UPDATE: We have the ACN statement here, the statement from the Archbishop of Nigeria here, and the Statement from the Archbishop of Uganda here.GREAT NEWS coming from the Global South this morning. This powerfully demonstrates that the Global South of the Anglican Communion is resolved and united:
StandFirm Reports: CONSECRATION OF THE REVD. CANON DR. BILL ATWOOD AS SUFFRAGAN BISHOP ON THURSDAY 30TH AUGUST, 2007
FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF KENYA
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.
God in His mercy has granted us a great salvation in Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit. The foundations of that faith have been celebrated and shared through many centuries and cultures. In particular, we rejoice in the godly Christian heritage of this faith that we have received in the Anglican Communion.
Now, the fabric of the Anglican Communion has been torn by the actions of The Episcopal Church. The damage has been exacerbated by the failure of the House of Bishops there to provide for the care called for in the Windsor Report and to reject the Pastoral Council offered through the primates in their Communiqué from Dar es Salaam.
Tragically, the Episcopal Church has refused to provide adequate care for the faithful who continue steadfastly in “the faith once delivered to the saints.” Following months of consultation with other provinces, the Anglican Church of Kenya is taking steps to provide for the care of churches under our charge.
As a part of a broader and coordinated plan with other provinces, the ACK will consecrate The Revd Canon Dr. Bill Atwood as Suffragan bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese, Nairobi of the ACK to support the international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya, including support of Kenyan clergy and congregations in North America.
Our goal is to collaborate with faithful Anglicans (including those in North America who are related with other provinces). A North American Anglican Coalition can provide a safe haven for those who maintain historic Anglican faith and practice, and offer a way to live and work together in the furtherance of the Gospel.
Yours sincerely,
The Most Rev. Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi
ARCHBISHOP OF KENYA &
BISHOP OF ALL SAINTS CATHEDRAL DIOCESE
George Conger is reporting for The Living Church:
Kenyan Primate to Consecrate Former Episcopalian as U.S. Bishop<
The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi, Primate of Kenya, has announced he will consecrate the Rev. Canon Bill Atwood as a suffragan bishop to oversee the U.S.-based congregations of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK).
The Aug. 30 consecration of Canon Atwood as “Suffragan Bishop of All Saints' Cathedral Diocese, Nairobi” is “part of a broader and coordinated plan with other provinces,” Archbishop Nzimbi said on June 12, to “support the international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya, including support of Kenyan clergy and congregations in North America.”
An undisclosed number of Global South primates are expected to participate in Canon Atwood’s consecration in Nairobi and are expected to work with the Kenyan Church in forming a “North American Anglican Coalition.”
The coalition will “provide a safe haven for those who maintain historic Anglican faith and practice, and offer a way to live and work together in the furtherance of the gospel,” the statement said.
Archbishop Nzimbi stated The Episcopal Church had torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion and the House of Bishops had “exacerbated” the damage by failing to provide adequate pastoral care for the “faithful” and for rejecting the pastoral council “offered through the primates in their communiqué from Dar es Salaam.”
Read the rest here.
9 comments:
cool. . . but "ACK" is a rather unfortunate acronym. . .
Way to go Kenya. I did notice however that NAAC seems to be an anagram of of CANA.
Hmmm... :-)
Yes, this does show resolve but how does this move show the unity of the Global South Primates? There are now three separate African jurisdictions vying for American parishes and the hearts and minds of American reasserters.
This lurking "reappraiser" is truly curious: how is this helpful?
See Archbishop Akinola's statement here: http://www.anglican-nig.org/main.php?k_j=12&d=64&p_t=index.php?
and Archbishop Orombi's statement here:
http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/3618/
bb
Thoughtful statements on the part of each Primate.
andrew: I found this to be a helpful explanation by Fr. Matt Kennedy over on Stand Firm:
VaAnglican, this is my comment in answer to a similar question from another thread:
This is very very good. CAPA, AMiA, and now NAAC...it looks like a college of orthodox bishops is being formed by at least three primates...although the Telegraph notes up to “six” may be involved in this move and ++Nzimbi intimates that this is in cooperation with other provinces. I would suppose that primates with N. American parishes (not in CANA or AMiA) may be involved in Atwood’s+ concecration since ++Akinola and ++Rwanda are already spoken for.
It looks like a college of orthodox bishops may be forming with the potential to join forces with the Network and common cause. This could be the beginning of something very very big, the formation of a province untainted by heterodoxy.
The best thing about it is that it has the potential to survive and thrive apart from Canterbury if need-be and if in fact this college does form, it effectively binds the various provinces together in much the same way that marriages bind families. We could be seeing the first moves away from a canterbury centered communion or at least the possibiity of such a thing if Canterbury does not act.
Posted by Matt Kennedy on 06-13-2007 at 05:35 AM [link]
This powerfully demonstrates that the Global South of the Anglican Communion is resolved and united:
I do *hate* spin. Now Rev. Canon Bill Atwood is an amazing man for he has more support than any other in similar circumstance. Honestly the +Minns installation seemed self-hyped by CANA cheer-leading, +Murphy was scorned but this man has unsolicited praise from many folks.
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I think this is a VERY important criticism from “Communion Conservative." I think it's important to listen to this criticism.
The debates between Dr. Seitz and Matt Kennedy+ all over SF & T19 have proven very educational. Also showed how much some have tried to present a false united front instead of a real one.
It does baffle me how people think these differences will just go away. I wrote an email to Minns+ 2/8/06 about trying to connect some of these Bolivian and Ugandan and the AMiA parishes together, off to the ether, I sent the same to Haley+ 2/21/06, same. I had gross neglect of professional duty not at one but two CANA parishes, so I 'crossed boarders' to the AMiA one, I can tell you that there been no cross over (it's not stopped the AMiA one from networking with every Baptist, Methodist and non-dom in the area - oddly more joint projects than with Truro & TFC but in balance). However I do doubt that +Thad & +Martyn met last week when they'd been a few miles apart.
I know there will be a photo op in Sept. where all of Common Cause can line up and look unified. I'm more concern for true unity, not just because we say so or pretend so.
I've help with a few of the ecumenical in Manassas¹. Not the big one, where even the national paper took notice as the schools let the churches in to mentor students in Prince William County. They had Dave Roever come and speak, a big deal. That was after a lot of work and peace making, making sure the Baptist pastor could work with the Pentecostal pastor, no joke, the other priest and pastors knew there could be issues and confronted them who promised they could work together. Even the ones I help out with the monthly meeting and Pentecost Celebration at All Saints Roman Catholic Church was a lot of work and egg shells of how to be unified but also recognize the differences.
I do not see this "Global South of the Anglican Communion is resolved and united," I see some of the GS is unified (resolved I don't doubt), but I do charge how that can change. Maybe +Atwood will be a key figure since he has a pile of praise heaped on him unsolicited. I do think it'll take effort on the ground much more than there has been also letting go of turf battle that could arise.
Knowing the truth is better than the spin, for you can deal with an issue if it's known. Else like my dad's clogged artery, if there is problem have this nasty habit of showing up no matter how much happy-face you place on the issue.
¹ (Manassas, Virginia was declared "The City of Churches" in a 1911 Life magazine article because it had more churches per capita than anywhere else in the US at that time. All the churches knew that and so Manassas has had more ecumenical movement than anywhere I've seen. It is better focus than our other claim to fame, being the first major battle of the bloodest war in the nation's history).
I'll be in Nairobi visiting St. Nicholas Children's Home during the consecration. Looking forward to attending and bringing greetings from Fairfax VA
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