Leaders from the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Church in North America Meet

Leaders from the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Church in North America, led by Bishop Mark Lawrence and Archbishop Foley Beach, came together at the St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center in South Carolina on April 28-29, 2015 for prayer, fellowship, and conversation. Keep reading

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This press release says very little beyond that there was a meeting and what was the topic of discussion at that meeting. It says nothing about how the ACNA delegation represented the relationship between diocese and province to the South Carolina delegation. That relationship is one thing on paper and another thing in practice.

It must be added that while the ACNA constitution recognizes dioceses as retaining certain reserved and residual powers, its canons and model diocesan constitution and canons seek to take those powers away from dioceses.

The canons also seek to limit a diocese's right to select its own bishop.

ACNA Governance Task Force representatives have discouraged committees drafting the governing documents of groupings of congregations from imposing any kind of term limits on bishops, telling them that the grouping of congregation's application would be denied. Neither of the two ACNA governing documents restrict groupings of congregations from imposing such limits.

There is also a strong ideological component requiring groupings of congregations and their clergy wishing to join the ACNA network of churches to accept its definition of core Anglican identity, which does not agree with the GFCA definition of core Anglican identity.

I am reminded of the old adage, "when the fox preacheth, let the geese beware.

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain