by Randall Fairey
This year our Province of Canada, and the worldwide Anglican Communion must squarely face significant tensions. In early December the Common Cause Partnership of conservative Anglicans announced with triumphal hubris that a new "Province of the Anglican Church in North America" had been formed. This Province is intended to be a home for disaffected Anglicans from the United States, Canada and Mexico who disagree with the positions of established North American Anglican Provinces on a number of issues including same sex blessings, the ordination of openly gay bishops, and "traditional," often literal, interpretations of Holy Scripture. The proponents of this Province expect that parishes will move not only congregations, but also financial and real estate resources to the new entity. Dioceses and parishes have already declared their allegiance and support for the Province of the Southern Cone, whose Primate, Archbishop Gregory Venables has, against all Anglican tradition and polity, offered—without permission—to provide arch-episcopal oversight. Former Canadian Bishops Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding have assumed authority from Archbishop Venables to act under his jurisdiction. These actions however are not authorized nor recognized by either the worldwide Anglican Communion or the Anglican Church of Canada.
Due process within the Communion and the necessary steps to legitimize this self-declared Province would require the concurrence of the three Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church in Mexico. Additionally, it would require the cooperation of the Archbishop of Canterbury in forming an advisory committee, and two-thirds of the Primates would need to move this forward to the Anglican Consultative Council. This body meets in May in Jamaica and not regularly again for three years. I believe this recognition will not happen but should the ACC concur, then the Anglican Communion will risk schism, something the majority of the Bishops of our Communion have foresworn never should happen.
We are in the midst of another disagreement over what are actually relatively unimportant issues for Gospel people. This occurred over the ordination of women when disaffected members of the Episcopal Church in 1977 announced with similar fanfare the formation of yet another version of the "Anglican Church in North America." This predictably foundered; as I believe this most recent manifestation will. However, the vehement rancor and rhetoric that assails us daily goes far beyond the respectful disagreement and tolerant generosity that has characterized Anglicanism in its best practices. Episcopalian priest, the Rev. Mel White refers to what we are witnessing is "orthodoxy gone cultic."
I highly commend the December 9, 2008 diocesan letter of the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington, as one of the most articulate criticisms of this matter. Among many other points, he states that in the context of the multitude of enormous economic and social problems in the world, to learn that in the minds of the disaffected Bishops and their allies that (if) "the most important issue facing the church is the sexuality of the Bishop of New Hampshire," (it) "suggests a level of self-absorption that is difficult to square with the teachings of Christ." He also says "the movers of the proposed new province embarrass themselves, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion by the self-serving media coverage that they have worked so hard to achieve."
Through CoGS, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada whole-heartedly supports our Primate, the Most Reverend Fred Hiltz, who is prominent in his desire to see the Anglican Communion thrive, and for the Province of Canada to take a leadership role. Through our representatives at the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Church of Canada will soundly reject any move to recognize a new North American Province founded not on principles of justice and inclusion, but on self-serving agendas hiding in the guise of what Mel White terms is "militant piety."
