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Network news
Earlier this week, our moderator, Bishop Donald Harvey, sent members a pastoral letter in which he acknowledged the impatience of some waiting for the Network to provide godly episcopal oversight and pastoral care for biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans in unbiblical and inhospitable parishes and dioceses. Bishop Don said, “My personal hope is that God will open a way for us before the end of this year.” In addition, Bishop Don emphasized that while the orthodox may be in the minority in Canada, we are in the majority in the global Anglican Communion. He also said the crisis is global and that the issues are fundamental to the faith. Bishop Don concluded by discussing the realignment taking place in the Communion, likening it to another Reformation. He urged us to prayerfully prepare our heats for potential suffering as we take a stand.
Would you like to respond to Bishop Don’s letter? Peter has posted it on the AEC blog and you can comment online at www.anglicanessentials.ca
Diocese of Virginia defrocks 21 clergy including John Guernsey
Bishop Lee of Virginia has declared 21 priests – located in Virginia but now under the authority of Global South churches – to have “abandoned the communion of this Church”. However, four other bishops still in the Episcopal Church – including Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh, Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy, Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield and Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth – have declared themselves still in communion with these clergy. They said, “In conscience we must remain in relationship and ministry with these priests, and the many others who have had this canon used against them, because of their determination to stand with mainstream Anglicanism… Because these Virginia priests are priests in good standing in the Provinces of Uganda and Nigeria, respectively, the deposition is, in fact, of no effect. Each is recognized as a priest in good standing of the Anglican Communion.” www.acn-us.org
What is Anglicanism?
If you haven’t yet read Archbishop Henry Orombi’s lucid and uplifting article in First Things, we urge you to do so. He reinforces the importance of the authority of Scripture to true Anglicanism. While some treat the Word of God as a cadaver to be dissected, analyzed and critiqued, he argues that true Anglicanism is based on the transforming power of the living Word. “We in the Church of Uganda are convinced that Scripture must be reasserted as the central authority in our communion,” he says. “Without a commitment to the authority of the Word of God, a confidence in a God who acts in the world, and a conviction of the necessity of repentance and of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we will be hard-pressed as a communion to revive and advance our apostolic and missionary calling as a church.” See: http://firstthings.com
Lambeth RSVPs slow arriving
Jonathan Petre, in the Telegraph, reports that only about 200 of the 880 global Anglican bishops had responded by the July 31 deadline originally imposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a result, the deadline has been extended. A number of African bishops have already said they would not attend if unrepentant bishops from the Episcopal Church (TEC) were invited. Others, including the Archbishop of Sydney (Australia) and more than half of the Church of England bishops, are waiting until the September 30 deadline given the TEC and will make their decision based on the American’s response.
See: www.telegraph.co.uk
Canon David Anderson rebuts the Archbishop of York
Responding to the Right Revd John Sentamu’s recent statement reducing the differences in the North American churches to mere quarrels over sexual ethics, rather than differences of theology, the president of the American Anglican Council, the Rev Canon David Anderson, writes in the Church of England Newspaper, delineating the growing evidence of heretical theological positions espoused and tolerated in TEC. His thesis: “The battle … is over core doctrine and belief: who Jesus is and what authority Holy Scripture has.” See: www.anglican-mainstream.net
US theologians debate staying vs leaving the Episcopal Church (TEC)
The Rev Prof Stephen Noll recently wrote an open letter to Anglican Communion Network bishops and Common Cause partners arguing the time had come for those who take an orthodox, Biblically-faithful stand to separate from the Episcopal Church. Saying “TEC is terminally ill and the cancer will eventually spread to every part of the body,” he warned that they risk losing their precious Anglican heritage, if they do not act. He challenged them to break “communion with false and lukewarm colleagues in TEC,” even if it meant risking losing their church properties. www.stephenswitness.com
Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) theologian the Rev Dr Philip Turner responded, arguing that the proper response was to continue labouring within TEC and strive for unity. http://anglicancommunioninstitute.com
The Rev Dr Ephraim Radner, now professor of historical theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto and also a member of ACI, echoed Turner’s position when he publicly resigned from the Anglican Communion Network and turned his guns on Bishop Bob Duncan, accusing him of breaking, rather than building, communion. www.virtueonline.org
Noll quickly responded (www.stephenswitness.com) as did the Rev Dr Robert Munday who called Radner’s blustery resignation an unwarranted public attack on Bishop Duncan. David Virtue summarizes the differences between the two camps as those who hold that “schism is worse than heresy” vs those who “believe that heresy must be countered by schism”. See a summary at: www.virtueonline.org
South Carolina re-elects the bishop TEC Primate refused to ratify
The Very Rev. Mark Lawrence was again elected bishop of South Carolina August 4 by a large majority. He was first elected last year, but his election was overturned by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori in March on technicalities. www.livingchurch.org
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Please consider including the Network among your favorite charities. Your regular help allows us to provide the administrative, communication and spiritual support that keeps this ministry alive.
There are two ways you can make a donation to the Network:
1. You can donate online through the Canada Helps secure donations website for Anglican Essentials Canada (See: www.canadahelps.org – or use the link on the bottom of the Network home page www.anglicannetwork.ca. As you complete the donations page, please note in the instructions box that you are designating your gift for the Network. You will be given the option of opening a Canada Helps account to simplify future donations. Canada Helps will deduct your donation amount from your credit card and you will receive a tax receipt directly from them.
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