12/21/2011

Province of the Souther Cone's adopts Covenant, give or take a clause or two.

Just to be clear from my previous post: 

The Province of the Southern Cone has adopted the Anglican Covenant, but with its fingers crossed. Apparently the PSC hopes that no one will notice that it still has the deposed bishop of Recife under its wings, along with a sizable number of congregants constituted as a diocese.

The PSC claims that it is no longer doing those things it ought not to have done in Canada and the United States, but makes no apology for having done so.

I suppose this counts as a "yes" in the score card on the acceptance of the Anglican Covenant, but there will not be much joy in Anglican-Land over this one.

12 comments:

  1. 7-1, Mark, based on the authoritative 6-1 count you gave a few days ago :)

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  2. Ah Peter.... yes and no. PSC's yes is so marred that PSC immediately can be charged with dissing the covenant it just signed.

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  3. But Mark whether the ball sails serenely over the goal line or bobbles and stutters its way, the scoreline is the same :)

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  4. The last time I checked—the situation may have changed, but I’ve seen no mention of it—Archbishop Robert Duncan (personally) claimed to be both in the Southern Cone and the Anglican Church in North America. Does anyone have any current information on this?

    His biography on the ACNA Web site does not mention the Southern Cone. Neither does it mention his role in fracturing the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

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  5. Mark,
    I am in the position to affirm that the Diocese of Recife is NOT under the care of the Southern Cone for almost a year now. AFAIK, not a single bishop from ACNA or Southern Cone participated in the ordination of the new auxiliary bishops. Further, although the say they have a "covenant" (o convenio) with ACNA, it is my understanding that it is far from a fair assessment of their terse relationship, if there is any at all.
    They have included the picture of ++Tito Zabala, as to give the impression that they still have a relationship to the SC... but, again, I believe that presently there is no deal or that one is in the works.

    Thomas+

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  6. Peter Carrell has a good essay on the ripple effect syndrome at his blog.

    Msgr

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  7. I note that the latest"e+News" from the "Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh" (yesterday) still says that the Diocese is a member of the Anglican Communion. There is no indication of the basis for that statement. As far as I know, the only basis that they have claimed in the past is their supposed connection with the Province of the Southern Cone.

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  8. Bill Ghrist. I have noted on other occasions that ACNA and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh say that. But they falsely say that. They are not members of the Anglican Communion, churches are members of the Anglican Communion, and ACNA nor Pittsburgh are to be numbered among them.

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  9. Strictly speaking this is correct.

    To be a member of the Anglican Communion one needs to apply through the ACO and be accepted according to principles laid out there. ACNA says is recognised by the Gafcon Primates representing 70% of the world's Anglicans. At a time of contestation, all this is probably expected. The covenant was proposed as a way to 'opt in' to the Communion at a tier one level of accountability. Those who would not so choose would not be ejected from the Communion -- that cannot be done except in the modest ways we have seen the ABC pursue that logic (withheld invitations etc).

    If Carrell's estimate of 31-7 proves true, it would give us a sense of Communion identity opted into on those terms.

    But it would say nothing about ACNA save that they are in communion with a major bloc of anglican Christians, as already they are.

    2012 will be a big year in the CofE with the legislation around women bishops and also the ongoing covenant process, which will then come to Synod in the summer or Fall is 50% of dioceses say Yes.

    One interesting dynamic at the provincial level is timing, and whether the decisions of the CofE will be clearcut or will weigh as prominently as many rightly suspect.

    Msgr

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  10. From the Anglican Network in Canada's web site:

    "The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) is a diocese in the Anglican Church in North America and part of the global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans which affirms the Jerusalem Declaration. ANiC also remains affiliated with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, one of 38 provinces in the global Anglican Communion."

    Unlike ACNA, they don't claim to actually be part of the Anglican Communion.

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  11. Actually, I don't think that ACNA claims to be part of the Anglican Communion (yet). The say they are a "Province-in-formation in the global Anglican Communion." The statement I referred to in my earlier comment was for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, not for ACNA as a whole. The Diocesan relationship with the Southern Cone pre-dated the formation of ACNA. I think that they claim - or claimed - a sort of "dual citizenship" in the Southern Cone and ACNA.

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  12. The relationships in the Communion are a bit like those in the ecumenical movement where a church may be in communion with another church but not in communion with a church that church is in communion with. Churches in the Communion that are no longer in communion with TEC remain in communion with churches that are still in communion with TEC. My modest hope is that the CofE will remain in communion with all the member churches.

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OK... Comments, gripes, etc welcomed, but with some cautions and one rule:
Cautions: Calling people fools, idiots, etc, will be reason to bounce your comment. Keeping in mind that in the struggles it is difficult enough to try to respect opponents, we should at least try.

Rule: PLEASE DO NOT SIGN OFF AS ANONYMOUS: BEGIN OR END THE MESSAGE WITH A NAME - ANY NAME. ANONYMOUS commentary will be cut.