From "A Statement from the Board of the Anglican District of Virginia" published over at BabyBlue Online:
Referring to the lawsuit of by the Diocese of Virginia against 11 Churches..."These are the same Virginia churches that voted overwhelmingly to sever ties with The Episcopal Church (TEC) and affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a fully recognized branch of the Anglican Communion under the Anglican Church of Nigeria."
This statement is otherwise quite informative, but in two respects it falls short.
(i) The name of the church in Nigeria related to the Anglican Communion is, by its own Constitution, Canons, and related material "The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)." This may indeed make very little difference, except of course that "The Anglican Church of Nigeria" is not the legal name of anything.
(ii) The other matter, that "the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)" is "a fully recognized branch of the Anglican Communion under the Anglican Church of Nigeria," is wrong on two counts: It is no more a "branch" than the missionary district of Micronesia or the Diocese of Delaware. The items to be numbered in the collection called the Anglican Communion are the 38 churches of the communion. The Anglican District of Virginia and the Convocation of Anglican Churches in America of which it is a part are a mission effort of a a member of the Anglican Communion. Furthermore, the bishop, Bishop Martyn Minns, is precisely a bishop in teh Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) whose jurisdiction here is very much in question, at least by some.
None of this matters, except that letting it go without comment that it is misstated feeds the mis- or dis- information bin.
Thanks to BabyBlue for publishing this and another post on the District.
2/01/2007
3 comments:
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I guess this means that we need to always remember to write Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America from now on. No more "TEC" then?
ReplyDeleteUm, that's "The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as the Episcopal Church" to you, son.
ReplyDeletehpb
Austin, TX
On the off chance that brother Tortilla was being serious:
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution of whatchamacallit begins with these words: "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as The Episcopal Church (which name is hereby recognized as also designating the Church) . . ."