The AMIA, the largest constituent body once comprising the new Anglican Church in North America, has relegated itself to 'Ministry Partner' status.
Could this action signal the beginning of the disintegration of ACNA, thus repeating the disunion of the post-1976 Continuing Churches?
The AMIA reinvented its purported ordination of women to the priesthood for the United States on 15th May 2010 in Plano, Texas.
15 comments:
Here we go again. The more things change in Anglicanism, the more they stay the same. So sad.
This is another sad reminder that Christians require a visible principle of unity in order to remain in full, visible communion with the Word of God and the sacraments; otherwise, as history shows us time and again, this is the result. And what is that visible principle of unity?
+ not the Prayer Book
+ not the decrees and canons of Councils
+ not even the canon of Scripture
Catholics have an answer: the visible principle of unity in the Church is the Bishop of Rome, successor to the Apostle Peter, and his ministry of strengthening his brethren (cf. Luke 22:31-32).
Are there other candidates?
If the ACNA evolves into a body which allows only men to be ordained then this is good news. There is no future for traditional Anglicans in the ACNA as long as the ACNA tries to uphold,what they maintain, are 'two integrities' regarding Holy Orders.The former PECUSA dioceses which have landed in the ACNA that have women deacons but no women bishops or priests will have to cease ordaining women deacons.Then the APA,REC,San Joachin,Quincy,Fort Worth,UECNA,APCK,ACC/OP etc. can make real progress on coming together.The above named groups, the remnant of the TAC who do not wish become Papists and the few other smaller but truly orthodox bodies would be the basis for a single world-wide Communion of orthodox Anglicans and it is not just a 'pie in the sky' dream but something which seems more likely than ever since the TAC's Bishops and FiFUK's leadership are determined to submit to Rome.I don't know what the neo-Anglicans like the AMiA will do but I suspect they will soon lose the last vestiges of their goodly inheritance and be completely unrecognizable as Anglican.
With all due respect, Fr. Newman, the Orthodox are far more united in faith and practice than are Roman Catholics, and they hold to no other principle of unity than Holy Tradition.
OK. There's a proposal: Holy Tradition. And it's a good one, I'll grant you.
Except that, notwithstanding the official pieties, Orthodox bishops are so fractured among themselves (sometimes violently so) that there hasn't been an Ecumenical Council in over 1,200 years, and the bitter bickering among hierarchs is often a better show than Jerry Springer.
This is only a guess, but I suspect that this lack of true unity among the bishops of autocephalous churches (and the sense of isolation that it brings) is one of the reasons why they so easily became the lapdogs of the atheist commissars who took over their nations in the last century. That plus caesaropapism, of course.
In a sense, Holy Tradition is the combination of the three things I listed above (liturgy, conciliar teaching, and Scripture), but those three have already proven inadequate for Anglicans, and the Orthodox have so far avoided the fate of the Anglican surrender to the Zeitgeist, it seems to me, primarily by refusing to ask, let alone, answer the vexing moral questions posed by advances in science and technology (e.g. contraception, abortion, artificial insemination, cloning) and the vexing moral questions posed by modern philosophy (e.g. limits personal autonomy, source of moral law, social contract, place of the Church in the public square, freedom of conscience for believer and unbeliever alike.) It is on both of these pikes that the Anglican Communion has impaled itself, and I cannot see how Holy Tradition will permit the Orthodox to avoid the same fate, except by refusing to answer the questions.
John Edwards,
I thought about your remarks concerning the (relative degree of?) unity among the Orthodox churches, which are undeniably a communion of local churches. I agree that they hold to no other principle of unity than Holy Tradition, by which they seem to mean faith (things believed) and practice (things done, notably the sacraments), which might render your remark (and their "unity") tautological.
Anyway, there is an important, I believe essential, dimension missing from this picture. I wanted to say a little bit about that, but the length of the saying, considered as a comment, outgrew the bounds of propriety; so I said it over here instead.
Concerning the Catholic Church, I think that you might be referring to widespread dissent from Church teaching, among Catholic priests, religious and laity. What is definitely established by this undeniable fact is that there is more than one way to be or become separated from the unity of the Catholic Church. If we distinguish the ways, we can correctly assess whether and how dissent from Church teaching (including departures from Church discipline) dissolves the essential unity of the Catholic Church. My assessment is that dissent dissolves (or impairs) the unity between the dissenters and the Church. Dissent does not imply the disunity of the Church. Such unity is, I believe, guaranteed by Christ, and made visible through Peter.
For better or for worse AMiA launched a worldwide Anglican revolution. Many of us hoped it would be for better. There have been moments of great encouragement; it is undeniable that in the last ten years the Anglican Communion has taken greater steps towards orthodoxy & heterodoxy than can be remembered in recent history. It seems as though the future of Anglicanism is on the brink at nearly every turn. No doubt that keeping the faith given to One, Holy, Catholic, & Apostolic church intact is no small task; however, it is an even greater task when we are fragmented.
Whether we like it or not Anglicanism has been tasked with identifying the additions to the tradition made by the Roman church, as well as identifying the subtraction made to the tradition made by the Protestants. At times we have done well, & at others not so well. The primary task at hand is to respond in a united fashion to the need of the day, & that is preserving the western Orthodox faith, without additions, & without subtractions.
The events of this last week remove all ambiguity, & thus clearly show that ACNA is not up to the task, will anyone rise to the occasion? Will the Anglo-Catholic bishops of the alphabet soup that makes up today’s Anglican world humble themselves for the sake of the apostolic faith in the west, & draw Anglo-Catholics together in order to preserve western Orthodoxy? Rise up Ft worth, Quincy, San Joaquin, APA, REC, &c… Lord Have Mercy!
Fr. Carlos makes some very valid points. Every once in awhile we, in the Continuing Anglican Church Movement, get our hopes up only to be slammed back to the mat again. We have had the on again off again merger between the APA and the REC. Bp. Iker has had very good relations with the REC in the past. One could just imagine the Diocese of Ft. Worth splitting from TEC and joining in a merged APA/REC. Alas this is only a "pipe dream." He joined with Bp. Duncan of Pittsburgh who loves to ordain women. Thus guaranteeing another split in the future amongst traditional, orthodox Anglicans. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us all pray "For the Church" (BCP 37) daily.
A couple points regarding Fr. Newman's assertion and the discussion that followed it: 1)If my understanding of Scripture and of the tradition of the undivided Church are correct, then the visible principle is the Bishop and the council of bishops' unanimous decisions; 2) Its true that Catholics have an answer, namely, the Bishop of Rome, an answer which that office has asserted to the division of East and West and, arguably, to the dissolution the Western Church experienced in the Reformation; 3) Granted that the Bishop of Rome is the prinicple of unity for Roman Catholics, has this insured the unity of Roman Catholic Church beyond the level of the institutional? I would need to be convinced that the unity existing among a Latin Rite catholic and a socially progressive Jesuit inclusivist, for instance, is anything more than theoretical; and 4) Beyond all of this, it is perhaps a strikingly modern problem that we like some theological Descartes are searching for the principle of unity; it seemed that earlier ages avoided this ecclesiological manifestation of the one and the many problem, being able to find unity in the Bishop, the Holy Synod, the Apostolic tradition, and yes the Holy Scriptures as well. Would that we could say the same today.
Fr.Carlos
There are encouraging signs that oldbeliever Anglicans are coming together.The ACC/OP;the APCK and the UECNA are now co-operating with each other.Those in the TAC,who wish to remain Anglican, are finding their way into orthodox Anglican jurisdictions.Orthodox Anglicans in the ACNA are coming to some logical conclusions about the 'two integrities' theory on first order issues such as holy orders.The (mostly)undeserved contempt shown the Continuing Churches is slowly disapating as they have won respect by their steadfastness and by having raised up a generation of sturdy and orthodox Anglicans. This new generation does not harbour resentment against those who did not join in the pioneering work of the first Continuers.They are eager to work with other Continuing Churchmen and with those who are only lately departing from the impaired Church.
You are right:there is a lot of work ahead and it will require charity,humility and patience.I keep the faithful remnant who,for now,are in the ACNA in my prayers. Perhaps your witness will help the neo-Anglicans find their way to the King's Highway.
Are there other candidates?
I have one Father. How about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; the very God and very man, who is tangibly real and present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. (cf. 1Cor 10: 16-17)
Nathan
I agree with Fr. James. AMiA leaving is for the best, and now a sure anti-WO majority sits in ACNA. This will also help the restoration of historical prayer books 1662/1928 occur, phasing out the 1979 rite II and then rite I. Duncan remains a problem, but he's now up against a clear majority, so he will either leave and join AMiA or stay and conform. That's my estimation.
The true First General Council of the undivided Church was held in Jerusalem and is told in chapter 15 of The Acts of the Apostles. Peter did speak at that council as did Paul and Barnabas. But it appears that James, the brother of our Lord, was the presiding officer or Pope if you will. It is James who makes the decision on behalf of the council and issues a decree.
The AMiA and its subsidiaries under the Rwandans are, apparently, committed to a more Protestant view of the Church and the ministry. The ACNA is better off without them. Then we can get down to the real business of establishing a real expression of the Anglican and Catholic faith in the Americas. The ordination of women "priests" was the forerunner to the dismantling of any orthodoxy remaining in the Episcopal Church - and directly led to the "ordination" of practicing homosexuals. Perhaps Our Lord has spared ACNA from following down the same path. Maybe they would like to take Ab. Duncan as well, so that the ACNA can get down to business.
I so have a question about this blog's statement of purpose re holding to the seven councils ... if so, then why doesn't the Anglican Church include veneration to the Theotokos in her worship along with many other deletions of ancient Orthodoxy? By the way, I am an Anglican but have a hard time with our stream voicing compliance with the seven councils while we omit numerous non-negotiables from an Orthodox perspective. I'm not even thinking about the addition to the Nicene Creed. That's a whole separate topic. I ask this with great concern, as I am re-considering Eastern Orthodoxy as my frame of reference over the Reformation.
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