Posted on 12/05/2006 5:43:11 PM PST by sionnsar
More and more, it looks as if the February Anglican Primates Meeting may be the long-awaited Anglican tipping point:
In a message to the Dec. 1-2 convention in the Diocese of San Joaquin, the Primate of the Southern Cone assured clergy and lay delegates that the Global South primates’ coalition will support pleas for a second Anglican jurisdiction in the United States—one independent of The Episcopal Church.
“Although you might need to separate from an agenda that long ago separated from the plan of God for the Christian Church, at no time will you have to separate from the Anglican Communion,” Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables said in a taped message shown at St. James’ Cathedral, Fresno, during a service at the start of convention.
The Anglican Communion has to do this since the Episcopal Church contains two mutually-exclusive religions in one organization.
In a 17-minute address from his office in Buenos Aires, Bishop Venables outlined the history of the disputes over doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion, citing the actions of the General Convention in sparking the current controversy. However, the current division ran deeper, he said, and displayed “two ways of defining Christianity.”
The church had divided into two camps, one holding on to the traditionalist view of doctrine, revelation and discipline and a settled view of truth, while the other was molded by “post-modernism” with a pluriformity of truths, that Bishop Venables said amounted to a faith that was “whatever you wanted it to be.”
And that orthodox United States Anglican problems may only be starting.
The decision to separate would provoke rejection and criticism, he said, but Bishop Venables noted the “tearing of the fabric” of the Communion had begun within The Episcopal Church. He reminded listeners that there was a cost to conscience, but exhorted them to follow the examples of “Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer.”
The Church had been “founded on the blood of martyrs,” Bishop Venables said, warning the convention that “if you are serious about the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have to pay a price.”
Wise words. One assumes that if this idea is agreed to at Dar es Salaam, TEC won't take it well at all and that the presentments, declarations of vacancy and court cases would begin almost immediately. TEC has already admitted as much. And this idea is a bit problematic since, on the face of it, it will create a second Anglican jurisdiction in the United States but still recognize the first.
That is, both 815 and (probably)Pittsburgh will be recognized as officially Anglican by Lambeth Palace but 815 and Pittsburgh won't recognize each other. In that case, a heavy-handed legal approach by TEC carries a considerable risk. It is entirely likely that any attempt to legally extort property from a recognized Anglican church would not be looked on favorably by the rest of the Anglican world and that the Global South may eventually demand that TEC's "official" Anglican recognition be withdrawn.
At which time, the Anglican split spreads worldwide. Most of Central and South America would side with the Americans. The European churches as well as South Africa would throw in with 815. The Church of England would split wide open and next year's General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada would take on an urgency not seen since GenCon 2006.
We live in interesting Anglican times.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. "Most of Central and South America would side with the Americans."
Other than missionary churches, I cannot fathom there are that many Anglicans in Central and South America.
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