FIFNA Assembly News

By Mary Ann Mueller in Belleville, Illinois

Some of the heaviest Anglo-Catholic hitters in the Anglican realignment were in the shadow of the St. Louis arch last week. They travelled from near and far to celebrate their connectiveness as Christians and to rejoice in their joy at being Anglicans with a common history and shared prayer as Forward in Faith-North America's (FiF-NA) 2013 Assembly played out near the banks of the upper Mississippi River.

Bishops in purple shirts, priests and deacons in black shirts, monks in flowing black or brown serge habits, and the laity, all sporting a wide spectrum of colors, fabrics and patterns, descended on the 200-acre Our Lady of the Snows, a national Catholic shrine dedicated to providing an oasis for spiritual renewal in an atmosphere of Christian hospitality.

Some of the bishops present included: ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan, FiF-NA President Bishop Keith Ackerman, Anglican Province of America Presiding Archbishop Walter Grundorf, Anglican Church in America Bishop Stephen Strawn, ACNA Missionary Diocese of All Saints Bishop William Illgenfritz, Diocese of the Holy Cross Bishop Paul Hewett, APA Diocese of the Eastern United States Bishop Chandler Jones, ACNA Bishop Richard Lipka, ACNA Diocese of San Joaquin Bishop Eric Menees, Reformed Episcopal Diocese of the West Bishop Winifield Mott, and three venerable elderly bishops of the American Anglicanism - William Wantland, Donald Parsons, and Ed Mac Burney, all now slowed and bent with age but representing the image of Forward in Faith at its initial flowering.

Forward in Faith is an over-arching umbrella that draws together those from various parts in the Anglican renewal who seek to live out their spirituality the Catholic stream of Anglicanism. More than 150 Anglo-Catholics travelled to the Midwest from throughout the United States and across the Anglican spectrum to join together in unified prayer, joyful worship and lessons taught by one of the greatest teaching speakers in Anglicanism today. 

The special orator for the event was a Church of England bishop who has travelled far and wide mesmerizing audiences wherever Anglicanism has been planted and is celebrated. 

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the 106th Bishop of Rochester (England) and now the director for the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue, chose as his topic"Ecclesiology at the Crossroads." For three one-hour sessions, the English bishop kept his audience in rapt attention as he spoke eloquently and knowledgably all without benefit of notes. He was thoroughly conversant with his topic and was able to bring forth a wide variety of facts and weaving in dates and personages as he fleshed out his topic. He was also very much a part of the overall experience of Forward in Faith. He blended in as one of many bishops and was accepted as an equal participant, rubbing shoulders with one and all throughout the days and evenings.

The three-day event was undergirded in prayer. The OLS conference room became many things during the three days, which sped by with incredible speed - change a wall here or move a table there, and, presto, the room is transformed. It was used as a chapel for the recitation of Daily Office, a classroom when Bishop Nazir-Ali was teaching, an assembly hall during FiF-NA business sessions, a comfortable parlor when Bishop Ackerman was with his beloved FiF-NA family, a television studio for Anglican TV's recording of the event, an exhibitor's hall for various FiF-NA and Anglo-Catholic ministries and movements, a movie theatre for the playing of the short film "Surprising Merrily," a banquet hall for the breaking of bread, a parish hall for fellowship and snacks, and a cathedral for the celebration of the closing Eucharist by a Bishop Wantland.

Forward in Faith participants not only looked back over their collective shoulders to see where they have come out of the spiritual desert of Egypt but also peered forward to see where the Lord is leading them today, tomorrow and beyond.

Bishop Ackerman realized that as a living entity, FiF-NA has changed from being a rigid rule-based organization to an organism that grows and changes, develops and learns as it matures. Therefore, the canons and constitution of the group have to reflect the new reality. Rather than trying to remold the FiF-NA Assembly into an organization, the bylaws need to reflect the liveliness of an organism. So they were tweaked to mirror the fact that Forward in Faith is a loving spiritual family and not an ecclesial legislative body.

FiF-NA's early DNA goes back to 1972 and the Committee (later Coalition) for the Apostolic Ministry. It then is traced through the Evangelical Catholic Mission and the Episcopal Synod of America, finally morphing into Forward in Faith in 1989. Through it all, the Anglo-Catholic voice has remained loud and strong and uncompromising in the face of decadence and decay. Next time the Forward in Faith Assembly meets, it will be to celebrate its silver anniversary with jubilation and prayer. Next year, all eyes will turn toward celebrating FiF-NA's silver anniversary as the strong Anglo-Catholic voice in the reforming face of American Anglicanism.

Bishop Ackerman has called for help. He has developed a plan where participants can become adjunct members of the FiF-NA Council and focus on one specified project. The specialized auxiliary ministries include: marketing, securing advertizing for the Forward in Christ publication, Mission and Outreach for the Myanmar Project, various children's ministries, writing tracts, interacting with social media such as Facebook and Twitter, fundraising and development, maintaining the FiF-NA website, developing regional Festival in Faith mini-conferences, and preparing for next year's joyful silver jubilee celebrating what God has done and is continuing to do with Forward in Faith.