• A message from The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson  
• June Communiqué Compliance Report Available  
• British Bishops Could Boycott Lambeth
• Archbishop Warns Anglican Conservatives  
• Press Release: AAC Supports Global South's Position
• Assassination Attempt on Bishop of Jos

A message from The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council 

Beloved in Christ,
It was just a week ago that the Global South Steering Committee released a statement which touched on conditions in both the United States and the
global communion, and suggested that other meetings separate from the
Lambeth Conference might be called for. Some readers have raised questions about the form of the statement, particularly why it didn¹t have a "Pauline" salutation. I suspect that the form is the answer: it is not a letter, it is a statement. I also suspect that in this world of email, cell phones and faxes, those in attendance and those remotely located were able to communicate adequately in order to validate the content and force of resolve that the final message conveyed.

The Communiqué Compliance Office has released its fourth report on the state of the American Episcopal Church¹s compliance (or lack thereof) to the Tanzanian demands. A copy of the report is posted on the AAC website and may be downloaded. In electronic form the report has web links which take you to a copy of original texts cited. In print form you lose the electronic links.

With increased awareness of the scope of the strategic litigation that the Episcopal Church is sponsoring against local church congregations, vestries, and vestry members individually and personally, it raises several questions. First, is it safe to serve on an Episcopal Church vestry, since the Episcopal Church is disregarding both federal and state legal protection granted to volunteer (unpaid) individuals who agree to serve on non-profit boards of directors? This is doubly troublesome since a few important insurance companies, who purportedly issue Directors and Officers Liability Insurance which is routinely purchased by churches, are refusing to provide legal defense or coverage for the vestries and individuals once they are sued. The second major question is, "Where is all the money coming from to wage this litigation campaign by TEC?" Various possibilities have been suggested based on remarks made by some Episcopal Church officials, and speculation about the handling of TEC finances is not healthy for TEC itself. The American Anglican Council, representing many parishes, clergy and individuals still within TEC therefore calls on the Episcopal Church to make the funding for the litigations underway and the source of the funding open and transparent for all to see. To this end the AAC applauds the request that several TEC bishops have made to the administration of TEC for financial transparency with regard to the litigation efforts.

It was a great sorrow months ago to learn that the Presiding Bishop had ruled against the Diocese of South Carolina pertaining to the form of their Bishop Election Confirmation documents. The ruling cancelled the election and has forced the diocese to rerun the process, although at an accelerated rate. Now we discover that the same Presiding Bishop has two sets of rules, one for her enemies and one for her friends. She doesn¹t like South Carolina (and the Chancellor David Booth Beers certainly doesn¹t either) so their election is null and void.  Virginia, on the other hand, is considered a friend of the Presiding Bishop and the Chancellor, and when they use a non-canonical form to report the confirmations for their bishop-elect, no issue is made, all is wonderful, and the consecration of the new bishop is now history. It is sometimes said by those of the world that all is fair in love and war. Well, this certainly isn¹t love, so orthodox dioceses should be well advised.

Speaking of love and war, Trinity Church, Wall Street, probably the wealthiest church in the world, has decided to cooperate with the TEC plan to use money to try to fracture the Global South unity. Trinity Church hosted a summit meeting in Madrid, Spain, inviting Global South bishops to sit down with Episcopal Church leaders and talk about mission opportunities in their dioceses. When the Israelites left Egypt, fleeing Pharaoh's army, they took Egyptian gold with them. Although we would advise orthodox bishops against going to lunch with the spider, if you have any of the spider's gold, get out of the web as fast as you can.

The Archbishop of York, His Grace John Sentamu has publicly remarked that other than the sexual issues, there is really nothing wrong with the orthodoxy of the Episcopal Church. We are afraid he speaks of things he does not know about. Sexuality is a tertiary issue. The most dangerous issues are TEC's abandonment of orthodoxy concerning the person of Jesus Christ and the authority of Holy Scripture. In reality, if we lose Jesus and the Bible out of the Anglican faith, why would we care about the sexuality issue?

The issues which confront the American and Canadian churches are not isolated to North America, and the division is touching England itself. Reports coming to us from the UK indicate that up to ten orthodox diocesan and suffragan bishops may stay away from the Lambeth Conference unless the issues are satisfactorily dealt with.

As this Weekly Update goes to press, representatives of the Anglican Communion Network are traveling to Bedford, Texas for an annual ACN Council meeting. A great deal has changed since the last meeting a year ago. The Council will take stock of the reality of the current landscape and chart a path forward for orthodoxy. Elections are scheduled for this meeting for both the Moderator and Secretary positions. We will bring you news next week of the progress reported at the Council meeting.

June Communiqué Compliance Report Available

The fourth report of the American Anglican Council's (AAC) Communiqué Compliance Office (CCO) has been posted online and is available in PDF format on the AAC Web site. You may also download the report directly at the following link:
Download CCO Report No. 4

In addition, for background information on the CCO and its purpose, view this press release. 

British Bishops Could Boycott Lambeth

Source:  Church of Ireland Gazette

Date:   July 27, 2007

Following the debate on the Anglican covenant process at the meeting of the Church of England General Synod earlier this month in York, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, told the Gazette that if the bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States do not meet the demands of the Dar es Salaam Primates’ Meeting required by next September’s deadline, and if the bishops of the Global South decline to attend next year’s Lambeth Conference, as many as six in ten Church of England bishops could be considering their own positions about attending the ten-yearly episcopal gathering.

However, Bishop Scott- Joynt added that such bishops would feel "constrained" by their loyalty to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who personally invites the bishops.

Bishop Scott-Joynt also said that if the US bishops were not attending and the Global South bishops were, his estimated four in ten minority among the English bishops would be facing similar considerations to those of the majority in the opposite situation.

The issue of disagreement was the consecration in 2003 of the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Revd Gene Robinson.

In their February communiqué, the Primates requested, through TEC’s Presiding Bishop, that the House of Bishops of TEC "(1) make an unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not authorise any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions in their dioceses or through General Convention … and (2) confirm that the passing of Resolution B033 of the 75th General Convention means that a candidate for episcopal orders living in a samesex union shall not receive the necessary consent … unless some new consensus on these matters emerges across the Communion …"

The Primates requested that the answer of the House of Bishops be conveyed to the Primates by TEC’s Presiding Bishop, the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori, by 30th September. In their communiqué, the Primates warned that if the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops could not in good conscience be given, the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole would remain "damaged at best", and that this would have "consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion".

View the rest of the article here.

Archbishop Warns Anglican Conservatives

Source:  The Daily Telegraph

Date:  July 23, 2007

The Archbishop of York has warned conservative Anglican leaders that they will effectively expel themselves from the worldwide Church if they boycott next year's Lambeth Conference.

Dr John Sentamu said the conservatives risked severing themselves from the Anglican Communion

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr John Sentamu pleaded with them to attend the conference despite their war with liberals over homosexuality.

But he told them that if they "voted with their feet" they risked severing their links with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with historic Anglicanism, a breach that could take centuries to heal.

"Anglicanism has its roots through Canterbury," he said. "If you sever that link you are severing yourself from the Communion. There is no doubt about it."

The archbishop's outspoken comments will dismay conservatives, who blame the liberals for bringing the Church to the brink of schism by consecrating Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop in 2003.

A handful of archbishops and hundreds of bishops from Africa and Asia, representing well over a third of the 70 million strong worldwide Church, are threatening to boycott the Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly gathering of all Anglican bishops in Canterbury. They are angry that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has invited liberal American bishops.

Conservative leaders are now planning an alternative summit, which would destroy Dr Williams's efforts to hold the factions together.

View the rest of the article here.

Press Release:  AAC Supports Global South's Position on Lambeth and the Episcopal Church

July 20, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Robert Lundy
American Anglican Council
770-595-6979
 
The American Anglican Council (AAC) applauds the recent statement from the Global South Steering Committee. The statement is "a clear warning to both Presiding Bishop Schori and Archbishop Williams," said AAC President and CEO the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson.
 
"The Global South and their 40 million congregants refuse to sit by and watch The Episcopal Church (TEC) defy Communion agreements and legally persecute those U.S. parishes that wish to remain faithful to the Gospel and church teaching," said Anderson.
 
The Global South Primates urged TEC to reconsider its rejection of the Dar Es Salaam Communiqué requests and principles and called for TEC's "heartfelt repentance and genuine change" in order to restore true communion. The statement also called the Anglican Church of Canada to task for their declaration that “same-sex blessing is not core doctrine” and their defiance of Windsor Report recommendations. The statement made clear the Global South's intention to continue extending pastoral care to U.S. based churches and to make similar provisions for biblically faithful churches in Canada. It also showed the Global South's resolve to not attend next year's Lambeth conference unless the Archbishop of Canterbury reconsiders his Lambeth invitations and allows for discipline in the Communion and true reconciliation.
 
Anderson said the statement "is the best news and the clearest word we have received in a very long while."
 
The Global South Steering Committee reiterated the Primates’ request for TEC to immediately suspend litigation against “congregations and individuals which wish to remain Anglican but are unable to do so within TEC.” It also alluded to a future where orthodox Anglican churches in the U.S. have their own ecclesiastical structure separate from the Episcopal Church.
 
"This is more than a message of hope for weary Christians; this is a call to action from the Global South Primates. Our plan at the AAC is to act alongside the Global South and fellow orthodox Anglican Christians,” Anderson said.

Assassination Attempt on Bishop of Jos

Source:  Anglican Mainstream

Date:  July 24, 2007

by Chris Sugden, Canon of St Luke’s Cathedral, Jos, Nigeria

For the second time in 18 months an attempt has been made on the life of Bishop Benjamin Kwashi, the Bishop of Jos, Plateau State in Northern Nigeria. Early on the morning of Tuesday July 24 at 2.15 a.m. a gang of men, more than five in number bound the two security guards at the gates of his compound and locked up the four domestic staff.

Armed with guns and knives, they then battered through the doors of the house, went upstairs and marched Bishop Ben Kwashi downstairs and outside.

They told Bishop Ben, they were going to kill him. Then, inexplicably the men changed their minds, gave up that plan, took him back inside and ransacked the house for valuables. They beat up his teenage son Rinji. Help came after about half an hour.

“I have seen a miracle”, Bishop Kwashi said to me this morning. “Join me in thanking God that my life has been spared again. This is the second time in 18 months that an attempt has been made on my life.” (In February 2006 a gang came in search of him to the house, but he was away. They beat up his wife Gloria and left her blinded for a while.) “This is now the second time that Gloria has seen all this. It is worse for her. Please pray for her.”

View the rest of the article here.