Anglican Traditionalists plan parallel anti-homosexual Church
Pastor Dale Morgan
Anglican Traditionalists plan parallel anti-homosexual Church*
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 23/09/2006)
Conservative Anglican leaders prepared for a formal split in the
worldwide Church yesterday by announcing plans to create a parallel body
for anti-gay dioceses in America.
In a move that will alarm the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams, a powerful group of 20 primates said that "the time has now
come" to begin forming "a separate ecclesiastical structure".
The statement by the Global South leaders, who are mainly from Africa
and Asia and who represent about a third of active Anglicans in the 70
million-strong Communion, followed a four-day summit in Rwanda.
They made clear that they had lost patience with the liberal leadership
of the American branch of Anglicanism, which brought the worldwide
Church to the brink of schism by consecrating its first openly gay
bishop in 2003.
In a particularly stinging paragraph, they rejected the authority of the
new leader of the American Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop-elect
Katharine Jefferts Schori.
But they insisted that they would consult closely with Dr Williams and
Anglicanism's other ruling bodies before taking action, an indication
that they would wait until the next meeting of all the Communion's 38
primates in February.
Their statement said: "We are convinced that the time has now come to
take the initial steps towards the formation of what will be recognised
as a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA.
"We have asked the Global South steering committee to develop such a
proposal in consultation with the appropriate instruments of unity of
the Communion.
"We understand the serious implications of this determination but we
believe that we would be failing in our apostolic witness if we do not
make this provision for those who hold firmly to a commitment to
historic Anglican faith."
They said that they would not recognise Bishop Jefferts Schori, a
liberal and the first female leader of the Episcopal Church, at the
primates' meeting.
In an unprecedented move, they suggested that "another bishop", chosen
by American conservatives "who are abiding by the teaching of the
Communion", should attend the meeting "so that we might be able to
listen to their voices during our deliberations."
Dr Williams is still hoping that moderate conservatives can formulate a
compromise that might provide a less radical alternative to the Global
South.
Under this option, the moderate block might invite in a "flying" primate
to oversee it, allowing American conservatives and liberals to coexist
relatively peacefully.
Any such primate would have to be a neutral figure acceptable to all
sides so that Dr Williams felt able to "recognise" him.