3/24/2009

Nigeria Standing Committee Resolution on ACNA now posted.

The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has now posted the resolution concerning the support of the Anglican Church in North America. There is no date on this document. Here is the resolution:

"Whereas the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) meeting in Obafemi Awolowo University, lIe Ife, Osun State has welcomed the Right Reverend Robert W. Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, and

Whereas we have heard his testimony regarding the remarkable emergence of the Anglican Church in North America bringing together eleven ecclesiastical jurisdictions consisting of seven hundred congregations representing more than one hundred thousand Anglicans in the United States and Canada who have held true to the faith once delivered to the saints, and

Whereas this newly formed Anglican Church holds to the authority and trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures, the historic creeds, the traditional formularies of Anglicanism and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Saviour, and

Whereas the Constitution and Canons of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 2002 (3:1 as amended) stipulates that This Church shall be in full communion with all Anglican Churches} Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the Historic Faith} Doctrine} Sacraments and Discipline of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Lord has commanded in His Holy Word and as the same are received and taught in the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662 and in the thirtnine Articles of Religion.

In pursuance of this section of the Constitution, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) resolves that we are in full and abiding communion with the Anglican Church in North America.

We further assure them that an open door of fellowship remains theirs in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) while they remain faithful to the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the historic, biblical, Apostolic and Orthodox faith once delivered to the saints.

In conclusion, this Standing Committee encourages the Primate, Archbishop Peter J. Akinola to give positive consideration to the request of the Anglican Church in North America to send a delegation to the inaugural Provincial Assembly, of June 22nd to 25th, 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, to demonstrate our enduring partnership in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."



Those who would wish that the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) could be in communion with both TEC and ACNA on some scheme of the sort that exists, say, between the Church of England and the European Lutheran Churches, while at the same time the CofE is in communion with the churches of the Anglican Communion, are wishing foolishly.


The CofN has come out in support of a replacement church, one they consider faithful and Christian, and against TEC. That is, of course, their business. However, the Anglican Consultative Council might well address the question of whether or not member churches can be in communion with a church in a particular jurisdiction other than a member church of the Anglican Communion, and not with that member church. If the CofN were in communion with both TEC and the emerging ACNA that might present some problems, since ACNA believes TEC not to be Anglican in spirit or, at least in some instances, un-Christian. But for the CofN to be in communion with ACNA and not in communion with TEC presents a serious difficulty for the future of the Anglican Communion.

So, is the CofN in communion with TEC or not? This resolution suggests that they are not. This resolution suggests they have made a choice for a replacement. They have answered the question, "Which side are you on?" clearly. It is time to ask for an accounting.


17 comments:

  1. In addition to the obvious difficulties this presents, I have three concerns of my own. 1) The CofN's use of the phrase "the faith once delivered" sounds as if once God revealed the true faith, God stopped doing any more revealing. Who decided that? Is God not permitted to offer anything new? And who decided that? 2)The CofN offers an open door of fellowship as long as ACNA remains faithful to this true revelation. Who decides whether they have or not? 3)It seems as if the CofN has appointed itself the arbiter of all content--and faithfulness to the content--of Christian/Anglican revelation. And just who decided THAT? When is TEC going to stop trying to dance with those who have commandeered the ballroom and have set armed guards at its doors?

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  2. Whereas the Constitution and Canons of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 2002 (3:1 as amended) stipulates that This Church shall be in full communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacraments and Discipline of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Lord has commanded in His Holy Word and as the same are received and taught in the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662 and in the thirty nine Articles of Religion.

    Good Padre, to be consistent with their logic and faithful to their C&C, it seems that the Standing Committee needs to quickly reassemble and pass a few more resolutions concerning many of the churches listed in your past post; Episcopi vagantes or bishops in schismatic times?

    For surely a number of them meet the criteria, no?

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  3. OK, I'm just posting ths because of the verification word "lootum", which sounds to me ears rather like "loot 'em". I leave the rest of you to fill in the obvious connections.

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  4. In another late breaking newsflash, the International Possum Fanciers Society has recognized Bertha Fae Turnipseed, of Wewahitchka, Florida, as Miss Possum International of 2008.

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  5. And would not ACNA either need to use the 1662 BCP, or have the CoN make a determination that whatever prayer book ACNA uses does indeed teach the same as the BCP 1662? (Does CoN use 1662, BTW?)

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  6. Well, on the face of it, section 3.1 would rule out being in communion with TEC even if Robert Duncan were the Presiding Bishop and +Gene Robinson a parish priest, inasmuch as TEC doesn't adhere to the 1662 BCP and Ordinal nor to the original text of the 39 Articles.

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  7. nlnh, I am shocked to hear that some upstart group of possum fanciers has had the temerity to name a "Miss Possum International 2008". Surely everyone knows that the real, true, authentic, orthodox Possum Queen of all time and all the world is Mrs. Daisy Potter of Rhonesboro, Texas. A photograph of Queen Daisy, together with her husband Dr. Dick Baird and Prof. Spot Baird (Professor of Possumology, International Possum Museum) can be seen at the link below:

    http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/library/potterPhotos.htm

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  8. The pronouncements of Mr. Akinola, et al are disturbing enough. However, the claim of 700 parishes has the flavor of deliberate over-inflation, as if to say that 700 parishes of TEC have separated. Where do they get this number and is it truly reflective of the number of legitimate parishes of TEC who have voted to separate? My hunch is that it is comprised of a minority of Episcopal parishes and a host of other "flake" parishes who separated off in the 70s over the ordination of women, along with the Reformed Episcopal Church which has not been an active part of the Communion for 100+ years. I cannot help but wonder what ultimate purpose all of this chest thumping serves.

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  9. Could it be that schism has put asunder even the small and once collegial world of orthodox possum fanciers?

    Will the Wewahitchka faction require alternative primatial oversight? Can they afford Venables or Akinola?

    So many questions!

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  10. (plaintively) But I've always heard there are no possums in Nigeria!

    IT

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  11. Host's Nest,

    Three questions with one answer ++Akinola the only archbishop who has god as an assistant.

    700 parishes counts a good size chunk of the 'continuum' and the entire REC. Some of those folks, given the structures proposed in the draft CANA constitution might not be around in July. One of my orthodite friends, Robin Jordan had done a serious review of the draft and concluded, correctly I think, that the draft produces a hierarchial elite that can and will dominate the organization so that the laity and clergy will be effectively silenced. Bishops will achieve the status of more equal so that no one can dispute anything with them.

    FWIW
    jimB

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  12. IT, there are no possums in Nigeria. And those possums that are in Nigeria are not Anglican. And the Anglican ones are there because of a wicked Western plot to encourage Nigerian Anglican possums. However, possums will be eradicated, or forced back into their possum closets by making them illegal. And anyone who witnesses possums will also be jailed.

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  13. Lucifer is always striving to adapt to the electronic age, ...much like myself, ...an agent for CHRIST your enemy!! Petey "Peneee" Aksackula!!

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  14. Well well. This pretty much indicates for sure where they are headed... doesn't it?

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  15. Ahem! Please use the correct name when referring to the above marsupials! Opossums they are... Anglican, Orthodite, or Otherwise.

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  16. In Australia they are possums. (true, Susan s, sorry) And there is good news: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25253527-11949,00.html
    Obadiah Slope

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  17. Oh, Obadiah, I have googled your possums and most references I found referred to them as Opossums. And they look completely different to ours. Yours are cute and very 'furry.' Ours have long pointy noses and hardly any hair. I think the evolution of the two went in different directions!

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