Church watchers who have been wondering whether Bishop Martyn Minns of the Church of Nigeria would accept the Rev. Don Armstrong of Colorado Springs into his new missionary flock despite charges of financial shenanigans against Armstrong have their answer. Jean Torkelson of The Rocky Mountain News reports that Minns was in Colorado earlier this week trying to persuade Armstrong and his parish to join forces with him.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Springs Independent is calling attention to the prominent role that Alan R. Crippen, late of the Family Research Council, and his John Jay Institute play in Armstrong's parish.

Simon Sarmiento has other links.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, the brave founder of Changing Attitudes-Nigeria, will be arriving in the United States next month for about a six-week visit. Josh Thomas of dailyoffice.org is coordinating the visit and has more details.

The Anglican Church of Canada could elect its first woman leader during a national assembly this summer.

Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews is among four nominees for archbishop, or primate, who were chosen Thursday by Canada's Anglican bishops during a private meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The Associated Press has the story.

Bishops of the Province of Central Africa "have issued a message to Zimbabweans that was broadly supportive of the government, sharply contrasting with an earlier call from Catholic leaders for President Robert Mugabe to step down" the AP reports. Signatories of the pastoral letter dated April 12 include The Most Rev. Bernard Amos Malango, Primate of the Province of Central Africa, and The Right Rev. Nolbert Kunonga, Bishop of Harare.

Human rights groups have consistently criticized Mugabe and his enablers.

More:

Zimbabwe's nine Catholic bishops marked Easter with an unprecedented call on Mugabe to end oppression and leave office through democratic reform or face a mass revolt.

Their pastoral letter accused the ruling elite of racism and corruption and fomenting lawlessness and violence to cling to power and wealth, factors they said led to the economic meltdown. The letter decried state-orchestrated intimidation, beatings and torture. Predicting further bloodshed, it said the country had reached a flash point.

The Anglican church has been traditionally muted in its criticism of the government, with its leaders generally toeing the ruling party line.

allAfrica.com has a more extensive report from the pro-government Herald, including this:

The Anglican Bishop's pastoral letter left egg on the face of the head of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Willams who, last month, tried to pressure his bishops, among them Dr Kunonga, to join the bandwagon of condemning the Government for alleged human rights excesses.

Dr Williams went to the extent of holding a one-on-one meeting with Bishop Kunonga on the sidelines of the Anglican Conference on Tackling Poverty held in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he urged him to drop his "soft stance" towards the Government.

The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith, Bishop of Connecticut, wrote a letter to the clergy of that Diocese to let them know they would be receiving an invitation to the ordination to the priesthood of the Rev. Bill Hesse, in Bishop Seabury Church, Groton, and that the ordination will be celebrated with his permission.

Bishop Seabury Church is one of six congregations in the Diocese of Connecticut that has been in a dispute with the Bishop and the diocese since the consecration of the present Bishop of New Hampshire. The dispute included a law suit and ecclesiastical charges initiated by the congregations against Smith, both of which were recently dismissed.

The letter, which was sent electronically to subscribers of the For Clergy newsletters, also shared developments in the relationship between the congregation and clergy of Bishop Seabury Church, and Bishop Smith.

Also planned is an Episcopal Visitation by Smith at Bishop Seabury Church on Trinity Sunday, June 3rd, a meeting with the Vestry and another meeting with the entire congregation prior to the May 12th ordination.

Here is the letter:

Read more »

A group of Episcopal rectors and cathedral deans, fresh from a retreat in Canterbury has written to Archbishop Rowan Williams asking him to "continue our Anglican precedent of inviting all jurisdictional bishops of The Episcopal Church in the United States and of the Anglican Church of Canada to the upcoming Lambeth Conference."

Signatories include Deans Samuel Candler (St. Philip's, Atlanta), Tracey Lind (Trinity, Cleveland) and Samuel Lloyd (National Cathedral), and rectors Ed Bacon (All Saints, Pasadena), Jim Cooper (Trinity, Wall Street), Harold Lewis (Calvary, Pittsburgh) and William Tully (St. Bartholomew's, New York)

Read more »

"Illiberal winds are blowing pernicious policy and polity changes our way." the Rev. Canon Marilyn McCord Adams, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University says. "Illiberal winds are blowing pernicious policy and polity changes our way. The Communiqué from the Tanzanian Primates’ meeting brought the intentions of those who dictated its content more fully out of the closet.

"First, it sent the sinister signal that for the forseeable future, full membership in the Anglican communion will require a local church to enforce anti-LGBT taboos: no more episcopal ordinations of coupled gay or lesbian people; no more official or clandestine church blessing of same-sex couples. Second, the Tanzanian Primates’ meeting also interpreted by enacting and enacted by interpreting the new authoritarian polity of the Anglican communion: it appears that the Anglican communion is to be governed by a collective papacy, an international college of primates exercizing dictatorial powers. Both developments raise urgent questions: should, how can LGBT people live in churches with such policies, governed by authoritarian polities that could deliver more of the same and worse? What, if anything, can we, should we do about it?"

Read more »

The Rev. Praveen Bunyan, rector of St. James Church Newport Beach, has resigned after confessing to inappropriate conduct with an adult female parishioner. St. James, which broke away from the Episcopal Church over the issue of homosexuality, has affiliated with the Church of Uganda. It was formerly led by the Rev. David Anderson, head of the American Anglican Council, who is now associated with the Church of Nigeria.

Saint James is the home parish of Howard Ahmanson, a key financial supporter of the Anglican right. It is locked in a court battle over its property with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

Bunyan is the second high-profile rector of a breakaway parish to resign after an inappropriate relationship with a female parishioner in the last two months. The Rev. Sam Pascoe of Grace Church in Orange Park, Fla., resigned under similar circumstances in late February.

Both men have been sharply critical of the Episcopal Church, saying that it had lost its moral compass on issues of human sexuality.

Salva Dut, tall, slender, son of a Dinka cattle herdsman, has a smile that will light up any room. History calls him, and thousands of other children who fled Sudan, Lost Boys.

At age 11, Dut, with other children, fled from his school into the bush through gunfire and jet-bomb blasts. As he ran, each day he was in danger of being conscripted by rebel armies or killed by militiamen from the north.

Now he has returned to drill wells in his homeland. Episcopal Life Online has the story.

Ruth Gledhill in The Times:

Relatives of Canon Rodney Hunter, 73, believe that his food was contaminated by supporters of the Rev. Nicholas Henderson in a battle between the liberal and conservative wings of the Anglican Church.
...
Canon Hunter was an outspoken critic of plans to appoint the liberal Mr Henderson as Bishop of Lake Malawi. The Province of Central Africa is at the heart of conservative evangelical opposition to the liberal Anglican outlook in the West on homosexuality.

Mr. Henderson, Vicar of St Martin’s Acton West and All Saints’ Ealing Common, was elected as Bishop of Lake Malawi last August. He had known the region for 18 years, raising funds for religious, social and humanitarian projects, and was learning the local language, Chichewe. At the time, few in Malawi knew of his record as a leading liberal theologian and that he had been chairman of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union. There was also concern in Africa at reports that he had a male lodger.

As a result, the Primate of Central Africa, the Most Rev. Bernard Malango, wrote to Mr. Henderson asking him to confirm that he subscribed to the Creeds, the Bible and the Thirty-Nine Articles and that he “fashions his own like and his household according to the doctrine of Christ”.

The diocese’s Court of Confirmation blocked Mr Henderson’s consecration, deeming him “a man of unsound faith”, and instead appointed the retired Bishop of Zambia, the Right Rev. Leonard Mwenda.

Read it all here.

UPDATE: Canon Hunter's earlier statement on the appointment of Mewenda is here. For insight into the election and rejection of Henderson see this Church Times article from December 9, 2005.

From the Anglican Communion News Service:

Lambeth Conference Plans move forward
Decision-makers met last week to continue their planning for progress plans for the Lambeth Conference 2008.

The conference ‘Design Group’, appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spent five days from April 16 to 20 working on looking the conference structures, purposes, issues and programme.
...
The purpose of the Lambeth Conference 2008 is to enable bishops to discern and share their Anglican identity and become better equipped as leaders in God’s mission.
...
The Lambeth Conference in 2008 will be different: it will not resemble a parliamentary debating chamber with a string of resolutions but aim to provide time and space for spiritual reflection, learning, sharing and discerning.

Amongst the topics it will address are the: Millennium Development Goals, HIV/Aids, Ethical/Green living, Anglican identity and covenant, The Listening Process and relationships with people of other Faiths. A fuller programme will be available on the web site www.lambethconference.org in the near future.

Archbishop Akinola, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican) will be coming to Woodbridge Virginia early next month to install Bishop Martyn Minns in his new role as the leader of CANA.

The Installation will take place on May 5th at the The Cecil D. Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge. Jim Robb, CANA’s media officer confirmed the Archbishop’s visit, but said that complete press information about the event has not yet been posted. He does expect to have further information posted in the near future however.

Additional details will, most likely, be posted here.

Mark Harris and Marshall Scott have published helpful guides and reflections on a Study Guide on the Report of the Covenant Design Group and the Draft Covenant published by the Executive Council.

To read Marshall's go to Episcopal Chaplain at the BesideQuestion 1 and Question 2. Watch that site for more.

To read Mark's responses Click HERE

The Zimbabwean newspaper has more information about the developing situation in Zimbabwe.

"President Mugabe is most anxious to neutralize the Christian church and give the world the impression it sides with him against his critics.

On March 11 police crushed a prayer meeting that led to world press publicity against the entrenched Mugabe regime. Later Catholics issued a pastoral statement that infuriated Mugabe.

Zanu (PF) 'spin doctors' assert that 'rebel' Catholics are led by the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube who (they claim) is in the pay of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British Government.

Reacting to the Anglican message, Eddie Cross of the MDC said that Zimbabwean Anglicans are in a difficult position. 'Perhaps they should withdraw from all congregations that are led by Bishop Nolbert,' he suggested. 'Or join a church that is not so myopic in its views.'

Meantime, Anglicans in the UK are waiting to hear from the Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Revd Nicholas Baines. He flew to Harare on Easter Tuesday and is expected to inform Lambeth Palace about the situation in Zimbabwe.

Sources told The Zimbabwean that Bishop Nick was anxious not to meet Bishop Nolbert who most Anglicans say has disgraced the 75 million strong worldwide community. 'The Zimbabweans have been very clear that we should visit them at their points of weakness and not just wait until everything is OK,' he said before his departure."

Read the rest here: The Zimbabwean - An Independent Zimbabwe Newspaper

Hat tip to Kendall Harmon at titusonenine for pointing out the article

UPDATED info after the jump:

Read more »

The Dallas Morning News reports that recently retired Anglican Archbishop of Southeast Asia Yong Ping Chung will speak next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Church of The Holy Communion in Dallas TX.

From the congregation's announcement:

"The Archbishop’s topic will be, 'Recover the Vision', how Anglicans in North America can return to Jesus' Great Commission to spread His Word. His Grace will share the dynamic of the Global South of the Anglican Communion that has made this part of Anglicanism one of the fastest growing churches in the world.

The Archbishop remains one of the most influential Anglican leaders in the traditional and devout Global South of the eighty million member worldwide Anglican Communion. An outspoken proponent of biblical and orthodox Anglicanism, he is known as an 'Asian Tiger for Jesus Christ'. He has described much of the Anglican leadership in the West as 'spiritually bankrupt', believing the correction is a return to true commitment to Jesus Christ and His Holy Word.

Church of the Holy Communion is affiliated with the Reformed Episcopal Church."

Read the rest here: Dallas Morning News (Religion staff): Asian archbishop to speak in Dallas

"The Anglican archbishop of Nigeria, a fierce critic of the Episcopal Church for its acceptance of homosexuality, is arriving next week to install a bishop to lead congregations around the country that want to break from it," says The New York Times.

"Episcopal leaders say the visit threatens to strain further the already fragile relations between their church and the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion. But Episcopal traditionalists say there is a growing desire among them to break away."

Read it all, and ask yourself whether this story wouldn't have benefitted from a few numbers. How many of the Episcopal Church's 7,600 congregations have evinced any interest in joining forces with Akinola? One precent? Less? Note too the use of the word "anger" in the headline. Do the Presiding Bishop and the Rev. Mark Harris sound angry?

UPDATE: More from the Presiding Bishop here (or click read more).

Read more »

The bishops of Central Africa released a letter last week on the crisis in Zimbabwe. It has widely been interpretted as supportive of President Robert Mugabe, in part because a key Zimbabwean bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, and the Central African primate, Bernard Malango, have been supportive of Mugabe in the past. But Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana, who gave a much admired lecture recently in Liverpool, says the letter is being misinterpreted.

The Church Times has an overview, that includes quotes from Mwamba:

"As you can imagine, in Zimbabwe there are divisions within the Church itself, and so there was a need to wean certain hearts and minds to be able to put forward a statement all the bishops could subscribe to.

In that sense, yes, it does not appear as sharp as the pastoral letter from the Catholic bishops. It took a middle-of-the-road pastoral approach. Nevertheless, the sting is there in calling for drastic change, for the government to be called upon to create a conducive environment for that, and for the Church to stand forward and speak sharply in the context of its calling and prophetic ministry.” The Bishop described it as “the beginning of a long journey of bishops moving together — very gently, for need of carrying certain of our friends along."

But a columnist in the Zimbabwean Independent isn't buying it:

" Anglicans of Zimbabwe: hang your heads in shame.

The disgraceful performance of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa in dishonestly pretending that the country's problems stem from sanctions and not Mugabe's misrule will go down as one of the greatest betrayals of the struggle for democracy."

According to The Living Church Foundation, these seven bishops affirmed their commitment to the Windsor Report.

Windsor Bishops Write Archbishop Williams, Set Meeting Dates

Seven bishops have written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, assuring him of their continued “strong support” of the Windsor Report and the process it recommends.

The "Windsor Bishops" have met twice previously at Camp Allen near Houston. The group has scheduled two additional meetings for June 18-19 and Aug. 9-10.

“We want to reassure you that we are committed to the Camp Allen principles and realize that for us, they are the way by which we intend to remain united as we move forward in these challenging days,” the bishops stated in an April 26 letter.

“We also realize that the covenant process is critical to these discussions, and indeed is the focal point of the work now underway to define our life together. For us, neither of these commitments has wavered in light of the recent decisions by the House of Bishops.”

The letter was signed by the following bishops:
• John W. Howe, Central Florida
• James M. Stanton, Dallas
• Jeffrey N. Steenson, Rio Grande
• Edward L. Salmon, Jr., retired, South Carolina
• Don A. Wimberly, Texas
• Gary W. Lillibridge, West Texas
• D. Bruce MacPherson, Western Louisiana

In their letter the bishops refer to themselves as “The Steering Committee of the Windsor Bishops.”

The Anglican Church of Canada's House of Bishops has released a pastoral statement on same-sex blessings that will be sent to delegates of General Synod.

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, meeting from April 16-20, 2007, once again discussed the question of the blessing of same-sex unions. Once again a number of diverse opinions were expressed. Again questions were raised about theology, scripture, discipline, and our church's constitution. However we did find a common strong concern for the pastoral care of all members of our church. While not all bishops can conceive of condoning or blessing same-sex unions, we believe it is not only appropriate but a Gospel imperative to pray with the whole people of God, no matter their circumstance. In so doing we convey the long-standing Gospel teaching that God in Christ loves each person and indeed loves him/her so much that Christ is calling each person to change and grow more fully into God's image and likeness. To refuse to pray with any person or people is to suggest God is not with them. All of us fall short of the glory of God but all are loved by God in Christ Jesus. We believe that in offering the sacraments we invite God's transformative action in people's lives.

Read the whole statement here.

The Rev. Astrid Storm, vicar of the Church of St. Nicholas-on-the-Hudson, writes about Akinola's upcoming visit to install the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as CANA's missionary bishop in The Huffington Post. In her essay, she remarks on how the departure of certain Virginia churches sowed a deeper dissent this past December:

As has been noted plenty of times before, the decision these churches made to leave the Episcopal Church because of its gay-friendly leanings is monumental, involving complex property disputes, legal wrangling, and the possible—probable—loss of dearly loved church buildings. That's not to mention the risks that come with aligning with an erratic bishop with a dubious human rights record from a country with problems that these Virginians probably can't begin to fathom—problems that have and will continue to have an enormous impact on the church and society in Nigeria.

In showing their willingness to take on such risks, the people in these parishes are making a strong statement against friends, acquaintances, and members of their own families who are gay or at least sympathize with gay people—sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings. Through those emails last December, I got but a glimpse of the sadness and alienation that must have resulted in many homes.

She continues, bearing witness to her own church, where people with opposing opinions came together in worship.

Read the whole thing here: A Split Episcopal Church.

[ENS] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to Nigerian Primate Peter J. Akinola asking him to reconsider plans to install Martyn Minns as a bishop in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an action she says "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation."

Such action, Jefferts Schori added, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all."

The installation service, set for May 5 the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian Event Center in Woodbridge, Virginia, is intended to install Minns as bishop of CANA, which describes itself as "an Anglican missionary effort in the US sponsored by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)."

Read it all.

From Anglican Journal:

Rowan Williams said on his recent visit to Canada that his job as Archbishop of Canterbury—the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans—is to get people around the table and keep them there as long as possible.

Of course, in ecclesiastical terms, Archbishop Williams’ words carry two meanings: he is attempting to keep all parties around the meeting table, continuing to talk about the challenges surrounding human sexuality and the authority of Scripture that threaten to divide them forever. He is also faced with the task of trying to keep all members around the eucharistic table. In some respects, he can record some success and some failure on both counts.

The recent meeting of primates in Tanzania is one marker of his progress. While there in February, seven leaders of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces boycotted a communion service to symbolize the “brokenness” of the communion. Granted, the number of absentee bishops was about half that which declined to share communion two years earlier at the same meeting in Northern Ireland. But it nevertheless shocked some observers, who could not fathom why church leaders would refuse to partake in the greatest gift to believers: the body and blood of Christ, simply in order to make a point.

Read it all here.

The General Synod Canadian Anglicans meets in June. Among the resolutions before the synod are several dealing with same-sex blessings.

The Anglican Journal reports that several groups within the Anglican Church of Canada have separate statements of caution. These include the Primate's Theological Commission:

The commission has clarified that only one of five resolutions related to the blessing of same-sex deals with the St. Michael Report it released in 2005.

That resolution states, “That this General Synod accepts the conclusion of the Primate’s Theological Commission’s St. Michael Report that the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine, but is not core doctrine in the sense of being creedal.”
...
Bishop Victoria Matthews, chair of the commission, explained why the commission issued a clarification: “I don’t think the Anglican Church of Canada has been as diligent as I would like to think it has. And so I’m afraid that people could read those resolutions and believe that that’s the recommendation of the St. Michael Report.” She added: “We don’t make recommendations, we do raise theological questions.”
...
In an interview, Bishop Matthews said that she was “very surprised” by CoGS’ recommendation that General Synod deal with the issue of same-sex blessings through resolutions requiring the approval of a 60 per cent majority of the members of the order of bishops, laity and clergy or 60 per cent of dioceses if a vote by dioceses is requested, instead of the adoption or amendment of a canon....
...
She said that she was surprised by CoGS’ decision because when she presented the Commission’s report to CoGS, she had heard the chancellor (legal advisor) of General Synod express a legal opinion that it would be dealt with as doctrine.

A majority of CoGS members decided at their March meeting that a canonical change “set the bar too high” and would create an impasse in a church already exhausted with the divisive issue of sexuality.

The commission, appointed by the primate to consult on theological matters, also said that General Synod should, as part of its determination, consider whether it is “theologically and doctrinally responsible for one member church of the Communion to approve a course of action which it has reason to believe may be destructive of the unity of the Communion.”

Bishop Matthews is one of four nominees for primate in Canada.

The Toronto Star is reporting this morning:

Canada's Anglican bishops are rejecting same-sex marriage blessings in this country, leaving the U.S. church alone in a fight that has pushed the international communion to the verge of schism.

The surprise move came in the form of a pastoral letter issued early yesterday by the church on behalf of its bishops.

The church had no one available to comment yesterday. The office of Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews, one of the architects of the letter, for instance, said she is out of town for a few days and could not be reached for comment. Matthews is a top candidate to be the next primate of the church.

Chris Ambidge, a spokesperson for the gay Anglican group Integrity Canada, said yesterday the situation is incredibly frustrating and reveals a lack of leadership among the bishops.

See also this companion piece on this morning's The Lead.

Read all of the Toronto Star article here.

Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia has written a letter to his diocese regarding Archbishop Peter Akinola's upcoming visit. He writes:

This weekend’s ceremony will provide false comfort to those who seek certainty in an uncertain world. But in truth, it will serve only to inflame the differences we have been struggling with. When there is so much that brings us together as brothers and sisters in Christ, in a Church that has always celebrated and respected a wide variety of opinions, it is painful to see our shared ministry and faith overshadowed by our differences.

Read more »

We missed its appearance in Church Times back on April 20, but Andrew Brown has written a barbed account of the Anglican Communion Institute. The opening:

One of my favourite satirical websites is The Poor Man, which, some years ago, felt it was suffering from a lack of gravitas, and changed its name to The Poor Man Institute for Freedom, Democracy, and a Pony. The Pony was added on the principle that no wish-list of wonderful things could not be improved by adding “and a pony” to the end. Who would have thought this joke could have been independently discovered by such earnest parties as Lord Carey and Dr Ephraim Radner?

Both men were directors of the Anglican Communion Institute (ACI), something that claimed on its website that: “By bringing together the finest theological and biblical scholars in the Church, it has been and will continue to be our goal to offer a forum for significant reflection on core matters of the doctrine and discipline of the Church for its clergy and lay members.”

With a pitch like that, it hardly needed to mention the ponies. But what was this thing in real life? The Poor Man Institute is just a couple of bored graduate students. The ACI, on the other hand, claimed hundreds of supporters, as well as a distinguished board of directors, and funding from the rich and influential Grace Church in Denver, Colorado.

Keep reading here. And a thanks to Thinking Anglicans for the link.

From The Church of Nigeria website

2nd May, 2007

The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017, USA

My attention has been drawn to your letter of April 30th ostensibly written to me but published on the Episcopal News Service website.

In light of the concerns that you raise it might be helpful to be reminded of the actions and decisions that have led to our current predicament.

At the emergency meeting of the Primates in October 2003 it was made clear that the proposed actions of the Episcopal Church would “tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level, and may lead to further division on this and further issues …” Sadly, this proved to be true as many provinces did proceed to declare broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church. Since that time the Primates have established task forces, held numerous meetings and issued a variety of statements and communiqués but the brokenness remains, our Provinces are divided, and so the usual protocol and permissions are no longer applicable.

You will also recall from our meeting in Dar es Salaam that there was specific discussion about CANA and recognition – expressed in the Communiqué itself – of the important role that it plays in the context of the present division within your Province. CANA was established as a Convocation of the Church of Nigeria, and therefore a constituent part of the Communion, to provide a safe place for those who wish to remain faithful Anglicans but can no longer do so within The Episcopal Church as it is currently being led. The response for your own House of Bishops to the carefully written and unanimously approved Pastoral Scheme in the Communiqué makes it clear that such pastoral protection is even more necessary.

Read more »

With two days to go until he is installed as Bishop Missionary Leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) by the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, Bp. Martyn Minns held a press conference Thursday to place the May 5 event into context.

Read more »

In an article titled "Synod members support for Bishop Minns" comes this interesting nugget about the trip Archbishop Akinola is making to Virginia this weekend to install Bishop Minns as the Missionary Bishop for CANA:

Lambeth Palace today confirmed the Archbishop of Canterbury has written to the African Primate asking him to cancel his trip to Virginia to carry out the service. A spokesman for Dr Rowan Williams confirmed a letter had been sent to the Archbishop of Nigeria, while it has also been reported that the Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has also appealed to Bishop Akinola not to carry out the installation at Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, Virginia. She is reported to have said such an action would "violate the ancient customs of the church, in terms of the sacrosanct boundaries of individual bishops" and would not "help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole." But Mr O'Brien said he would be giving the greeting to Mr Minns to show solidarity with orthodox Anglicans in North America.

The full article is here: Anglican Mainstream » Synod members support for Bishop Minns

Anglican Church Intercedes

WASHINGTON, May 4 — The archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, has waded into a gathering dispute over efforts by conservative congregations in this country to break away from the Episcopal Church.
...
[But] according to organizers of the installation ceremony, Archbishop Akinola is already in the United States.

- Neela Banerjee, New York Times

Archbishop Angry About Minister Becoming Bishop

The head of the Anglican Communion is displeased, his spokesman says, that the leader of the Nigerian branch plans to make a bishop of a Fairfax City minister who left the Episcopal Church. Martyn Minns, rector at Truro Church, led about a dozen Virginia congregations last winter out of the U.S. church, part of the Anglican Communion, and into the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola will install Minns today as a missionary bishop for the convocation. "This is clearly not a development that the Archbishop would wish to encourage," said a spokesman for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

-- Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post

Of course, Martyn Minns was consecrated a bishop in Nigeria last year. Today's installation is ceremonial.

Archbishop Peter Akinola's visit to northern Virginia to install the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as bishop of a North American initiative of the Church of Nigeria has set the blogosphere buzzing. The Mad Priest has weighed in, and Mark Harris has posted two thoughtful entries.

What's been missing so far from the commentary and the coverage is an analysis of who the audiences for Akinola's initiative are. We take a stab at that on the Daily Episcopalian blog.

The Rev. Mark Harris, the Mad Priest and the Associated Press have early coverage and commentary on the installation of a bishop from the Church of Nigeria to lead parishes in the United States against the wishes of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

More coverage:
New York Times, Neela Banerjee, reports on the ceremony and hopes of CANA.
Jared Cramer at Scribere Orare Est reflects on Installation, Schism, and a Blessing.
Richmond Times Dispatch reports on attendance.

Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury after the installation of the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as Missionary Bishop to CANA claiming that his action in the United States Saturday was "for the Communion" and was a result of the actions of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.

Akinola reiterated his claim that CANA by being an extension of the Church of Nigeria is a bona-fide member of the Anglican Communion. He says that once conditions are right, he would be happy to surrender CANA to the Communion. The letter does not state he means by that or what those conditions might be. Nor did he address the claims on real property of the Episcopal Church that most CANA parishes have made.

He called the response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church disrespectful towards Akinola and the rest of the Anglican Communion Primates and reiterated previous claims that the Episcopal Church is undertaking "their own unbiblical agenda (which) exacerbate our current divisions."

Saying that "the Lord’s name has been dishonoured," Akinola says that to not act would imperil "thousands of souls" and that therefore the establishment of a missionary diocese overlapping the Episcopal Church offers "hope for the future of our beleaguered Communion."

The letter is posted on the Church of Nigeria website.

At a recent meeting of the Compass Rose Society at the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Fla., the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon said that the Anglican Consultative Council is uniquely poised to be an instrument of reconciliation, according to an article in The Living Church:

Although the rhetoric was worrying, Canon Kearon said he was encouraged by the conversations underway “where people have been engaged in dialogue in a public way across what looked like an irreconcilable divide.”

The troubles facing the Anglican Communion are being experienced in most churches, he said. “We are working these issues out in public, and I am proud to be an Anglican because of that.”

Canon Kearon explained that “at the heart” of Anglicanism, “authority lies in the dioceses and parishes, not at the top.” That is where the “life of the church is and where mission and ministry happen.”

What holds the Communion together is the “figure of the Archbishop of Canterbury” as Anglicans across the globe are “not in communion with one another but with him.”

Kearon also said that there wasn't friction between him and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Read more about Canon Kearon's address here.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference met in the offices of the Anglican Communion Secretariat during the week beginning 30 April 2007. In its meeting, it reviewed its work so far and discussed how best to follow up the work that had already been undertaken. It has currently completed outstanding work on all the references made to it by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Panel also reviewed the Report which the Chairman, the Most Revd Dr Peter Carnley AO, had made to the Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam in February, and authorised him to release an updated version. The Panel also set dates for future meetings in late 2007 and in 2008.

(Anglican Communion News Service, May 8)

The report, "Review of the Work of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference" is available here.

Some extracts follow.

About its mandate

The Panel of Reference has always had therefore a very limited primary brief – “to supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions made by any churches” for a dissenting group within its diocesan or provincial life. When the Archbishop of Canterbury issued the mandate of the Panel in May 2005, he added to this brief, allowing that the Panel might be called upon to mediate in other situations, but specifically mandating the Panel to respond in two ways:

1. At my request, to enquire into, consider and report on situations drawn to my attention where there is serious dispute concerning the adequacy of schemes of delegated or extended episcopal oversight or other extraordinary arrangements which may be needed to provide for parishes which find it impossible in all conscience to accept the direct ministry of their own
diocesan bishop or for dioceses in dispute with their provincial authorities

2. With my consent to make recommendations to the Primates, dioceses and provincial and diocesan authorities concerned.

The Panel has now been operating for close to two years. In that time, it has received five references, of which three have remained within the Panel’s brief, and two were recalled by the Archbishop. All three reports have been published, and no further references from the Archbishop of Canterbury have yet been received.

Given its very specific role, the purely advisory nature of the Panel’s work, and the difficult and sensitive material with which the Panel would have to deal, the Panel decided at its first meeting that it could not consider references whilst parties were engaged in other legal or disciplinary proceedings; the danger of trying to compete with, second-guess or even be used as a tool in legal processes being all too evident.

In spite of the fact that the situation was subject to civil proceedings, the Panel decided to accept the Archbishop’s Reference and in late September 2006, two members of the Panel paid a visit to North Florida to meet the parties associated with the case.
...
The Panel published its report on 27 February 2007, recommending a form of extended episcopal ministry. Since then a civil action in relation to ownership of church property