I had an opportunity to interview Bishop Don Harvey regarding ACNA and ANiC, and below is a transcript of that interview (it’s as accurate as possible, though some of the grammar and phrases have been modified to make more sense in a written form).

Peter: Please describe for the uninitiated what is going on this week, and why?

Bishop Don: Within the Canadian context (which is the easiest one to start out with) there is ANiC, which is the Anglican Network in Canada (an Ecclesial body which is structured and now part of the new body), which we shall get to in a moment. Also in Canada is the ACiC, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, which used to be the AMiA (the Anglican Mission in the Americas) that changed into the ACiC when they became distinctively Canadian, but is still under the umbrella of the AMiA. And then of course there is the Anglican Church of Canada which we refer to as the ACoC rather than the ACC (the Anglican Consultative Council). And on it goes….. But that’s the main ones. Now of course the new one is the ACNA, which is the Anglican Church in North America. ANiC is now a diocese of the ACNA, a big diocese geographically but nevertheless a diocese.

Peter: How would you envisage ACNA and ANiC unfolding? What happens now?

Bishop Don: The next thing is to get sufficient recognition around the globe, and there was a big boost today. Up to now we only had one province, albeit the province with the most Anglicans in the world (Nigeria) who officially supported us. The other primates who’ve been to GAFCON, although they personally support us, they have to go through the legislative process in their own provinces first. The next one to do that happened this week, when Uganda performed theirs. Their Primate, Henry Orombi, has always been a great friend of ours, so it wasn’t a big surprise when the province agreed to recognise us as well. So now we’ve gone from 25% probably to maybe 30-35% (recognised officially by the Anglican Communion) with that.

I guess it will be an osmotic effect, which it would have to be all along, because I don’t think the apparatus in the Communion at the present time will proclaim us what we want to be proclaimed. Certainly the Archbishop of Canterbury hasn’t got the authority to do it at the present moment, and the Anglican Consultative Council / Primates did not discuss it. We have not really applied to the Communion per se but we also have reason to believe that our best bet seems to be the way it is going now; set ourselves up as a province and bit by bit have the rest of the (Anglican) world recognise it.

Peter: Create the fact on the ground?

Bishop Don: Yes. We were told to do that some years ago; I was at a meeting in Pittsburgh with the Primates who said “What are you waiting for? Go ahead, if you wait for somebody to say it’s OK you’ll never move.”

Peter: ACNA has been described in the media as being in competition with TEC and the ACoC. What would be your response to that assertion?

Bishop Don: Well I suppose you could stretch it that way in that we stand for different things. We are (not as people think) just disgruntled Anglicans that were formed out of the ACoC – but (our target) is Anglicans that have never known Jesus Christ. On the other hand we are ready to assist those can no longer stay where they are but wish to remain Anglican. We can give you the opportunity of being Biblically faithful member of the Communion as well. Some would dispute that this Province is a member of the Communion as yet, but I think that is semantics really.

Peter: Please describe your role within ANiC / ACNA?

Bishop Don: OK. My role evolved within the last three years. It started off with the Essentials movement – that evolved into two separate structures, the Federation and the Network, and I became the Moderator of the Network, this would be the equivalent of the diocesan Bishop. At one point as I travelled to various meetings, the Global South Primates would consider Bishop Duncan and me as the Primates of US and Canada, and I often walked in the Primates procession – they and I knew I wasn’t a Primate, but they did not recognise the official Primates of Canada and the US, rather recognised us as (representing) people they would be in communion with.

Peter: Does the formation of ACNA change our relationship with the (Anglican Province of the) Southern Cone?

Bishop Don: Not at the moment. Currently it is a transitional period. I talked to Archbishop Venables several days ago about this, and he is not going to undo the connection to our diocese until such time as we’re ready for this temporary arrangement to come to an end, or there’s no doubt in our minds we can achieve the same thing locally without having to add another burden, albeit a burden of love, to him in what he is doing. It could be a slow process, and will be done mutually. We’ll respect one another around that. He’s promised us he won’t see us dangle, won’t be saying ‘whether you like it or not you’ll have to leave us’.

Peter: Can you explain the relationship between the ANiC and the ACiC? There is a perception (with new ANiC and ACiC bishops) that there are parallel tracks here, and people may wonder why?

Bishop Don: We have come an amazing distance in the last year and a half, that’s not to say there is not some distance still to be covered. The ACiC are (mainly) in the BC / Vancouver area and we have been working very closely with them. On Vancouver Island we have a church plant going on between ANiC / ACiC (and REC). This is something that will have to evolve, and there’s no doubt that if we do not make an effort to communicate with one another there is going to be some tension. With goodwill that needs to be on both sides that (potential tension) will be overcome. I’ve been talking to Bishop Sandy Greene of the ACiC and we’ve both agreed that when their candidate will be consecrated I will be there, and when ours is consecrated he’ll be there to show the world that there’s no animosity here and that we’ll work this out.

Peter: Would you see the ANiC and ACiC eventually merging into one?

Bishop Don: Well we’re all in the one province; time will tell how long it will be for the various components of the province to come together. They could remain as overlapping dioceses, that would cause some problems. As long as we approach it with goodwill (and God is calling us this way) I think we will come up with something that is acceptable, and in the long run tie with Anglican Provinces.

Peter: There has been some criticism that ACNA is becoming bishop heavy. How would you respond to that?

Bishop Don: Well I can only respond from the perspective of our own diocese, which is geographically the largest in the world, from St John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, Vancouver Island. So far I have been officially doing it with the help of two other retired bishops, one of who retires (again) at the end of June – Bishop Malcolm Harding. Bishop Ron Ferris is happy to continue at church planting in the Langley area so he is available when we need episcopal work, but basically we have only one person travelling around Canada doing this at the moment. This is a burden, and will become more burdensome as we get more congregations (including the day to day paperwork).

So certainly having three (bishops elects – as announced this week), one of whom will have a role with ethnic population, just leaves two for the rest of the population, and they will certainly be kept quite active. I’ll be with them for a year before I retire again in November 2010, and in that time we’ll try to work out a good structure to work under.

Nobody has made bishops as a favour to somebody, the groups that have made these bishops have done this because they see (the need). A number of the other bishops are going to be as our bishops are; at parishes at the same time as missionary bishops.

Peter: So you are retiring in 2010?

Bishop Don: That’s the plan at the present time. The former primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, before I retired, said to me (somewhat facetiously, but none of us knew we were going on these paths) ‘if you want to hear what God sounds like when He is laughing, tell Him your retirement plans’. That’s certainly been the case for me, I certainly never dreamed of going down this road, but it has been very rewarding, very fulfilling, and I think our efforts are being blessed and we’re seeing wonderful things happening (and about to happen).

Peter: Who will be taking the role of Moderator when you retire?

Bishop Don: We haven’t even begun to look at that yet. Obviously there’ll be some process put in place – will it be the House of Bishops who decide or recommend to the Synod or Board? We’ll get some direction from the province as to how this is done. At this stage it will be similar to a diocesan Bishop retiring and the suffragan Bishops in that diocese deciding who will take his place.

Peter: And will this be a final, final retiring (on your part)?

Bishop Don: Well, that’s what I said the last time. It’s certainly my intention not to fade out of the scene altogether. I love doing the ministry part of it, it’s the administration that gets more tiring as you get older. From mid-January to June I was home 10 nights. I can tell (it’s time), body wise you get to know. By the end of the day now I am more exhausted than I would have been, say, 10 years ago. But, give me a few hours sleep and I bounce back again. I’ve enjoyed it, and I have had the advantage of bringing many years experience to it. I’ve had 46 years now of ordained ministry, and 16 in the episcopacy. No matter how slow you may be, even like me, you pick up something in that time that you can offer. In some cultures they look upon you as not ripe for leadership until you reach your 70th. Here your 70th is usually the time to retire, and I’ll be quite happy when it comes to that.

Peter: How have you felt is has gone here (ACNA assembly)?

Bishop Don: Wonderful, wonderful. Like everything it has had some moments higher than others. We finished putting the constitution and canons half a day ahead of time. The Spirit is at work here, everyone has goodwill, there is good leadership. There has been a lot of preparation within the last 9-10 months – these things don’t just happen. It’s been a great conference, some of the speakers have been incredibly good, everyone seems to be happy about it, very little discontent around, and nor do you see the tensions that I have often found in the Synods, diocesan and general.

Peter: What would be your vision and hope for the state of Anglican mission and witness in (say) 10 years time?

Bishop Don: My hope is that we would continue to be Biblically faithful, and that we would be part of a family known as the Anglican Communion. You can be Biblically faithful and just break away; to have enough of the Communion that is still Biblically faithful then you can be part of the family, which is what we’re praying and striving for, and that looks very promising.