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Motion in English Synod to Recognize ACNA
Posted on: July 11, 2009
A private member’s motion asking the Church of England to recognize the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been submitted to the General Synod of the Church of England. While the motion will not come up for debate at the current meeting of Synod, it serves to sharpen the focus of the 76th General Convention on the consequences of backing away from the 2006 pledge made with Resolution B033.
Synod is meeting in York from the July 10-13. On July 10, a private member’s motion was submitted asking for a debate on the Church of England’s formal relationship with the ACNA. To be considered for debate, a private members motion must receive the support of 100 members of synod. Approximately 75 members have so far endorsed the motion.
Traditionally only one or two such motions are considered at each session of Synod, and in creating the agenda for forthcoming session, the Synod’s Business Committee generally looks to the number of signatures received in order to set the priority for debate.
Questions were also put to the Chairman of the House of Bishops and Chairman of the Ministry Division from members on the attitude of the House of Bishops to the ACNA. The Bishop of Bristol, the Rt. Rev. Michael Hill, told synod the House of Bishops there was no “representation” by the House of Bishops at the installation of the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan as Archbishop of the ACNA, and so far the bishops had not considered the question of the Church of England’s relationship with the ACNA.
But the Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev. N.T. Wright, told Synod the House of Bishops’ Theology Committee had agreed on July 10 to study the ACNA’s constitution and canons at their fall meeting.
Who had the authority to recognize the ACNA was not clear, Bishop Hill said, but would likely first be considered by the bishops.
The press by conservative members of General Synod for recognition of the ACNA as a formal part of the Anglican Communion comes the day after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams urged General Convention not to back away from B033. At the July 9 Eucharist, Archbishop Williams thanked the Episcopal Church for its invitation to Anaheim, and “to share something of my mind with you; and so thank you too for your continuing willingness to engage with the wider life of our Communion.
“I do realize that this engagement has been, and still is, costly for different people in different ways,” he said. “Some feel impatient, some feel compromised, some feel harassed or undervalued, or that their good faith has been ungraciously received.”
The archbishop said he had come to California with “hopes and anxieties,” stating “I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart.”
However, he refrained from saying what the consequences might be of repudiating B033. The move to recognize the ACNA put forward by conservative members of General Synod appears to answer that question.
(The Rev.) George Conger reporting from General Convention in Anaheim.
An update: the motion has now reached 121 signatures, which is enough to place it on the agenda for February’s General Synod in London
And with the direction TEC seems to be going at their Convention even after this:
it would not surprise me if the ABC had a hand in the motion.
As for the PB, she is dying a death of a thousand cuts, all self inflicted and has the gall to accuse ++Rowan of holding the knife.
At least one of the blogs is now reporting 121 signatories to the motion, which means it will be on the GS 2010 agend in February. It will be interesting to see if it passes.
The fact that the motion is actually being considered is incredible. When I read that the PB was warning the C of E not to foment schism I thought it was a joke. Do you think the “veil” has been put over their eyes to their own actions.
Perhaps.
She may also be aware that if General Synod does recognise ACNA, every diocese in England, including Canterbury, will automatically be in communion with it. That is one important hurdle to overcome in the quest for full recognition within the Anglican Communion. If ACNA is in communion with Canterbury, delaying tactics by ACC become far less likely, and far less important.
#5
If ACNA is in communion with Canterbury, delaying tactics by ACC become far less likely, and far less important.”
sorry, I don’t quite understand this statement.
TEC/ACoC are making much of the fact that they are currently the only bodies in North America recognised as part of the Anglican Communion by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who they seem to regard as the primary instrument of unity within the Anglican Communion. Their major argument against the legitimacy of ACNA is that it is not currently recognised as Anglican by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The traditional route to membership of the Anglican Communion is through the Anglican Consultative Council, which is dominated by the more liberal provinces. Even without opposition, membership takes years to achieve.
A resolution by General Synod that the Church of England recognises, and is therefore in communion with, ACNA will force Rowan Williams’s hand, since if the Church of England is in communion with ACNA, the See of Canterbury and its bishop must also be in communion with ACNA. The House of Bishops (not the ABC) has a veto over matters of doctrine and worship, but this does not seem to apply here, so Williams can’t overturn a vote in favour of ACNA, if it happens.
If this resolution passes, TEC/ACoC’s claims that ACNA is illegitimate will collapse, so recognition by the ACC becomes much less important.
Explained well Mr. Arthur. I’m not sure the ACC becomes less important but if the Headmaster is standing over you with the cedar rod in his hands you tend to stop drumming on the desk.
Not a bad idea! I’ll see if we can get a motion like that up in our Synod (Melbourne, Australia). Pray that it gets through.