The Elephant in the Tent

[The following article is from SydneyAnglicans.net]

Robert Ian Williams:

Classic quote from Archbishop Duncan, " It was a miracle that those who believe the ordination of women was a grave error along with those who see it as being justified by Scripture can work together towards mission."

So it is possible for Word of God as given to St Paul to be re-evaluated on women but not on gays!

"This is a reformed church," proclaimed Duncan.

In defiance of Reformed Anglicanism all the following are found in ACNA.....

Prayers for the dead
Invocation of the Saints
Requiem Masses
Eucharistic reservation
Adoration and worship of the Communion elements.

All tolerated in the Anglican Church in North America.

THIS IS a GREAT reformation according to Duncan ...yet the doctrines of Rome (thrown out at the birth of the Anglican reformation) are all back in place. Despite the fact the Church has in Roman Catholic understanding no valid orders to celebrate them!

[Note: Robert Ian Williams is a convert to Roman Catholicism. We Reformed Anglicans thank him for making our point for us. Anglo-Catholics are neither Reformed nor Roman Catholic. See: Anglo-Catholicism: Why the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion Network, and the American Anglican Council Are Wrong.]

ACNA is the elephant in the tent

Robert Tong
June 24th, 2009

The Washington Times of June 17 under the banner of 'New Anglican Church poses dilemma' commented that the inauguration of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) posed a "dilemma for the worldwide Anglican Communion over who represents Anglicanism in the United States and Canada".

The formation of ACNA is a direct challenge to the legitimacy of The Episcopal Church (TEC). Four dioceses have left TEC: San Joaquin in California, Quincy in Illinois; Fort Worth in Texas and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The new Province includes 11 Northern Virginia parishes, some of which pre-date the American War of Independence. It is no surprise then that TEC is litigating over millions of dollars worth of property.

Reaction to the election of Gene Robinson and the authorising of same-sex blessings forced the commissioning of the Windsor Report and the establishment of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference. Two of the Panel's references were the Church of the Redeemer in Florida Diocese and St John's Shaughnessy in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada. Despite visits from panel members and week-long conversations, both references failed to provide any meaningful help to the congregations. The Florida congregation and some 20 other Florida clergy ejected by the bishop have now found a new home in the new province. St John's, with other Canadian churches grouped as the Anglican Network in Canada, has also found lodging in the new province.

The ACNA has an average attendance of 100,000, which is more than the number of Anglicans in 13 of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. So far seven provinces recognise ACNA in place of TEC. There is no formal process of recognition in the Anglican Communion by any of the so-called 'instruments of communion'.

The GAFCON Primates' Council has welcomed ACNA as fulfilling the Jerusalem Declaration aspiration, 'we believe the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the Primates' Council'.

This new Province in North America provides a constitutional framework for the exercise of Christian ministry in accordance with Anglican principles and doctrines.

Can we pray that, under God's providential hand, the new province will be one where the Scriptures are studied with true understanding, false doctrines are driven out, and good works abound?

Robert Ian Williams 2 days, 7 hours ago What price is this for evangelicals and the historic Reformed nature of Anglicanism? A Compromised Consitution which affirms the 39 articles in their " literal and grammatical sense" and their role in defining doctrne and settling disputesbut allows their meaning to be ignored and flouted. One of the Bishops subscribining is Jack Iker of Fort worth..he was recently at Walsingham, where he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary and claimed to preside at benediction..worship of the Holy Commumion elements. All such actions contradict the 39 articles. Indeed the opening ceremony of ACNA took place in a Cathedral in Bedford, Texas where there is a tabernacle, venerated statues and the smell of incense in the air. The Cathedral website advertises confessions and a Rosary prayer group. Within ACNA there are at least 200 such parishes and four dioceses of the most advanced Anglo-Catholic nature. #1 of 6

Robin Grant Jordan 1 day, 14 hours ago The constitution and canons the inaugural ACNA Provincial Assembly ratified on June 23, 2009 do establish an ecclesiastical structure that is from a conservative evangelical perspective Catholic in doctrine and order. To read more about the constitution and canons, go to the Heritage Anglican Network at:http://theheritageanglicannetwork.blogspot.com/ I have also posted several articles related to the inaugural Provincial Assembly at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/ After the ratification of the canons, Mr. Michael Howell, Director of Forward in Faith North America commented, "They're good, but by no means complete with regards our understanding of Catholic Faith and Order but... they're a good starting point." #2 of 6

Robin Grant Jordan 17 hours, 30 minutes ago For Sydney Anglicans who do not have time to read the articles on the Heritage Anglican Network and Anglicans Ablaze, I am providing a brief summary of how the ACNA constitution and canons affect them. 1. They make fools of Sydney Anglican leaders who have supported the ACNA, adopting doctrinal positions that these leaders do not hold nor teach and represent a repudiation of their doctrinal views. 2. Sydney Anglicans who are evangelical and Reformed in their doctrinal views and who take a job in North America would not be able to join an ACNA church without compromising their convictions. 3. Sydney Anglicans who are evangelical and Reformed in their doctrinal views and accept a ministerial or teaching position in the ACNA would not be able to minister or teach in the ACNA without compromising their convictions. 4. Entities like the Diocese of Sydney, More Theological College and the Anglican Church League would not be able to enter into ministry partnerships with the ACNA without subscribing unreservedly to its doctrinal positions, which include the recognition of other doctrinal authorities beside the Bible, the Creeds, and the Anglican formularies; recognition of seven sacraments; the Real Presence; baptismal regeneration; recognition of bishops and episcopacy as being of the essence of the Church; and tactual succession. These doctrinal positions, if not stated in the constitution and canons, are implied. 5. Under the ACNA definition of Anglican orthodoxy Sydney Anglicans are not orthodox Anglicans. 6. The ACNA includes some of the most vocal proponents of Sydney' expulsion from the Anglican Communion for lay and diaconal administration of the Lord's Supper. To be continued. #3 of 6

Robin Grant Jordan 17 hours, 26 minutes ago Continued from above. In the light of the foregoing Archbishop Jensen and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney may want to reconsider the welcome they extended to the "new province" and issue a statement calling upon the ACNA to take a more comprehensive position toward Reformed-evangelicals. However, there are those in the ACNA who might regard such a statement as meddling in the affairs of an autonomous province like their brethren in The Episcopal Church and become even more opposed to making the new church genuinely comprehensive as conservative Anglicans understand comprehensiveness. When members of the Provincial Council, the highest governing body in the ACNA, proposed that the partisan doctrinal position of one of the Fundamental Declarations in the constitution should be modified to make the new church more comprehensive, the Anglo-Catholic bishops were opposed to any substantive change. Those who made the proposal backed down out of fear of a church split. In this sense Anglo-Catholics leaders in the ACNA might be seen as holding the new church hostage with the other leaders tiptoeing around them lest they upset the former. To be fair to the Anglo-Catholics in the ACNA, there are also other dynamics operative in the new church. #4 of 6

Robert Ian Williams 15 hours, 59 minutes ago However the lip service to the 39 articles is appalling! Plus the fact that the Reformed Episcopal Church had to reject its former position of welcoming non-episcopally ordained clergywithout re-ordination. Several evangelicals have walked out and mauinatain that the original evnagelicalism of tne REC has been subverted. Just wait until the legal cases start going against ACNA big time. #5 of 6

Robert Ian Williams 7 hours, 26 minutes ago Classic quote from Archbishop Duncan, " It was a miracle that those who believe the ordination of women was a grave error along with those who see it as being justified by Scripture can work together towards mission. So it is possible for Word of God as given to St Paul to be re-evaluated on women but not on gays! This is a reformed church proclaimed Duncan. In defiance of Reformed Anglicaism all the following are found in ACNA..... Prayers for the dead Invocation of the Saints Requiem Masses Eucharistic reservation Adoration and worship of the Communion elements. All tolerated in the Anglican Church in North America. THIS IS a GREAT reformation according to Duncan ...yet the doctrines of Rome ( thrown out at the birth of the Anglican reformation) are all back in place. Despite the fact the Church has in Roman Catholic understanding no valid orders to celebrate them !

[One wonders how Robert Tong can make his views compatible with the more radical views of Phillip Jensen and others in Sydney?]

The Second Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
O LORD, who never failest to help and govern them who thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.