The Reformed Episcopal Church.. Whats this ?

Discussion in 'Questions?' started by Jeffg, Jun 30, 2019.

  1. Jeffg

    Jeffg Active Member

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    So I came across the web sight for Reformed Episcopal Church http://rechurch.org/index.html. Several things have me confused. First, if you look at their web sight , they state that they are a founding jurisidction of the ACNA , and there is a link on the REC home web page to the ACNA. What the heck ? If they are a "founding jurisdiction", then why do they have their own websight ? Also, they have their own BCP , published in 2005 (http://rechurch.org/documents/BCPComplete.pdf). The REF has it's own presiding bishop : currently Bishop Ray R. Sutton, since 2016. So how can they be a "founding jurisdiction" of the ACNA, yet have their own BCP, and own Presiding Bishop ? Seriously weird...anybody have an explanation for this ? After seeing this for myself.. the phrase "WTF" entered my mind... So if anybody has an explanation, commentary, funny stories etc regarding this..would appreciate it.
     
  2. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    There were a few founding jurisdictions within ACNA, namely pre-existing church bodies which sought to unify and combine into a single Anglican Province across the areas of the Episcopal Church.

    One of them was the REC, organized in the 1870s I believe. Another was CANA, organized in 2005.

    ACNA was formed in 2008 by the ex-Episcopalian groups, most notably the Diocese of Pittsburgh (led by Bishop Duncan, who went on to become ACNA’s Archbishop). REC and CANA were also present and played a foundational role at the founding. They retained their pre-existing canons and episcopal jurisdiction, and their bishops entered into the ACNA College of Bishops.

    Over time, the understanding is that these sub-jurisdictions will dissolve, and merge their canons into ACNA’s, once a few issues are resolved, namely the Prayer Book, the Catechism, and and women’s ordination (the REC doesn’t allow women’s ordination). The new Prayer Book was passed and adopted a few weeks ago, which was a big deal. The Catechism is coming, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Now the last thing to resolve is women’s ordination, and there will just be the one ACNA.
     
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  3. Jeffg

    Jeffg Active Member

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    Now the last thing to resolve is women’s ordination, and there will just be the one ACNA.[/QUOTE]

    Interesting... so just out of curiousity, what is the trend ? I understand that the ACNA ordains women..REC does not...will the ANCA female clergy suddenlty become Nuns ?
     
  4. Peteprint

    Peteprint Well-Known Member Anglican

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    The ACNA is a federation of churches, not an actual church as we would normally understand the term. The issue of women's ordination has be resolved in the ACNA; namely, it will be decided by each diocese/partner church. There is no indication that this is going to change at anytime in the near future. Same with the Prayer Book. There is an ACNA BCP out now (a very good one, in fact), but no one is going to be forced to use it.
     
  5. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    It is understood that women’s ordination is not authentic to the Anglican tradition.

    Numerous women priests who entered ACNA threw away their collars because of this, in one of the most noble expressions of fidelity seen in modern Christianity.

    Additionally, given that only around 5-7 dioceses allow it, women ordinands understand that were they to enter into ACNA, they’d be prohibited from ministry in most dioceses. It would generally feel a bit awkward, even in the best circumstances.

    Plus, you would need to be quite flexible with historic doctrine, as a person, to push for it. Women who still do so generally feel that the Episcopal Church is a more receptive home, with far fewer challenges/difficulties.

    For all these reasons, there is a severe drought of women ordinands into ACNA. It is understood that even without a canonical decision one way or the other, there will be practically none left in 20 years.
     
  6. rcconvert

    rcconvert New Member

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    This "flexibility" is an issue for me. All of the ancient churches ordain men to the priesthood--RCC, OC, Chaldean, Maronite, etc... What is the argument for female priests? It seems like such a break from the connectivity with historical Christianity.
     
  7. Jeffg

    Jeffg Active Member

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    I'm not sure if there is a Biblical argument for female priests/ordination of women. I thinks its the modern liberal society creaping into the Church as a whole, which of course means that the Church is doing a lousy job of catachesis (i.e. "We are the Christian Church, and this is what we believe and the Biblical reasons why ") and getting the word out, not just to our members, but the public in general (great evangelical tool by the way). Womens roles have even slipped in what Americans would call "conservative" churchs etc. (and I argue their definition of conserviative.) .(look at the women televangelists on TV)... the theology is comparativley new.. the last 200 years, which makes it new..and liberal as opposed to conservative in the Orthodox Christian viewpoint (Catholic/Orthodox/Some Lutheran/Some Anglican)... and would include the Orthodox view on the Sacraments,etc
     
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  8. Fr. Brench

    Fr. Brench Well-Known Member Anglican

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    However, most of those 5-7 dioceses are also the numerically stronger diocese in the province. I minister in one of them. There seem to be two primarily mentalities that authenticate the ordination of women: liberalism, which doesn't really care about tradition and will bend the Bible however they want, and charismaticism, which brings a heavily experiential lens to its reading of Scripture. In the ACNA, most of the pro-WO folks aren't "liberal" per se, but evangelicals steeped in charismatic thought. They often use the erroneous "three streams" language to describe themselves. That describes at least two-thirds of my diocese.

    Something you have to understand about the ACNA, as aforesaid, is that it's a federation, almost a confederation, of dioceses. It's got "geographic" dioceses (like Anglican Diocese in New England, Anglican Diocese of the South, etc.) and "affinity" dioceses (like Missionary Diocese of All Saints, Diocese of the Living Word [formerly CANA East], etc). Churchmanship and the issue of WO are the main dividing factors here, along with historic identity like the REC, CANA, and the remnant of AMiA/PEARUSA. It's quite an alphabet soup, and only makes sense by looking at the history of the past ten years or more.

    As a result of this situation, it seems that a lot of folks are living in ecclesial bubbles. The pro-WO folks feel pretty safe and confident in the ascendency of their theology. The anti-WO folks feel pretty sure that their opponents will die out over time. The few of us who minister in a diocese that doesn't match our own churchmanship get the real treat of seeing how ugly those bubbles can make us.