11/10/2009

Archbishop Akinola speaks up: Apostolic Constitution necessitated by Anglican failed leadership.

In a statement issued by Archbishop Peter Akinola, chair of the GAFCON Primates, an organization of self appointed guardians of Anglicanism in the Global South and elsewhere, he pins the need for the Apostolic Constitution on Anglican Groups squarely on the failure of the "instruments of Communion to do their job in disciplining The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

He states,

"We are, however, grieved that the current crisis within our beloved Anglican Communion has made necessary such an unprecedented offer. It represents a grave indictment of the Instruments of Communion whose very purpose is to strengthen and protect our unity in obedience to our Lord’s clear command. Their failure to fully address the abandonment of biblical faith and practice by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada has now brought shame to the name of Christ and seriously impedes the cause of the Gospel."

The indictment of the Instruments of Communion is preparation for the next round - the argument by the Global South Primates and others that the Anglican Communion as currently organized is not able to provide the unity needed. It will remain for the GAFCON Primates to provide an alternative structure for a world wide Anglican Church, using the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FOCA) which exists in one form or another of organization now in the US, Canada, England and South Africa.

This new Anglican Church will subscribe to the Jerusalem declaration, recognize ACNA, build its own structures, and dismiss the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, those bishops who don't buy in, and laugh the Anglican Consultative Council out of the hall. It will pay lip service to the Anglican Covenant believing that the Covenant will be eviscerated by the west, whose dentists will pull out its teeth of judgment and whose surgeons will cut out its purity of heart.

It will turn its gaze South and locate its offices there. Often in the past few years Alexandria, Egypt has been mentioned, but who knows?

But in terms of the latest from Rome, it will use the fact of this offer as one more example of incompetence by the Instruments of Communion and the whole of the Anglican Communion in its westward decadence.

Isn't it nice to hear Akinola's voice again? He's been quiet, what with his successor having been elected in Nigeria and others carrying the load.

But he is back, and will be looking for a new job one of these days. If the deposed bishop of Pittsburgh can become an Archbishop of something perhaps the retired Archbishop of Nigeria can become a super Metropolitan.

Stranger things have happened. Yes?

This is not what Jesus had in mind. I am sure of it.

The Global South Primates met in late October and issued this statement "
A Pastoral Exhortation to the Faithful in the Anglican Communion" It is considerably more polite.Oddly, Archbishop Akinola is also chair of the GS Primates as well. Ah, how odd it is.

11 comments:

  1. One clear sign of a grandstanding despot is that they have NO IDEA how offbase they are...Akinola is a great example of clearly out of touch with life and religious reality...he´s already driven his flaming chariot over the cliff and won´t realize it until he hits the ground.

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  2. I wonder what ++Williams thinks now. It looks like the horse he's backed is about to stomp him to death.

    Poor man. I really pity him. Yet I bet he still will not see the writing on the wall.

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  3. The CANA attorneys in the Virginia cases argued that there are two branches of Anglicanism...one led out of Canterbury and one led out of Nigeria. It's been a while since we've heard anything from +Akinola. It seems that he is positioning himself to make his leadership official. It is very reassuring to see someone so blessed with certainty, not unlike Rome, not unlike Benedict XVI, but I have to admit I feel more at home in a broader tent where I might have to abide the company of sinners, people, ---oh dear, so much like me. EmilyH

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  4. The Archbishop is dumber than a rock!

    The accommodation was made at the request of the TAC who left the WWAC long ago. Long before anything he wants to accuse TEC and ACoC of doing.

    What a complete tosser.*


    *Check with MP for definition.

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  5. The lion is roaring? Again?

    Yawn.

    I note that the conservative bloggers are still listening to him, but they completely ignored the NYT interview with Mr. Duncan.

    I learned long ago to pay closer attention to what's NOT being said than to all the roar and spin.

    Their silence speaks volumes, no?

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  6. How do you come to your conclusion (other than allowing dislike for Akinola to color your analysis) that Canterbury is to be jettisoned by GAFCON? The statement clearly says, “We are convinced that this is not the time to abandon the Anglican Communion.”

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  7. I do wonder why the Roman Emperors bothered with feeding Christians to the lions. Left to ourselves we manage to chew one another up just as well.

    Sarah Flynn

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  8. Mark, to call the dogs off Abuja, If the communion were not enmeshed in this ongoing conflict, Rome would see no potential inroad in which to cull, or recoup parishes or clergy.

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  9. Does anyone else note the irony of self-confessed evangelicals aspiring to be princes of the Church? I can't help but note the new ACNA Archbishop of Pittsburgh insisting on being addressed as "Your Grace," and His Grace the Lion of Abuja, the Archbishop retired of Nigeria referring to himself in the first person plural. As Mark Twain once said, only kings, editors, and schizophrenics refer to themselves as "we."

    Would a papal tiara look good with a Geneva gown?

    Religion -- politics with spiritual pretensions.

    Feh!

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  10. It wouldn't be so serious if he wasn't so dangerous to lgbt people and their friends and families in his own country.
    It's easy to laugh at him or to consider him irrelevant, it's a lot harder to know what to do to help those who have to suffer because of him.

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  11. Right now, after reading your post, is the great AC/DC song entitled

    "Dirty Deeds"

    Must be a reason for that.

    PS: Phil, is your naivete something you come by naturally or do you work at it?

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