Province plan to be unveiled

Church Times (England) take on the proposed "New Province" in North America.

THE Common Cause Partnership (CCP), a coalition of conservative Anglican groups in the United States and Canada, which have broken away from their national Churches, is to announce plans next week for a separate province.

The group will meet in the Evangelical Free Church in Wheaton, Illinois, next Wednesday to “release to the public” its draft constitution. Its moderator, the Rt Revd Bob Duncan, the deposed Bishop of Pitts burgh, described it as “an important concrete step towards the goal of a biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America”.

The CCP represents about 100,000 Anglicans, 3000 of them in Canada. It comprises diverse groups that have left the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada: four US dioceses (San Joaquin, Pittsburgh, Quincy, and Fort Worth); associations such as the Nigerian-led Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA); and seceded congregations and denomina­tions, such as the Reformed Episcopal Church.

A spokesman for one of the con stituent bodies, the American An glican Council, said the new Anglican Church in North America “will have all the necessary features to be recognised as a province”.

The new self-styled province will be defined by theology, not by geo graphy. It will appeal to the other provinces for recognition, and is relying on the support of the Prim ates who attended the Global An­glican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem in the summer. The GAFCON movement made it clear in its declaration from Jerusalem that approval from Canterbury was not a prerequisite for future organisations.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=66882

And from Philadelphia

"Those who are gathering next week to essentially declare a new province can only call it a 'province' in quotes," said Rev. Edward Rix, rector at All Saint's Parish in Wynnewood. "What will be controversial will be how they move forward on such issues that divide them."

Rev. Rix said there are many examples of overlapping jurisdiction that could provide a precedent, but those instances may be considered different than this one.

"It is the case that dioceses spring up from groups of parishes," said Rev. Rix.

He said some parishes incorporate as a diocese and than apply for membership as a diocese, essentially the same procedure that is being used for the new province.

Bishop David Moyer, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, knows many of the leaders of the movement. He said their intentions are good, but that their road will be difficult.

"I think these leaders are driven by Gospel imperatives," said Bishop Moyer.

But he also said he doesn't really expect Archbishop Williams to recognize the new province.
"I don't see him in any way giving them the credibility they request," he said. "Because that will discredit the Episcopal Church. And there are still many traditional, orthodox Anglican people there."

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