NIGERIA: Standing Committee stands in 'full communion' with conservative North American entity
Episcopal News Service. March 24, 2009 [032409-06]
Matthew Davies
The Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria declared at a recent meeting that it stands "in full and abiding communion" with the Anglican Church in North America, a conservative entity that is not officially recognized as a part of the Anglican Communion.
Members of several self-styled Anglican organizations, known collectively as the Common Cause Partnership, announced the new entity in December 2008 to serve Anglicans who have decided they no longer want to be a part of the Episcopal Church or Anglican Church of Canada for theological reasons.
Deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh Robert W. Duncan, moderator of the Common Cause Partnership and archbishop-designate for the Anglican Church in North America, told the Standing Committee that the new entity consists of "seven hundred congregations representing more than one hundred thousand Anglicans in the United States and Canada who have held true to the faith once delivered to the saints," according to a resolution from the March 11-14 meeting, held at Obafemi Awolowo University in Osun State, Nigeria.
The Church of Nigeria is led by Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, one of the Anglican Communion's leading critics of the Episcopal Church and its inclusive theology. Akinola has maintained that homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture and has supported legislation in Nigeria that would have gays and lesbians incarcerated for up to five years. He has called for the Episcopal Church to repent for such recent actions as the 2003 consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, a divorced gay man living in same-gender relationship, and some dioceses' provisions for the blessing of same-gender unions.
In its recent resolution, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria encourages Akinola to send a delegation to the Anglican Church of North America's inaugural provincial assembly, June 22-25 in Fort Worth, Texas, where the conservative entity is expected to ratify its constitution and canons.
The North American group is continuing attempts to create new parishes and dioceses within the Episcopal Church's jurisdiction despite a recent call from the primates for "gracious restraint" and their recommendation for pastoral visitors to assist in healing and reconciliation given the current tensions in the Anglican Communion.
Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Argentina-based Province of the Southern Cone, an avid supporter of the new conservative entity, has offered oversight to parishes and dioceses breaking away from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
Venables told ENS at the February 1-5 primates' meeting that there is a realization among the supporters of the new North American entity that they need to be patient if they wish to seek official recognition by the councils of the Anglican Communion. Such recognition would need the endorsement of two-thirds of the 38 primates before being presented to the Anglican Consultative Council, the communion's main policy-making body, for consideration. The council generally meets every three years.
A statement from Lambeth Palace made shortly after the new entity was announced noted that "there are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces. Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete."