Please Welcome the Anglican Church in North America!

As of yesterday, December 3, there is a new ingredient to the alphabet soup of the Anglican Communion, officially constituted and called the Anglican Church in North America ("ACNA").  This ingredient is larger, better organized, and will be tougher to swallow for TEO than any previous one in the mix.  From my corner, I hope TEO chokes on it. 

Its new Constitution may be found at http://www.canaconvocation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=267&Itemid=54 .  It has been reported that passage of the Constitution was unanimous.

On first reading, there is much to like in the ACNA Constitution, including some very direct repudiation of the theological erosion and drift of TEO.  Here is Article I in its entirety:

As the Anglican Church in North America (the Province), being a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, we believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one comes to the Father but by Him. Therefore, we identify the following eight elements as characteristic of the Anglican Way, and essential for membership:

1. We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.
2. We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
3. We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness and unity of the Body of Christ.
4. We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic Creeds: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian.
5. Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils, in so far as they are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.
6. We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.
7. We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1562, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
8. We affirm the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Statement and Jerusalem Declaration issued 29 June 2008. 

In all these things, the Anglican Church in North America is determined by the help of God to hold and maintain, as the Anglican Way has received them, the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ and to transmit the same, unimpaired, to our posterity.

We seek to be and remain in full communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacraments and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Some other interesting bits:

Article II, paragraph 3:  Member dioceses (or groups of dioceses organized into distinct jurisdictions) are free to withdraw from the Province by action of their own governing bodies at any time.

Article XII:  All church property, both real and personal, owned by each member congregation now and in the future is and shall be solely and exclusively owned by each member congregation and shall not be subject to any trust interest or any other claim of ownership arising out of the canon law of this Province.  Where property is held in a different manner by any diocese or grouping, such ownership shall be preserved.

And on Women's Ordination, which many detractors predict will be the downfall of ACNA, Article VIII, paragraph 2:   The Province shall make no canon abridging the authority of any member dioceses, clusters or networks (whether regional or affinity-based) and those dioceses banded together as jurisdictions with respect to its practice regarding the ordination of women to the diaconate or presbyterate.

The ACNA has been a long time in the making, and by all appearances has been given much thought and prayerful contemplation in its construction.  Its leaders seem fully dedicated to its formation and survival, and eventual acceptance by the Anglican Communion.  On the other hand, if the Anglican Communion rejects this new province, I believe, as I think do the ACNA leaders, that would signal the death knell for orthodox Anglicanism remaining part of the Communion, and the final straw in bringing about a full-blown schism.  In that eventuality, the good news is that GAFCON and ACNA provide a set of global structures within which the orthodox may move forward.

Hills of the North (http://hillsofthenorth.blogspot.com/) has offered the observation that it makes little sense for the Anglican Communion Institute ("ACI") to oppose the ACNA, for the result of the non-existence of an orthodox province will be that disaffected parishioners will continue to transfer to other denominations if they have no Anglican home.  Hills queries whether it would not be better to retain these people within Anglicanism in some form?  Of course, Hills is completely correct in this observation.

Likewise, the entire Anglican Communion should welcome this solution that seeks to preserve an Anglican presence in North America for its orthodox members.  The Archbishop of Canterbury should rush to embrace this new entity as the answer to his prayers of holding the Communion together.  But will he?  Doubtful.  First, the ABC doesn't "rush" to do anything other than to stick his foot in his mouth by denying the nativity story, or endorsing Shari'a law, or any one of many other examples.  Second, the ABC is clearly dominated by the American TEO and its copious money, and will tread very carefully to avoid offending TEO and the High Priestess.  Third, he will wait for the upcoming Primates' meeting in Egypt to stick his dampened finger up to gauge the prevailing wind.  In other words, to again borrow Christopher Johnson's priceless phrase, the "Brussels Sprouts for Brains Cardiff Gasbag" will let another opportunity for leadership pass him by.

As for TEO's response?  Rev. Charles Robertson, Canon to the High Priestess, said, "We will not predict what will or will not come out of this meeting, but simply continue to be clear that the Episcopal Church, along with the Anglican Church of Canada and La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, comprise the official, recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America."   True for now, Chuck, but making that particular statement strikes me as whistling past the graveyard, especially with the recent release of statistics for TEO that show a significant decline in membership and ASA virtually across the board, most particularly since 2003.  Do you get the connection, Chuckie, or are you still repeating the "All is Well" mantra that your boss has scripted?

The advent of ACNA is not, by any means, the end of the battle for the heart and soul of Anglicanism.  It simply means that a new, better organized, and potentially more influential army has taken the field.  Where CANA, AMiA, and the other constituent organizations could be sniffed at by TEO as "vocal minorities", ACNA is not, and will not be, so easily dismissed.  And I do not believe ACNA is merely a ruse for leverage in negotiating the future of the Anglican Communion.  I believe the ACNA is here to stay, and that a new day has dawned for orthodox Anglicans in North America.

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!