The Council of Anglican Provinces of the Americas is a dangerous overreach

It's useful to read the press releases that come from the Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes. At times there one can see the wheels within the wheels.... Their most recent press release was picked up by the Church of England Newspaper and sent on to the lists by several sources.

The NACDP release said this on on July 25th:

"Following a conference July 6-8 in Nassau that gathered dozens of leaders from across North and South America and the Caribbean, plans for a new body committed to the historic Anglican faith and formularies have been announced. Inspired by the effective witness of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), Archbishops Drexel Gomez and Gregory Venables announced plans for the formation of the Council of Anglican Provinces of the Americas and Caribbean (CAPAC)"

Well, CAPAC is no CAPA. The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa has a long history and consists of genuine Provinces (all of them) in Africa. CAPAC consists of two provinces, and two would be provinces , namely the Networks in the US and Canada. It does not include The Anglican Provinces inCanada, the US, Mexico, Central America, nor any of the dioceses in the northern part of South America part of the Episcopal Church, or the Episocpal Church of Brazil. "Provinces" in the case of the title taken here in CAPAC has not to do with Anglican Communion Provinces (fairly well laid out by the listing of the Church of England canons which provides as a definitive list) but rather with "orthodox" provinces and groups as defined in the charter itself. The title is misleading, and the reach far exceeds the grasp.

Several people have noted already that the meeting in Nassau of July 8-9 reported in the Living Church was a swarming of parties interested in making a western hemisphere anchor for a push to take on the current leadership of the Anglican Communion. (see my posting at http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2005_07_11_anglicanfuture_archive.html ) and more importantly, Fr. Jake's essay Closer Look at the Attempted Coup

Now in this official press release, and given matters in Connecticut, we need to take seriously the following from the same press release:

"Cognizant that it may be necessary to establish interim, provisional measures for mission and ministry, we fully intend to pursue cooperation with the Instruments of Unity of the Anglican Communion in compliance with the Windsor Report and the direction of the Lambeth Conference of 1998".

The "intent to pursue cooperation with the Instruments of Unity" would appear to be dependent on the orthodoxy of the various instruments (meaning primarily the Archbishop of Canterbury.) As the contention over actions by the Bishop of Connecticut draw various folk into play, I will have considerable interest in how actions by US and other bishops are more or less "cooperative with the Instruments of Unity." The end of this matter will be messy, and unbecoming church people who otherwise might be engaged.

For an important commentary on the CAPAC press release I recommend again Fr. Jake, http://frjakestopstheworld.blogspot.com/

Matters get curiouser and curiouser.