From Reuters-Conservative Anglicans, who oppose the Church of England's stand on issues such as gay clergy, on Monday ruled out formally breaking away from the mainstream as a group has done in the United States.
Members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), also unhappy at plans to allow the ordination of woman bishops, said they wanted to create an umbrella movement to promote conservative views within the Church.
The movement was formed following a convention last year in Jerusalem where bishops and clergy from around the world met to express frustration at the liberal Anglicanism, raising the prospect of a split with the 77-million-strong Anglican Communion.
"We are a movement for the renewal and reformation and renewed mission focus of our church. We love our church... we're not going anywhere," Bishop Wallace Benn of Lewes in southern England said at the launch of the FCA's UK and Ireland chapter.
"We believe that we stand for the historic Christian faith," he added.
The FCA claims that it has around 1,600 followers from 320 parishes around the country. The movement said it had received a letter from Queen Elizabeth, expressing her good wishes for its launch.
Benn said he believed that the Church of England and the FCA would engage in dialogue to resolve their differences without having to resort to schism from the church.
Differences over issues such as gay clergy led to conservatives in the United States leaving the U.S. Episcopal Church in June, in a saga which split Anglicans worldwide. Continued...
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5654CY20090706
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