What is noteworthy about Archbishop Foley Beach’s State of the Province Address to the Provincial Council is what it does not mention.
First, it contains no mention of the need for the amendment of the ACNA canons permitting the continued use of the 1662 English,
1928 American, and 1962 Canadian Prayer Books and liturgical books based on
them such as the Reformed Episcopal Church’s The Book of Common Prayer (2003) and the Anglican Mission in
America-Prayer Book Society USA’s An
Anglican Prayer Book (2008) after the finalization of the new ACNA Prayer
Book. The canonical provision that all ACNA churches must use the new ACNA
Prayer Book once the book is finalized is still in force.
Second, it contains no mention of the need to revise the
draft ACNA Prayer Book, to eliminate a number of its undesirable features, and
to incorporate alternative rites and wording for the use of clergy and
congregations that adhere to the doctrinal and worship principles of the classical Anglican formularies—The
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571 and The Book of Common Prayer of 1662
and the Ordinal of 1662.
Third, it contains no mention of any plan to incorporate the Anglican Network in Canada’s modern language version of the 1552 Holy
Communion Service into the draft ACNA Prayer Book.
Fourth, it contains no mention of the need to revise the
ACNA Catechism to bring its doctrine into line with the teaching of the Bible and
the doctrine of the classical Anglican formularies.
Fifth, it contains no mention of the need to revisit the
question of women’s ordination particularly in the light of the recent
abandonment of women’s ordination by the Latvian Lutheran Church.
While flirting with Russian Orthodoxy and High Church
Lutheranism, the ACNA leadership seems all too eager to turn its back on classical
Anglicanism.
Some of us in the "Continuing" tradition occasionally refer to ACNA (the present incarnation of the name; not the 1977-78 version) as "ECUSA Lite". Too bad. They COULD have been leaders in bringing all American Anglicans under a single banner.
ReplyDeleteQuite disappointing - their Prayerbook leaves oh so much to be desired from what I have seen- and the retention of WO is also most unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteThe ACNA has some very serious flaws still.
Unfortunately the mainstream churches are simply getting worse - and the more traditionalist churches are unfortunately thin on the ground and seem to be betting thinner.