http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6797

PITTSBURGH: Participants at Common Cause Announcement of New Anglican Structure

Posted by David Virtue on 2007/9/28 23:40:00 (1497 reads)

PITTSBURGH: List of attendees at Common Cause Announcement of new Ecclesiastical Structure

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
9/29/2007

Following is a list of bishops and clergy who were present at the announcement of a new ecclesiastical structure in Pittsburgh, yesterday.

According to a list provided by Common Cause, the organizations and participants attending the September 25-28 meeting in Pittsburgh were:

NETWORK OF ANGLICAN COMMUNION Dioceses and Parishes (also known as the Anglican Communion Network) was represented by active or former diocesan Episcopal Church bishops: James Adams (Western Kansas), C. Fitzsimons Allison (South Carolina ret.), Peter Beckwith (Springfield), Alex Dickson (West Tennessee ret.), Robert Duncan (Pittsburgh), John Howe (Central Florida), William Love (Albany), Henry Scriven (Pittsburgh); Kenyan bishops Bill Atwood and William Murdoch; and Ugandan bishops Andrew Fairfield (formerly Episcopal Church Bishop of South Dakota) and John Guernsey (Uganda).

ANGLICAN ESSENTIALS OF CANADA was represented by the Rev. Canon Charles Masters.

ANGLICAN MISSION IN AMERICA was represented by bishops Chuck Murphy, Sandy Green, T.J. Johnston, John Rodgers, and the Rev. John Miller.

ANGLICAN NETWORK IN CANADA was represented by Bishop Donald Harvey (former bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada's Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador).

ANGLICAN PROVINCE IN AMERICA was represented by the Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, Presiding Bishop, bishops Richard Boyce, C. Peter Brewer, Winfield Mott and Larry L. Shaver.

CONVOCATION OF ANGLICANS IN NORTH AMERICA (CANA) was represented by the Rev. Canon Roger Ames, the Rev. Canon David Anderson, Bishop David Bena (formerly Episcopal Church bishop of Albany now with CANA) the Very Rev. Amos A. Fagbamiye, the Rev. Canon Nathan Kanu and Bishop Martyn Minns (CANA).

FORWARD IN FAITH-NORTH AMERICA was represented by Bishop Keith Ackerman (of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy), the Rev. Canon William Gandenberger, Bishop Jack Iker (of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth), the Very Rev. William Ilgenfritz, and Bishop Donald Parsons (Quincy ret.), and Bishop William Wantland (Eau Claire ret.)

The REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH was represented by Presiding Bishop Leonard Riches, Bishop Charles Dorrington, Bishop Michael Fedechko, Bishop George Fincke, the Very Rev. Alphonza Gadsden, Bishop Royal Grote Jr., Bishop David Hicks, Bishop David Morse, and Bishop Ray Sutton. Two bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church from Canada were in attendance. The Rt. Rev'd. Michael Fedechko is the Bishop of Central and Eastern Canada, and the Rt. Rev'd. Charles Dorrington is the Bishop of Western Canada and Alaska, and the Missionary Bishop of the REC to Cuba.

Participating guests included Bishop Paul Hewett (Holy Cross) and Bishop William Millsaps (Episcopal Missionary Church).

Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Recife (Southern
Cone), and Bishop Frank Lyons of the Diocese of Bolivia, (ICON) were also present.

Archbishop Yong Ping Chung (retired of South East Asia, and a former chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council) was listed as being affiliated with the Anglican Mission in America.

The fifty-one bishops representing multiple Anglican organizations said that they will spend the next 15 months developing "an Anglican union," which they anticipate will be recognized by some Anglican Communion Primates and provinces.

END

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http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6795

PITTSBURGH: New Ecclesiastical Structure Announced by Common Cause Partners

Posted by David Virtue on 2007/9/28 15:30:00 (822 reads)

PITTSBURGH: New Ecclesiastical Structure Announced by Common Cause Partners

By David W. Virtue in Pittsburgh
www.virtueonline.org
9/28/2007

Anglican bishops from ten jurisdictions and organizations took their first steps toward a "new ecclesiastical structure" in North America, it was announced by Common Cause Council of Bishops in Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh today.

Calling it an "historic time" in the life of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, chair of Common Cause, said that 51 bishops will act as a "college of bishops" representing more than 600 Anglican congregations that make up Common Cause Partners which also includes a dozen mission leaders.

"This is a significant step towards a new Anglican province that will be recognized by a number of Anglican provinces and primates which embraces Common Cause Partners with a separate ecclesiastical structure called for by the bishops in Kilgali, Rwanda," said Duncan.

"We have been told by the General Convention that we are to be engaged in ecumenical dialogue with various groups that have not had a link with Anglicans," said Ackerman.

"We are confronted with the reality that there are numerous people in North America who consider themselves to be Anglican and thus it would be contrary to our Lord's call for unity not to be engaged actively in the reunification," Ackerman continued.

The bishops laid out a timeline for the path ahead saying they have committed themselves to working together at local and regional levels agreeing to interchangeable deployment of clergy. The bishops gathered here included leaders from the Anglican Province of America, (the Most Rev. Walter Grundorf), the Reformed Episcopal Church, (Presiding Bishop Leonard Riches), the AMIA (Bishop Chuck Murphy), the head of the Canadian Anglican Network, and newly elected bishops from some 15 offshore jurisdictions in Africa, Asia and the Southern Cone now with ecclesiastical bases in North America, as well as Forward in Faith, NA.

Asked by VirtueOnline if the Archbishop of Canterbury would recognize the new structure, Duncan said he did not expect immediate recognition, but "we will make our case" to him.

"We need to go to our partner provinces first, and then talk with the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Asked why it was necessary to form a new jurisdiction, Duncan replied it was because of the drift of the church in the West. Duncan said, when he was briefly in New Orleans, he spoke directly to Dr. Williams describing two very different understandings of the church. One is guided by the Word of God incarnate and the Word of God written, which he said embodied standards of faithfulness, holiness and spiritual fruitfulness. The other defines the wholeness of the church as a matter of inclusion and diversity without reference to revelation.

CANA bishop Martyn Minns said the bishops are working together rather than fragmentmentally and this was a "testimony of our working together."

Quincy Bishop and FIFNA president Keith Ackerman pointed to the 1998 Lambeth resolution that called for the reunification of the various continuing church bodies, "that we all may be one." The Episcopal Church's General Convention subsequently passed this.

Questioned by VOL about the legal, judicial and pastoral implications for his diocese, if it should attempt to pull out of the Episcopal Church, Duncan said that the Diocese of Pittsburgh's 142nd convention pointed to a majority of the diocese wanting "realignment."

"The Episcopal Church has not provided the room for us," he said. Duncan said this diocese was founded before The Episcopal Church came into existence and that there was historic precedence for secession when in 1861 the diocese broke with federation.

"We'll find a way to go through this that brings honor and glory to God and as a witness to the world." The Episcopal Church has already resorted to the courts. "I don't think the innovating inclusive, diverse church doesn't think that is consistent with the gospel we are called to proclaim."

Ackerman said that as the Bishop of Quincy he had inherited a constitution that says, "We are a diocese in the Anglican Communion. As president of Forward in Faith North America we have officially asked for the reunification and realignment of Anglicanism."

Ackerman said the bishops' time here in Pittsburgh was spent largely on mission evangelism and the sharing of resources with which God has gifted us. "It was not a purely political time; only two sessions of six were devoted to documents relating to the next ecclesial structure. Virtually no time was given to discussing TEC and their recent meeting in New Orleans."

During his sermon in the cathedral, Duncan said that there hasn't been an Archbishop of Canterbury worth killing since 1645, citing Anglican historian Philip Jenkins.

END

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http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/6458/#more

Common Cause Partners Press Release:  Anglican Bishops Take First Steps to New Structure

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Anglican bishops from ten jurisdictions and organizations pledged to take the first steps toward a “new ecclesiastical structure” in North America. The meeting of the first ever Common Cause Council of Bishops was held in Pittsburgh September 25-28.

The bishops present lead more than 600 Anglican congregations. They formally organized themselves as a college of bishops which will meet every six months. They also laid out a timeline for the path ahead, committed to working together at local and regional levels, agreed to deploy clergy interchangeably and announced their intention to, in consultation “with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted,” call a “founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union,” at the earliest possible date agreeable to all of the partners.

“We met deeply aware that we have arrived at a critical moment in the history of mainstream Anglican witness in North America. God has led us to repentance for past divisions and opened the way for a united path forward. To him be the glory,” said Bishop Robert Duncan, convener of the council.

The full text of the bishops’ joint statement follows:

Common Cause College of Bishops Statement

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, to whom belong all might, majesty, dominion and glory.

We, the College of Bishops of the Common Cause Partnership, meeting together in Pittsburgh, September 25-28 in the Year of our Lord 2007, solemnly affirm this agreement.

In the grace, mercy and power of God, and in repentance for past disunity and disharmony, in thanksgiving for our full reconciliation in the Lord Jesus Christ, to give expression to our unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church as Anglicans in North America, and for the sake of our mission to extend the Kingdom of God, nurture faithful disciples through Word and Sacraments, seek the lost, and partner globally with other orthodox Anglicans, we hereby commit to do the following:

1. In order to achieve greater unity and strengthen our partnership in the Gospel, we the undersigned commit ourselves to the Common Cause Partnership as set forth in the Articles of the Partnership (see Appendix 1).

2. We declare clearly that we are taking this as a first step in the formation of the “separate ecclesiastical structure” in North America called for at Kigali in September, 2006.

3. In consultation with those Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion offering recognition under the timeline adopted, we intend a founding constitutional convention for an Anglican union (see Appendix 2).

4. Those presently-participating bodies which have not yet joined the Common Cause Partnership will decide at the next meeting of their legislative bodies, either to enter the Partnership or leave full membership in Common Cause, becoming observer bodies. It is expected that all presently-participating bodies will be able to enter the Partnership.

5. We will work together on the regional and local levels and avail ourselves of the various ministries of the Common Cause Partners. We will deploy clergy interchangeably as outlined in the Articles of the Partnership. We are free to invite our fellow bishops in this College to share episcopal acts and our sacramental life.

6. The College of Bishops will meet every six months in order to accomplish our stated objectives. The leading bishop of each Partner will serve on a Lead Bishops Roundtable, which may be expanded as they may determine. The Roundtable will advise us in matters referred to it (see Appendix 3).

7. We are committed to the Great Commission. We will make disciples who make disciples and plant churches that plant churches, not resting until the millions of unreached souls in North America are brought to Christ, until all groups on the earth have indigenous churches firmly begun within them and our Lord returns in glory.

8. We ask our Chairman to inform the Primates of the Anglican Communion of these commitments in the hope that our emerging common life will commend us to them as full partners.

For the full text with all the Appendices, see http://www.acn-us.org/archive/2007/09/anglican-bishops-take-first-steps-to-new-structure.html

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14.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070929/NATION/109290058/1002

Episcopalians plan to leave denomination

By Julia Duin
September 29, 2007

Fifty-one Anglican and Episcopal bishops announced plans yesterday to form a separate Anglican province in North America within 15 months, giving disaffected Episcopalians a chance to flee their increasingly liberal denomination.

The Common Cause partnership, which includes bishops from several Episcopal dioceses and leaders of nine Anglican organizations, met yesterday in Pittsburgh. The leaders represent 600 congregations and more than 100,000 people.

The bishops said they will meet in December to put together an office staff for a 39th province of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.

"We took some steps in the right direction," said Bishop Martyn Minns, the former rector of Truro Church in Fairfax who now leads the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a group of 60 former Episcopal churches that have left the denomination. "It was quite a journey but I am pleased with the movement we made."

A timeline released yesterday said Common Cause leaders will meet once every six months to hammer out the structure of the new province. The members represent a disparate group of U.S. Episcopalians, former Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans, some of which ordain female priests and others that do not. But all of them wish to align with the Anglican Communion rather than the 800,000-member Anglican Church of Canada or the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church.

Conservatives began bolting from the Episcopal Church after the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a divorced man living with a male lover. Canadian Anglicans narrowly voted in June not to allow same-sex blessings but left the door open for their approval in the near future.

"The goal is to call a constitutional convention within 15 months," said Peter Frank, spokesman for Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 conservative Episcopal dioceses. "We are going to try to make this happen. The intent of this group is to create enough unity among Orthodox Anglicans for a coherent structure. Then we take this to the worldwide Anglican Communion."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has refused to recognize CANA and similar breakaway Anglican groups as part of the Anglican Communion. However, yesterday's document did not refer to Archbishop Williams. It did refer to some 20 "Global South" bishops, most from Africa, who in 2006 instructed the North Americans to start forming a "separate ecclesiastical structure."

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15.

http://www.christianpost.com/

Conservatives Take First Step Toward New Anglican Structure

By Lillian Kwon

Christian Post Reporter

Sat, Sep. 29 2007 08:55 AM ET

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Anglican bishops discontent with The Episcopal Church announced Friday they have taken the first step in forming a "separate ecclesiastical structure" in North America in an attempt to remain faithful to the global Anglican Communion.

• Related
• Conservative Anglicans See No Change in 'American Problem'
• Episcopal Bishops Offer Response to 'Mend Tear' in Anglican Communion
• Conservative Anglicans Losing Hope in Episcopal Church

Bishops representing more than 600 orthodox Anglican congregations that have either split or threatened to break from The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism – convened in Pittsburgh, Pa., to up the level of their Common Cause Partnership and lay out the path ahead for a separate Anglican body that would accommodate conservatives.

The four-day meeting concluded Friday.

The Common Cause Partners believe The Episcopal Church has "failed" the communion and rejected "obvious scriptural teaching" with their pro-gay agenda. The U.S. church body had widened rifts when it consecrated the first openly gay bishop in 2003.

With little hope that The Episcopal Church will go backward on its decision and get back in line with the global Anglican family, Bishop Robert Duncan, convener of the Common Cause Council, says there is no room in the U.S. body for those who want to stay faithful to the communion and biblical Christianity.

Breakaway Anglicans are now working to strengthen their partnership around the Gospel and a common mission.

The formation of a separate ecclesiastical structure was called for by conservative Anglican leaders in the Global South last September. Former Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold had raised concerns, saying such a move would open the way to "multiple divisions across other provinces."

Still, conservatives see The Episcopal Church drifting apart and say they want to stay aligned with the rest of the communion.

"We met deeply aware that we have arrived at a critical moment in the history of mainstream Anglican witness in North America. God has led us to repentance for past divisions and opened the way for a united path forward," said Duncan in a statement.

Though some were expecting the announcement of a complete new structure in place this week, forming a separate Anglican body is only in its initial stages.

"To have the brand new squeaky clean thing in place [right now] is simply not realistic," said the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, missionary bishop of the Anglican breakaway CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America). "Such a thing, frankly, takes far more time."

"But we can begin working together far more deliberately," he noted.

When the structure is in place, however, Duncan doesn't expect Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, to immediately recognize the body.

But "we will make our case" to him, Duncan told VirtueOnline, a voice for global orthodox Anglicanism.

Williams recently came out of closed-door talks during a rare visit to The Episcopal Church last week. The spiritual head stressed the need for each other within the communion as he sought a "fresh way forward" for the entire Anglican family.

Meanwhile, conservatives said division is becoming clearer when the Episcopal House of Bishops released its response this week to questions and concerns raised by Anglican leaders. Episcopal bishops stated they would exercise restraint on consecrating openly gay bishops and pledged not to authorize the public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions. Many commended the statement, saying liberals and conservatives and those in between were able to find common ground and that they have fulfilled the request made to them by Anglican leaders. Some, including Integrity USA – an organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Episcopalians – felt the statement represented "some significant steps forward" as Anglicans worked through differences.

However, many conservatives, including the Common Cause Partners, were disappointed in the Episcopal statement and saw no change in their direction.

"Unfortunately, the [House of Bishops] has failed the Communion; their continued ambiguity, questioning of basic Christian beliefs, and rejection of obvious Scriptural teaching has widened the gap between them and biblical Christianity," the orthodox partners stated.

This week’s first ever Common Cause Council convened 51 bishops and largely focused on mission evangelism and how to support each other. They requested that the Anglican leaders of the communion, called primates, be informed of their stated commitments to strengthening their partnership and forming a new structure "in the hope that our emerging common life will commend us to them as full partners."

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SECTION C - Looking to the Future

16.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6800

 FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE COMMON CAUSE MEETING IN PITTSBURGH

Posted by David Virtue on 2007/9/28 22:10:00 (914 reads)

FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE COMMON CAUSE MEETING IN PITTSBURGH

With this second digest in two days, the events of the past week will be better focused for you. My only scribblings and those of a number of respected writers around the Anglican Communion are included.

A few thoughts on Friday's announcement of a "new ecclesiastical structure."

First of all, it was NOT an announcement about a new North American Anglican Province. That is way too premature at this time. It is, however, a beginning, and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see where it is all going.


Several orthodox dioceses will hold conventions where votes will be taken to stay or leave. We will probably not know anything more definitive until the end of the year.

An orthodox bishop told VOL that if David Booth Beers, Mrs. Schori's attorney, litigates against all the parishes, their priests and dioceses planning to leave The Episcopal Church, it will probably bankrupt the church. "The Episcopal Church has about $200 million in Trust Funds at their headquarters. The Church Pension Fund, a separate organization, cannot be touched by Beers or the TEC leadership."

According to an attorney I spoke with, in these days of high litigation costs, $200 million would last the church about ten years for a team of high-priced lawyers to sue everyone in numerous courts around the country. In the end, it would reduce the Episcopal Church to a minor sect while bankrupting it. With virtually zero growth, aging priests and congregations, and low attendance, the Episcopal Church will be a non-entity in the next ten years.

The questions that remain have to do with how the Archbishop of Canterbury will view this new development. Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has said he will take the matter up with him in concert with Global South Primates sympathetic to yesterday's action.

Based on what Dr. Williams said in New Orleans, he will not be sympathetic to this move. He left saying nice things about The Episcopal Church and clearly had no wish to discipline or remove them or Mrs. Schori from Lambeth or the primatial table. She is here to stay. Homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson was not reprimanded for his behavior. Williams made no efforts to stop future consecrations, even though the HOB said they would exercise voluntary restraint. It would take a resolution of General Convention to reverse homosexual ordinations which will never happen.

The bottom line is Williams is not opposed to what he sees as an unfolding revelation on sexuality issues.

If he rejects a new ecclesiastical structure that will no doubt morph into a full orthodox Anglican province, we will have full-blown schism. There is no other way to interpret it. If he should accept this new province, then the liberals will scream bloody murder and The Episcopal Church could set in motion the wheels that started turning at GC2007 to have its own communion with 16 provinces tucked in its back pocket.

Williams is in a no win situation, it would appear.

All Blessings,

David W. Virtue DD
VirtueOnline

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