Theological conservatives who left the U.S. Episcopal Church said Wednesday they'd formed a rival North American province of Anglicans. Today, the spiritual leader of the 77-million-member world Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, responded:
"There are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces," a spokesperson said.
"Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, the process has not yet begun."
I think that's a definitive: You're not a separate province til we say so.
News reports say the conservative leaders -- representing a federation of the more than 100,000 Anglicans in favor of a new denomination -- will seek the approval of leaders in the global Anglican Communion for the province.
Laurie Goodstein notes in the NYT:
If they should receive broad approval, their effort could lead to new defections from the Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism.In the last few years, Episcopalians who wanted to leave the church but remain in the Anglican Communion put themselves under the authority of bishops in Africa and Latin America. A new American province would give them a homegrown alternative.
It would also result in two competing provinces on the same soil, each claiming the mantle of historical Anglican Christianity. ... And for the first time, a province would be defined not by geography, but by theological orientation.
Leave a comment