PROGRESSIVE EPISCOPALIANS OF PITTSBURGH
6393 Penn Avenue, PMB 207
Pittsburgh, PA 15206-4010
Contact:
Kenneth Stiles, Vice President
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh
Telephone: +1 (412) 362-2112
E-mail: krstiles@acba.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ACNA Faces Difficult, Divisive Future
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — June 25, 2009 — The Anglican Church in North
America (ACNA) faces a difficult and uncertain future. The new “Anglican”
denomination formed this week in Bedford, Texas, that elected Robert W. Duncan,
deposed Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh, as its archbishop, seems more likely to
fracture the Anglican Communion permanently than to strengthen or “reform” it.
ACNA faces the difficult task of embracing diversity while adhering to the restrictive
polity, theology, and membership set out in the Global Anglican Future
Conference’s Jerusalem Declaration. The disparate groups that met in Texas have
in common a desire to be a part of the Anglican Communion, a disdain for The
Episcopal Church and for the Anglican Church of Canada, and a passionate desire
to believe as they think their forebears have always believed. Future conflicts
over polity, power, and theology appear inevitable.
More immediate are ACNA’s financial and legal problems. ACNA has inherited
ongoing litigation over property claimed by The Episcopal Church and Anglican
Church of Canada in California, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vancouver, and
elsewhere. Litigation to date has been overwhelming unfavorable to those
leaving existing churches, and additional lawsuits are likely. In Pittsburgh
litigation, Archbishop Duncan has pleaded with the court to unfreeze contested
diocesan assets because his group is close to financial collapse. ACNA has been
trying to raise $700,000 in special gifts from members of its component
churches.
“Despite the ACNA’s grand words, the new organization is being built largely
with assets belonging to The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
It is unclear what Christian moral principles can be invoked to justify this,”
said Pittsburgh attorney and Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP) vice
president Kenneth Stiles.
Notwithstanding “Anglican” in its name, ACNA has no secure relationship to the
Anglican Communion. Certain churches of ACNA have never been part of the
Communion, and the rest of ACNA has violated Communion tradition through
irregular relationships with compliant Anglican provinces, autonomous national
or regional churches that are members of the Anglican Communion.
“Less than a fifth of the Anglican provinces have offered ACNA any kind of
recognition,” observed PEP board member William Stevens. “Communion membership
has never been determined by recognition of individual churches other than the
Church of England through the Archbishop of Canterbury. Full inclusion requires
admission to the Anglican Consultative Council, which will not meet for another
three years and which has shown little interest in ending the ancient tradition
of geographical dioceses.”
Whereas ACNA will celebrate whatever “recognition” it receives from sympathetic
Anglican provinces, its advent can only exacerbate tensions within the Anglican
Communion. PEP is concerned that this has the potential to cause the Communion
itself to split into two communions, one traditional but flexible, the other
radical but reactionary. “Anglicanism at its best keeps us all worshipping
together while we continue to discuss our differences,” observed PEP board
member Lionel Deimel. “ACNA, unfortunately, seems not to see the value in
that.”
Contact:
Kenneth Stiles, Vice President
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh
Telephone: +1 (412) 362-2112
E-mail: krstiles@acba.org
On the Web:
This document:
http://progressiveepiscopalians.org/html/2009-06-25acna.html
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh:
http://progressiveepiscopalians.org
Anglican Church in North America:
http://www.theacna.org
GAFCON Jerusalem Statement:
http://www.gafcon.org/news/gafcon_final_statement
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh is an organization of clergy and
laypeople committed to the unity and diversity of The Episcopal Church, and of
the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. It is a member of the Via Media USA alliance.
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