
becoming increasingly evident that this commitment was largely rhetorical.
The Common Cause Theological Statement equivocated in its
acceptance of the Thirty-Nine Articles as the Common Cause Partnership’s
doctrinal standard, treating the Articles as if it is a historical document
rather than a living formulary. The wording of the Common Cause Theological
Statement implied that the Articles were not the only doctrinal standard for
the Common Cause Partnership. The Common Cause Theological Statement did not
identify what these other doctrinal standards were and appeared to be alluding
to the amorphous body of Catholic tradition to which John Henry Newman appealed
in his infamous Tract 90.
Rather than recognizing the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as
its worship standard, the Common Cause Theological Statement adopted a worship
standard that consisted of the 1662 Prayer Book and all the liturgical books
that preceded it. Such a standard included all the liturgies that survive in
manuscript form or are described in the writings of various historical Church
figures from the earliest days of the Church to 1662. This is a very broad and
nebulous standard that permits the modeling of modern-day liturgies upon the
unreformed liturgies of the late Middle Ages as well as the partially reformed
1549 Prayer Book and the retrograde 1637 Scottish Prayer Book.
The Common Cause Theological Statement also took a decidedly
partisan doctrinal stance on the issue of bishops. Evangelical Anglicans have
historically taken the view that bishops are not essential to the existence of
the Church. This was the view of the sixteenth century English Reformers. They
found no warrant in the Scriptures for a particular form of church governance.
They would retain bishops because the Scriptures, while not prescribing
episcopacy as the sole form of government for the Church, did not prohibit
bishops as a part of whatever form of government that the Church adopted.
The form of church government that was adopted was modeled
on that of the Swiss Reformed Churches. With the exception of the Church of
Geneva in which the Company of Pastors governed both the church and the city,
the magistrates in Zurich and the other Protestant Swiss city-states had
authority over the churches in the city-state. The magistrates selected the
pastors of the city-state’s churches. The pastors in turn served as the
conscience of the magistrates.
In the case of the reformed Church of England the magistrate
was the reigning monarch. Bishops in the reformed Church of England served as
officers of the Crown, deriving their authority from the Crown. No episcopal
elections could be held except at the instigation of the Crown. Only Crown-nominated
candidates could be elected bishops. Even archbishops could be suspended by the
Crown and royal commissioners appointed to perform most of their duties. The
laity in the form of the Crown and the Parliament played a substantial role in
the government of the Church. Bishops were bound by the law as were other
ministers.
On the other hand, Anglo-Catholics and those who share their
views of bishops take the position that bishops belong to the essence of the
Church. The nineteenth century Anglo-Catholic movement maintained that the
Church did not exist without bishops. Its adherents did not regard as churches ecclesiastical
organizations that did not have bishops. They also took the position that
bishops were above the law. They maintained that councils and synods derived
their authority from the episcopate and the episcopate was not bound by their
decisions. Episcopal compliance with ecclesiastical canons was purely
voluntary, not obligatory. The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral with its
insistence that the “historical episcopate” was necessary to Church
reunification reflects their thinking. The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops
that adopted the resolution was dominated by Anglo-Catholic bishops. The Common
Cause Theological Statement took the Anglo-Catholic position.
The seven points of the Common Cause Theological Statement
would be incorporated into the Anglican Church in North America’s provisional
Constitution and draft Constitution as essential to its understanding of “the
Anglican Way.” All congregations and clergy desiring to become a part of the
denomination would be required to subscribe to these seven points. Under the
provisions of the provisional and draft Canons so would ecclesiastical
organizations desiring to enter into mission partnership with the Anglican
Church in North America.
The provisions of the final version of the canons would expand the requirement for
clergy to subscribe to these seven points to include conformity to “the
doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church.” This would includes not only the
doctrine stated or implied in the canons themselves but also future doctrinal statements. Among the doctrinal statements the Anglican Church in North America has produced so far are its ordinal, its trial services of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Holy Communion, its catechism, and its proposed rites for admission of catechumens, baptism, and
confirmation.
The late Peter Toon took issue with a number of the points
of the original version of the Common Cause Theological Statement. See the accompanying article,
“The
Fundamental Declarations of the Anglican Church in North America: The Insights
of the Late Peter Toon.” Toon proposed the substitution of a modified
version of the Church of England’s Canon 5A in place of that statement. The
Jerusalem Statement identifies the words of Canon 5A as giving expression to
“the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as
Anglicans.” While the final version of the Common Cause Theological Statement
addressed one of Toon’s concerns, it failed to address the others.
For those who may be interested in the background to the
original version of the Common Cause Theological Statement, the new Provincial
Dean of the Anglican Church in North America, REC Bishop Ray Sutton, claims to
have authored that document.
The problems identified with Common Cause Theological
Statement’s positions on the confessional Anglican formularies and bishops were
brought to attention of the Common Cause Governance Task Force and the
Provisional Provincial Council. The presentation of these concerns elicited no
response from Common Cause Governance Task Force. The Anglo-Catholic members of
the Provisional Provincial Council threatened what amounted to a walk-out if
any changes were made to the seven points of the Common Cause Theological
Statement incorporated into the draft Constitution. The only change they would
permit was the correction of the date of the Thirty-Nine Articles from 1562 to
1571.
The leaders of the Common Cause Partnership to a large part
constitute the present leaders of the Anglican Church in North America. As the
College of Bishops they control who may join them as leaders of the
denomination. Under the provisions of the ACNA canons the College of Bishops
confirms the election of new bishops, in some cases selects new bishops, in
other cases vet candidates for appointment or election as bishops,and receives
bishops from other denominations. The College of Bishops has also played a
significant role in the development and modification of the ACNA governing
documents as well as influenced how the denomination’s form of governance
actually works. There is a growing discrepancy between how the denomination’s
form of governance is supposed to work according to the ACNA constitution and
canons and its actual operation. The College of Bishops has arrogated to itself
powers not given it by the constitution or canons nor recognized as inherent in
that body or its members. It has also usurped the role of the Provincial
Council in a number of key areas. It has shown little regard for constitutionalism
and the rule of law.
The Anglican Church in North America has produced a number
of doctrinal statements to date. The College of Bishops has not only influenced
the content of these statements but has also endorsed them as a body. They
therefore can be said to represent the mind of the College of Bishops. These
statements show a consistent pattern of not fully accepting the Scriptures as
the canon or functioning rule of faith and life for Anglicans and the Anglican
confessional formularies as the standard of doctrine and worship for Anglicans.
They not only mandate or sanction Anglo-Catholic doctrine and practice but also
take a permissive attitude toward Orthodox and Roman Catholic doctrine and
practice. At the same time they exclude historic Anglican doctrine and practice
and the Biblical and Reformed teaching upon which they are based.
The College of Bishops did not go to the trouble of
incorporating a particular theology and its related practices into the official
doctrinal statements of a denomination for no reason. What they have done goes
well beyond ensuring that the Anglo-Catholic theological perspective and
Anglo-Catholic liturgical practices “will be permitted, protected, and honored” in the Anglican Church in North
America. It makes room for the beliefs and practices of only one school of
thought in the Anglican Church in North America, a school of thought that has
no commitment to historic Anglicanism and the Biblical and Reformed teaching
that forms its doctrinal foundation and constitutes the core of Anglican identity.
In his article, “Three Steps in a Language Audit” Eric
Geiger draws attention to the problems associated with “multiple definitions for the same sounding word.”
“Anglican” and “Anglicanism” has become such a word. When a word is “constantly
thrown around without any definition,” the word “gives the false impression of
alignment when in fact multiple directions exist.” With the Jerusalem Statement
and Declaration the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans sought to define
“Anglican” and “Anglicanism.” But it has been quite evident from the outset
that Anglican Church in North America is not on the same page about the
definition of “Anglican” and “Anglicanism” as the GFCA. In the doctrinal
statements that the Anglican Church in North America has produced so far, the
ACNA has established its own definition of these two terms. It is a definition
that does not give a central place to the Anglican confessional formularies and
the Biblical and Reformed teaching upon which they are based.
Those who dismiss the seriousness of these developments need
to think again. The College of Bishops has essentially outlawed in the Anglican
Church in North America any theological perspective but an Anglo-Catholic or
philo-Orthodox one. The College of Bishops has in essence banned from the
Anglican Church in North America clergy, dioceses, networks, and congregations
that seek to uphold the doctrine of the Anglican confessional formularies and
to maintain the Protestant, Reformed, and evangelical character of the Anglican
Church.
In The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future the GAFCON
Theological Resource Group identifies Anglo-Catholicism along with liberalism
as a major challenge to the authority of the Scriptures and the Anglican
confessional formularies in the global Anglican Church. Since the nineteenth
century the Anglo-Catholic movement has sought to counter and undo the reforms
that the Anglican Reformers implemented in the sixteenth century. Chief among
these reforms was the recovery of the gospel and the basing of Church doctrine
and practice on Scripture, not tradition.
Those who take comfort in the thought that the College of
Bishops cannot enforce such a ban are assuming that its enforcement would require
dramatic steps that would in turn precipitate the secession of clergy,
dioceses, networks, and congregations from the Anglican Church in North America. The
possibility of such an exodus would deter the College of Bishops from taking
such actions.
But the reality is that the longer clergy, dioceses, network,
and congregations remain a part of the Anglican Church in North America, the
more difficult it will be for them to extricate themselves from the ACNA. Clergy, dioceses, networks, and congregations
that have experienced the trauma of breaking away from the Episcopal Church,
the Anglican Church of Canada, or the
Anglican Mission in America are also not going to be easily persuaded to break
with their new denomination.
The College of Bishops can take its time in eliminating what
it clearly views as an undesirable element in the Anglican Church in North
America by a gradual process of attrition. Bishops in the Anglican Church in
North America have the final say as to who may receive theological and
ministerial training, what training they may receive, and where; who may be
ordained; who may be licensed to minister in their dioceses; who may be
received as a minister of the diocese and whether they must receive additional
training and/or undergo re-ordination; who may be appointed or called as pastor
of a congregation in their dioceses or networks; and who may plant new
congregations, what kind of congregations they may plant, and whether a new
congregation may be admitted to the diocese or network and under what
conditions. As previously noted, the
College of Bishops has the final say as to who may become a bishop of a diocese
or network.
The ACNA constitution and canons contain no provisions that
prevent an Anglo-Catholic or philo-Orthodox bishop from discriminating against
any group or individual who does not share their particular theological
perspective. Indeed the College of Bishops has endorsed one doctrinal statement
after another that has the effect of institutionalizing such discrimination in
the Anglican Church in North America.
In any event ACNA bishops have shown negligible respect
individually and collectively for constitutionalism and the rule of law, it is
doubtful that the addition of anti-discrimination provisions to the ACNA constitution
and canons at this late date would keep them from discriminating against those
whom they have so far sought to exclude from the Anglican Church in North
America. I am not talking about theological liberals but Anglicans who
subscribe to the doctrine of the Anglican confessional formularies and the
Biblical and Reformed teaching on which they are based and are committed to a
Protestant, Reformed, and evangelical vision of the Anglican Church.
I have covered in this article what may be familiar ground
by now to some of my readers from previous articles. But I believe that it is
necessary to reiterate what I written elsewhere to provide a complete picture
of the present situation in the Anglican Church in North America for those who
have not read these articles. This situation has grown worse over the past five
years and can be expected to continue to do so over the next five years.
There is clearly a need for further Anglican realignment in
North America. Clergy, dioceses, networks, and congregations in the Anglican
Church in North America, which are committed to upholding the Anglican
confessional formularies and maintaining the Protestant, Reformed, and
evangelical character of the Anglican Church need to be exploring their future
options.
I see three ways forward for these groups and individuals.
Here again I am not covering new ground. First, they need to network with each
other and establish a voluntary association of clergy and congregations within
the Anglican Church in North America. Second, they need to ally themselves with
like-minded and sympathetic groups and individuals outside the Anglican Church
in North America. Third, they need to establish an alternative structure to the
Anglican Church in North America for clergy and congregations that cannot in
good conscience remain a part of the ACNA.
See also
The Fundamental Declarations of the Anglican Church in North America: The Insights of the Late Peter Toon
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