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ANGLICAN COMMUNION IN CANADA: Windsor Report A Mixed Blessing
The Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC) welcomes the highlighting in the Windsor Report of the un-Anglican, unilateral actions of the Diocese of New Westminster, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Episcopal Church of the USA. As Archbishop Akinola, the Nigeria Primate of 20 Million Anglicans, puts it, “The report correctly notes that the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of New Westminster have pushed the Anglican Communion to the breaking point. It rightly states that they did not listen to the clear voices of the Communion and rejected the counsel of all four Instruments of Unity." We are also appreciative of the Windsor Report’s reaffirmation of the primacy of Holy Scripture.
We are, however, disappointed at the lack of any vehicle for disciplining those who have departed from the faith and order of orthodox Anglicanism.
The Windsor-recommended ECUSA DEPO model does not deal adequately with the sincere need of orthodox believers in revisionist dioceses for adequate Episcopal oversight (AEO). Regret, without real repentance and remorse, is hollow and without any real value. We share the Archbishop Akinola’s concern that “Instead of a clear call for repentance, we have been offered warm words of sentimentality for those who have shown no godly sorrow for their actions and harsh words of condemnation for those who have reached out a helping hand to friends in need of pastoral and spiritual care.” *
To equate the necessary actions of those who have had to break with their diocese and seek adequate Episcopal oversight from overseas, with the sin and degradation which caused it, is less than helpful. As Archbishop Akinola expressed, “The imbalance is bewildering. It is wrong to use equal language for unequal actions.” This is why we are grateful for the recent public clarification by Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon that he rejects such ‘moral equivalence’: “Within the same family, if one of your children is drowning, you don’t seek permission to save their lives. There is no equivalence.” As the Rev Greg Brewer put it, “when apostolic authority is not under girded by apostolic doctrine, the result is almost always geographic tyranny.”
The Windsor Report is a conversation starterit does not solve any present crisis. We expect the Windsor report to be vigorously taken up by the All Africa Bishops meeting next week in Lagos, and hopefully strengthened at the Primates’ Meeting in February 2005.
The Anglican Communion in Canada is very grateful to be a missionary outreach of the Episcopal Province of Rwanda (Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini), sponsored by the Primates of Rwanda, SE Asia, Kenya, Congo and Central Africa. We have been called by our Bishop and sponsoring Archbishops to bring people to faith, to raise up disciples and to plant active and reproducible churches in the Anglican Tradition. In the midst of increased tensions and political uncertainty in the Anglican Communion, that remains the primary focus of our ministry and mission. The offer of Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight (TAEO) continues to be available to all faithful Canadian Anglicans who wish to be free.
For further information about the Anglican Communion in Canada and opportunities for affiliation, please contact the Rev. Paul Carter, ACiC Acting Network Leader at paul@acicanada.ca
ACiC Office
1655 West 41st Ave
Vancouver BC V6M 1X9
604-222-4486
www.acicanada.ca
or (604) 222-4486 or The Rev. Barclay Mayo, ACiC Mission Strategy Coordinatorat bamayo@sunshine.net or (604) 883-1371.
Website: http://www.acicanada.ca
