To every spin, spin, spin, spin, there is a reason, spin, spin, spin....

Leaders and friends of the new improved Anglican-like ecclesial thing in North America, aka The Anglican Church in North America,  are busy at work putting the spin that righteous churches and church people were turned out of The Episcopal Church, that they are the wounded and dispossessed, and that they have come together to heal the Church.  In the past several weeks, perhaps as a sort of Christmas gift, they have been piling up the spin. Here are some examples:

The Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com) says it "endeavors to fairly present all legitimate sides of a story and debunk popular, albeit incorrect, myths about cultural and policy issues." It came into being because CNS folk believed that the bias has been to the left, and they will set things right.

This is what they had to say about the 11 churches in Virginia that have left The Episcopal Church and whose case has been heard in court in Virginia with a decision to their side. "The split from the Episcopal Church came after the Episcopal Church closed the door to congregations questioning the consecration of a practicing homosexual – V. Gene Robinson – as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire."

CNS got that wrong. Congregations not only can question the consecration of Bishop Robinson, they can move to make it impossible for TEC to ever do it again by mounting with others an effort to revise the canons of the church regarding qualifications for ordinations. But they did not. Some tried but could not.  Instead they voted to leave and join another church.  TEC did not "close the door" on questioning.  It answered the question, for one moment, and reserved its answer later.  Still, CNS made good reading for those who would like to think they have been beaten into leaving.

And the cure for "having the door closed" on these suffering souls?  Well, of course, it is the healing that comes with the Anglican Church in North America.

Cynthia Brust started using the healing image early on, on December 3rd. Ms. Burst  made a remark then which was then quoted by Moderator Duncan in a "Comments" article in Church Times, "“The healing of the Anglican Com­munion began today.”  He then went on to comment in greater detail just why he believes this is healing. In the CT article he said the following:

"Many of these are congregations or portions of congregations that left the Episcopal Church in the United States, or the Anglican Church in Canada. Covenant or no covenant, it is simply no longer realistic to expect those congregations to rejoin provinces that have sued them and defrocked their deacons, priests, and bishops for standing up for what mainstream Anglicans believe.

Instead, another more permanent solution than temporary ties to gen­erous Anglican provinces over­seas is needed. We need a unified body both to heal the divisions among ourselves and to give the broader Anglican Communion a unified and coherent partner with which to be in relation­ship. 

Forming the Anglican Church in North America is a significant step forward on both these fronts. It is an amazing God-given healing of that internal division and an opportunity for forming constructive relation­ships within the Communion. Eleven fragments of “mainstream” Anglicanism in the United States and Canada were involved in the adop­tion of the provisional constitution: the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (Rwanda), the Anglican Network in Canada, the Convocation of An­glicans in North America (Nigeria), Forward in Faith North America, the Missionary Convocations of Kenya, Southern Cone (including the Bolivia and Recife networks), and Uganda, together with the Reformed Episcopal Church. 

These fragments draw together some 700 congregations in North Am­erica, with an estimated 100,000 worshippers on average on any given Sunday. This constellation is thus numbered as larger than 13 of the provinces of the Anglican Com­munion (including Scotland and Wales), and compares to the 750,000 the Episcopal Church in the United States claims to draw every Sunday."

Spin abounds. In particular he claims, "We need a unified body both to heal the divisions among ourselves and to give the broader Anglican Communion a unified and coherent partner with which to be in relation­ship" and ACNA "is an amazing God-given healing of that internal division and an opportunity for forming constructive relationships within the Communion."  

If we look just back of the facade of healing, we see article 13 of the Jerusalem Declaration which all members of the Common Cause Partnership signed on December 3rd. It states, "We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord." So much for "healing internal divisions."  

What the Moderator means is healing internal divisions among dissenters, not Anglicans in North America.  No mention is made of the vast majority of Anglicans in North America who constitute the members of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, except to reject their authority.  

The "fragments," says the Moderator, " draw together some 700 congregations in North Am­erica, with an estimated 100,000 worshippers on average on any given Sunday. This constellation is thus numbered as larger than 13 of the provinces of the Anglican Com­munion (including Scotland and Wales), and compares to the 750,000 the Episcopal Church in the United States claims to draw every Sunday."

The Moderator is good at numbers, but Thinking Anglicans is better. Take a look at TA's estimates of the numbers of congregations relating to ANCA, HERE.   The Moderator may be off by say 50 or so congregations. He fails to mention that a number of these are parishes in formation and he may be overestimating the numbers of parishes in the dioceses whose leadership and majority of members chose to leave, but somewhere in the 600-675 region seems about right.  

His spin however is that these are "real" worshippers and that this therefore constitutes an ecclesial entity worthy of provincial statues. He estimates 100,000 average on any given Sunday, and after comparing it to Scotland and Wales, but not the Province of the Southern Cone (total Anglican population not much more than 22,000) he says, "and compares to the 750,000 the Episcopal Church in the United States claims to draw every Sunday." 

Compares how?  I presume he means compares favorably. That's the intent.  Note, he also claims these are real "worshipers" as opposed to those TEC "claims to draw every Sunday."  Little nuances well placed - ACNA is great, real, healing, uniting.  TEC is getting smaller, is broken, wounded. 

In this context this statement makes "spin" sense. "Covenant or no covenant, it is simply no longer realistic to expect those congregations to rejoin provinces that have sued them and defrocked their deacons, priests, and bishops for standing up for what mainstream Anglicans believe." It might be useful to observe that the defrockings (by which is meant deposition - a thing that happened to Bob Buncan) have been a product of clergy and bishops leaving TEC, acting without regard for the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, or as a result of abandonment.  

The Church Times article by Robert Duncan refers to him as Bishop and Moderator.  An article in CT refers to him as Archbishop Duncan.  Neither mention the fact that he is deposed. And of course no mention is made of the fact that the Reformed Episcopal Church is not recognized as a part of the Anglican Communion, or that CANA and AMiA bishops were not invited to Lambeth. 

As for the eleven entities that signed the December 3rd statements forming this new improved Anglican something in North America, only eight are recognized by CCP itself as part of its organization.  Moderator Duncan  included "Missionary Convocations of Kenya, Southern Cone (including the Bolivia and Recife networks), and Uganda, together with the Reformed Episcopal Church."  The notion of the "Recife network" is interesting, if for no other reason that the bishop of Recife - Southern Cone was also not invited to Lambeth and is not listed by ACC/ Lambeth as bishop of Recife.  But of course 11 looks much bigger and better than 8, and "fragments" allows CCP a bit of breathing room.

All in all, of the bishops part of ANCA, only a very few were able to get passes to attend Lambeth:  Iker, Duncan and Ackerman. The rest were never part of the Anglican Communion or were irregular enough not to get invited, or were deposed.  None of this makes it into the spin on healing.

It may be that this gathering of fragments will heal the realignment and dissenting community.  It will not heal the Anglican Communion. But then again the spin is all about the dissenters.