American Anglican Council president transfers canonical residency to Nigeria
Episcopal News Service. January 16, 2007 [011607-06]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the American Anglican Council, has transferred his canonical residency from the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield to the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the U.S. missionary branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
The move, which places Anderson under the oversight of Bishop Martyn Minns, was made November 1, 2006, and announced January 12 in response to media inquiries.
Anderson, 62, became resident in Springfield earlier in 2006.
Anderson, ordained since 1971, served in the dioceses of Washington, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Los Angeles, and Springfield. He retired in 2002 from St. James Church, Newport Beach, California, where he served for 16 years as the parish's rector.
Anderson said in the news release that he disagrees with decisions made by the Episcopal Church and looks forward to being under the authority of the "godly and courageous leadership of Archbishop Peter Akinola," the head of the Nigerian church.
It was "time for me to chart my course with the majority of the Anglican Communion," he said in the release.
Minns had served as rector of Truro Church in the Diocese of Virginia since 1991 and was consecrated August 20 as bishop of CANA, originally called the Convocation of Anglican Nigerian Churches in America.
Akinola had asked that Minns remain as Truro's rector but Virginia Bishop Peter Lee said that was impossible because its stated purpose made Minns' election "an affront to the traditional, orthodox understanding of Anglican Provincial Autonomy."
Lee later allowed Minns to be priest-in-charge of Truro until January 1, 2007. In the intervening months, Minns helped lead an effort that resulted in the majority of the members of his and eight other Virginia congregations (out of 195) voting December 17 to leave the Episcopal Church and affiliate with CANA. A newsletter dated January 14 on the parish's website listed Minns as rector.