September 29, 2007
Anglicans Split! Finally! Hallelujah!
Anglican rift sparks move for new church
PITTSBURGH–Conservative Anglicans in Canada and the U.S. plan to break away from their increasingly liberal national churches within 15 months, setting up a parallel continental church along orthodox theological lines.
. . .
If successful, it would be the first time the worldwide Anglican Communion has seen a church, known in Anglicanism as a province, established solely on the basis of shared theology. Currently, provinces are only set up along geographic lines.
. . .
A founding convention for the new North American church will be held within 15 months, once participating parishes and dioceses have formally broken ties with their national churches. The new group would then seek recognition from the communion as an orthodox province for North America.
. . .
The new North American church would have its own college of bishops, meeting every six months, and a shared method of worship and sacraments.
. . .
The Anglican Communion has been in crisis since 2003 when the Episcopal Church, as Anglicanism is known in the United States, named the openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. Increasing support for same-sex marriage blessings in the U.S. and Canada has widened the rift between theological liberals and conservatives, pushing the church toward schism.
Permalink | Trackback | Category: Anglicans / Episcopalians
