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The Anglican Network in Canada welcomes Bishop Ronald Ferris |
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23 January 2009
Bishop Ronald Ferris, recently retired Bishop of Algoma (in Ontario), has announced that, effective immediately, he will minister as part of the Anglican Network in Canada under the Primatial jurisdiction of Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Bishop Ferris is the third Canadian bishop to be received under Archbishop Venables for ministry in the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC).
While Bishop Ferris will focus primarily on church planting in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, he will be available to assist Bishop Donald Harvey in episcopal ministry.
“Bishop Ferris has been an unwavering advocate of orthodox Anglican and Christian beliefs and practices within the Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops,” said Bishop Harvey. “He has always supported the stand taken by the Anglican Network in Canada, even when the vast majority of his peers opposed us. Bishop Ferris is a gifted man of God who is highly respected in his former diocese and throughout Canada. He has a true pastor’s heart and is wholeheartedly dedicated to Christ’s ministry and service. I am grateful for the privilege of ministering together.”
“After 28 wonderful years as Bishop, first in the Yukon and then in Algoma, I am delighted to embark on a new challenge – new church development,” said Bishop Ferris. “My decision to relinquish the licence I held for so many years within the Anglican Church of Canada was not taken quickly or lightly. My wife and I deeply value our many years in Algoma and the Yukon and are thankful that during our time in Algoma the diocese remained united as a "communion partner diocese" and committed to upholding the teachings and disciplines of the Anglican Communion.”
Bishop Ferris retired September 30, 2008, having served as Bishop of Algoma since 1995. He had previously served as Bishop of the Yukon from 1981 until 1995. Bishop Ferris holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (1995) from Thorneloe University in Sudbury, Ontario, a Doctorate of Ministry (1995) from Pacific School of Religion in the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, as well as a Doctorate of Divinity (1982) from Huron College in London, Ontario. In 2004, Bishop Ferris was a candidate in the election for Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.
A growing number of biblically faithful Anglicans in Canada, distressed by the seismic shift in the theology and practice of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), have joined ANiC in order to remain in the mainstream of Anglicanism globally and historically. Today, ANiC numbers three bishops, 66 priests and deacons and 26 parishes with about 3200 Canadians in church on an average Sunday.
ANiC is under the Episcopal authority of Bishop Don Harvey and the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone (based in South America) – one of the 38 Provinces in the global Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Canada is also one of these 38 Provinces.
Members of the Anglican Network in Canada are committed to remaining faithful to Holy Scripture and established Anglican doctrine and to ensuring that orthodox Canadian Anglicans are able to remain in full communion with the vast majority of Anglicans around the world.
Contact:
Marilyn Jacobson
Communications, Anglican Network in Canada
604 929-0369
604 788-4222 cell
Backgrounder
About the Anglican Network in Canada
Since the Anglican Network in Canada launched its ecclesial (Church) structure in November 2007 under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, it has received three bishops (the Rt Rev Donald Harvey, the Rt Rev Malcolm Harding and the Rt Rev Ronald Ferris) and 26 parishes. These parishes have elected to seek episcopal oversight from Bishop Harvey and ANiC because they are determined to stay biblically faithful and true to historic Anglican doctrine and teaching and within mainstream Anglicanism.
About the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate (or leader) of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, has responded to the needs of biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans for spiritual protection and care on an emergency and interim basis – pending a resolution to the crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Archbishop Venables is highly esteemed as an orthodox leader in the global Anglican Communion. He leads the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone which is one of 38 Provinces that make up the global Anglican Communion. It encompasses much of South America and includes Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina.
By accepting the Primatial oversight of Archbishop Venables, these Canadian Anglicans, who are in the mainstream of global Anglicanism, were able to re-establish full communion status with the global Church by being aligned with a Province which is in “full communion with the Church of England throughout the world” – unlike the Anglican Church of Canada, which is currently in a broken relationship with many of the largest Anglican Provinces.
About the Anglican Church in North America – the proposed new orthodox Anglican Province for both Canada and the United States
On 3 December 2008, bishops, clergy and lay leaders from across the United States and Canada unveiled a provisional constitution and the first set of canons for the new Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). ACNA unites an estimated 700 orthodox Anglican congregations, representing roughly 100,000 people, in an organization that members believe will be recognized by many of the world’s Anglican leaders as the 39th Province in the global Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) is one of the many groups joining together to form ACNA in response to a request from a number of Primates (global Anglican leaders). ACNA is working to heal many years of division within Anglicanism by uniting Anglicans committed to Scripture and traditional Anglican beliefs.
ACNA will hold its first Church-wide assembly in June 2009 in Bedford, Texas, where the constitution and canons will be ratified by all those who choose to be part of the Anglican Church in North America.
About Anglicanism in Canada and around the world
While orthodox Anglicans are in a minority in Canada, they are in the majority worldwide. ANiC parishes stand firmly in the mainstream of global and historic Anglican teaching and orthodoxy. Our beliefs are shared by two-thirds of the 77 million Anglicans worldwide.
Since 2003, the Primates of the Anglican Communion have repeatedly asked the Anglican Church of Canada to return to biblically faithful Anglican practice and teaching and to its own founding principles – summarized in the Solemn Declaration of 1893. They have also called upon the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) to provide adequate episcopal oversight to dissenting parishes while the Communion addresses the resulting division, but to no avail. This forced a number of parishes in Canada to seek protection and Communion connection through ANiC.
Many international leaders have acknowledged their support and fellowship with the ANiC. This was evidenced by the inclusion of ANiC representatives at the milestone Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in June 2008.
We stand for historic Christian and Anglican teaching and want to faithfully preserve what has been entrusted to us by our forebears so we can pass it on, intact and unaltered, to future generations. We are determined to stay true to the established and historic tenets of Anglican Christianity and stay in full communion with the global Anglican Church.
About the crisis in the Anglican Church of Canada
Because the Anglican Church of Canada has departed from the faith of, and is “walking apart” from, the global Anglican Communion, parishes have felt compelled to align with ANiC and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in order to uphold the trusts and founding principles upon which the churches were established and built.
By choosing to join ANiC, parishes, parishioners and clergy receive the care and protection of a biblically faithful Anglican bishop, Bishop Donald Harvey, and the orthodox Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in order to realign with orthodox Communion-committed Anglicans worldwide.
Why Canadian parishes, clergy and parishioners are realigning under the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
A number of Canadian Anglicans and parishes have chosen to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in order:
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To be faithful to historic Christian and global Anglican teaching. |
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To have the freedom to “further the mission of Christ in the Anglican tradition” |
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To be recognized as in “full communion with the Church of England throughout the world” per the Solemn Declaration 1893 - the founding statement of the ACoC. |
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To keep the faith of our spiritual forebears who built the parishes on established Christian convictions and historic Anglican practices. |
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Because they value their Anglican heritage and want to stay true to global and historic Anglican teaching and orthodoxy |
This is fundamentally about staying true to historic Christian teaching that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that there is only one way to God through faith in Jesus Christ. The issue of the Bible’s teaching on sexual practice is merely the tip of the iceberg. The realignment of ANiC parishes with an orthodox Anglican Province was an act of conscience.
More information can be found at: www.anglicannetwork.ca
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