Primates of Nigeria, Rwanda and the ACNA consecrate three bishops for Britain

Discussion in 'The Commons' started by bwallac2335, Oct 22, 2022.

  1. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    https://anglican.ink/2022/10/21/pri...he-acna-consecrate-three-bishops-for-britain/

    Tim Davies, Ian Ferguson and Lee McMunn were consecrated on Friday 21st October at a service in Hull by Archbishop Foley Beach (Primate of the Anglican Church in North America and Chair of Gafcon), Archbishop Laurent Mbanda (Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda & Vice-chair of Gafcon) and Archbishop Henry Ndukuba (Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion).

    Good and lets hope this dioceses does not ordain women.
     
  2. Matthew J Taylor

    Matthew J Taylor Member

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    The Anglican Network in Europe is, in theory, divided on this issue, at least as last as I checked.
    The canons of the Anglican Mission in England (operating only in England herself) do not permit the ordination of women.
    The canons of the Anglican Convocation of Europe (operating across Europe, including England) do.

    Nonetheless there are members and presbyters in each group who sympathise more with the canonical position of the other.
    There are yet to be, as far as I last checked, any women accepted into the ministry of the Anglican Convocation of Europe in an ordained capacity, having been ordained in another jurisdiction.
    There have yet to be any [attempted] ordinations of women by the Anglican Convocation of Europe itself.

    Prior to the consecration of Ian Fergusson, the only bishop for the Anglican Convocation of Europe was Andy Lines (who was also the sole bishop for the Anglican Mission in England prior to the consecration of Tim Davies and Lee McMunn).
    Andy Lines has explained that were a woman to pursue ordination in the Anglican Convocation of Europe, and was accepted by that convocation, he would arrange for another bishop to [attempt to] perform the ordination.
    I do not know if Ian Fergusson is willing to fulfil this role and [attempt to] ordain women, as part of his duties as an assisting bishop.
    I have no involvement in the running of the Anglican Convocation of Europe, though this year I am a lay delegate to the Anglican Mission in England synod (with the permission of the Free Church of England with which I retain my membership).
    As such, I know less of ACE's decisions than those of AMiE (or the FCE).

    Nonetheless, unless the ACE wishes to change its canons to remove the recognition and practice of the ordination of women, either Ian Fergusson or Stuart Bell (whose consecration is planned for next year) will need to be willing to do so, or a further bishop found/consecrated.

    Personally I pray that the ACE removes WO from their canons, not only because of my convictions regarding WO itself, but because canonical disagreement on this matter makes the organisation of a functioning province out of the GAFCON GB&Europe jurisdictions impossible.

    I do not know if REC Germany or REC Croatia (alternatively known as the Anglican Church in Germany "Anglikanische Kirche in Deutschland" and the Protestant Reformed Christian Church in the Croatian Republic "Protestantska reformirana kršćanska crkva u Republici Hrvatskoj") have a distinct policy on unity with WO-affirming groups (their situation being complicated by their unusual status within/alongside the ACNA), but the Free Church of England (REC UK), looking at the example of the Reformed Episcopal Church in North America (REC), will not enter into union with jurisdictions affirming WO.

    To help keep track of all those labels, I include my standard GAFCON GB&E chart:[​IMG]
     
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  3. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    WO is such a divisive issue that it just makes more sense from even that point of view of doing away with it. At least AMiE is strong on no WO and it is against their canons.
     
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  4. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    They proudly label themselves "a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America." So your statement seems to require some creative interpretation.
     
  5. Matthew J Taylor

    Matthew J Taylor Member

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    REC North America is indeed a founding member of the ACNA and has therefore entered into union with WO affirming bodies.
    REC UK (the Free Church of England) is not in the ACNA, and, having observed REC NA, has determined that it will not enter into union with WO affirming bodies.
    This is a matter on which the Reformed Episcopalians of North America and the United Kingdom differ.
    REC NA and REC UK are self-governing hence why they can have divergent policy on this matter.
     
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  6. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    Ah. That's a more clear explanation.
     
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