Bishops write to GAFCON Primates Council

Posted on August 29, 2008 
Filed under News

Bishop Bil AtwoodThis letter was sent to Archbishop Peter Akinola, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, by five bishops from North America. It is referred to in the GAFCON Primates Council communique.

“As requested we have carefully studied the Reflections of the Windsor Continuation Group – in particular the section that refers to our ministry within North America. We offer these comments…”

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

The Most Rev’d Peter J. Akinola
Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council

Your Grace:

These reflections are presented to you for the consideration of the Primates Council.

We are bishops who serve in North America, under the canonical authority of the Primates of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Anglican Church of Rwanda, the Province of the Southern Cone and the Anglican Church of Uganda. We represent approximately 300 congregations, with more than 450 clergy and an Average Sunday Attendance of 50,000.

We are profoundly grateful for the privilege of serving as Bishops during this critical time in the life of the Anglican Communion. We have been blessed by the encouragement that we have each received from our Primates and the House of Bishops of our respective Provinces. We have experienced God’s favor through their prayers and fellowship.

As requested we have carefully studied the Reflections of the Windsor Continuation Group – in particular the section that refers to our ministry within North America. We offer these comments:

1. While we appreciate the sincerity and work of those who took part in the Windsor Continuation Group, we were grieved to note that the carefully balanced recommendations proposed by the Primates at their meetings in Dromantine and Dar es Salaam have been abandoned in favor of these new proposals without acknowledgement that the primary reason for their failure was their unilateral rejection by The Episcopal Church.

2. We note that the Pastoral Forum proposal has been developed without any consultation with those most directly affected in North America. This had led to a number of serious misunderstandings with regard to the situation at the local level and the relationship between the bishops, clergy and congregations and their sponsoring provinces.

3. We would also observe that the various analogies offered, for example, that we are disaffected children being reunited with our parents or that we are being placed in a holding bay before being restored to our “proper province” are both demeaning and unacceptable.

4. As was also the case with the statements from Dromantine and Dar es Salaam we reject the moral equivalence that is now explicitly asserted between those who continue to support the blessing of same sex unions and the ordination of persons involved in same gender unions in deliberate violation of the teaching of the Communion and those who are offering pastoral oversight for those alienated by these actions.

5. We have consistently observed that the current leadership of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have embraced a theological and doctrinal stance that is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Communion and more specifically that of our host provinces and our individual bishops, clergy and congregations. Consequently we can envision no way in which we could be part of Pastoral Forum in which either Church exercises any leadership role.

6. While we welcomed the comments of the Windsor Continuation Group that “ways of halting litigation must be explored,” those of us who are the subject of pernicious litigation initiated by The Episcopal Church find these rather tentative comments fall far short of what is needed for us to even consider any serious engagement with the proposed structures. Until the litigation is halted and a settlement achieved there is no possibility that we can enter into any formal agreements with any representatives of The Episcopal Church.

We are grateful for the opportunity to respond to your request and are more than ready to elaborate on these comments. We have discussed them with the leadership of the Common Cause Partnership and assure you that they come with their unanimous support.

In Christ’s service:

The Rt. Rev’d Bill Atwood, Anglican Church of Kenya
The Rt. Rev’d John Guernsey, Anglican Church of Uganda
The Rt. Rev’d Don Harvey, Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
The Rt. Rev’d Martyn Minns, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Rt. Rev’d Chuck Murphy, Anglican Church of Rwanda.

___________________

Also available at the GAFCON website. (GAFCON photo: Russell Powell.)