1) http://acinw.org/ ACINW NEWS RELEASE World's Largest Anglican Province Severs Communion with Bishop and Diocese of New Westminster Archbishop Akinola Says New West decision "flagrant disregard"for Anglican Communion FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1 June 2003 VANCOUVER, CANADA - The largest Anglican Province in the world and its 17 million members, 81 Bishop, and 10 Archbishops, have severed communion with the Bishop and Diocese of New Westminster. The unprecedented step means that the Province of Nigeria no longer considers the Diocese or Bishop of New Westminster, or its ordained clergy, to be part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In a statement issued May 30th, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, The Most Revd Peter Akinola said that "the much desired reflection that will ease the strain on our Communion has been jettisoned. Furthermore, failure to ensure strict compliance with resolutions duty passed at our meetings clearly shows that Bishop Ingham and his diocese see no value in being accountable to anybody.' Quoting from his own statement issued in September of 2002, at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Hong Kong, Archbishop Akinola said ""it is significant that those dioceses most tempted to indulge themselves with unilateral actions, taken without consulting the wider Communion, seem so often to be among those materially most advantaged and to be in the global north ... Do we not see here, in the ready assertion of superior wisdom, a new imperialism?" Calling the action of New Westminster a "this flagrant disregard for the Anglican Communion and what the vast majority of it stand for". Archbishop Akinola says it is "inevitable" that his Province has to sever all relations with the Bishop and the Diocese of New Westminster. The first blessing in the Diocese of New Westminster took place only two days after Archbishop Akinola and his fellow Senior Archbishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion issued a pastoral letter saying that "it is through liturgy that we express what we believe, and that there is no theological consensus about same sex unions. Therefore, we as a body cannot support the authorization of such rites." Peter Turner, spokesperson for the coalition of orthodox parishes known as the Anglican Communion in New Westminster, says the radical action of this Diocese is in effect tearing itself from the worldwide church. "It's effectively orphaning our parishes, who want to remain aligned with the rest of the church." The day after the first blessing, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams issued a statement saying that ""in taking this action and ignoring the considerable reservations of the Church, repeatedly expressed and most recently by the Primates, the diocese has gone significantly further than the teaching of the Church or pastoral concern can justify." Canon Dr. Bill Atwood is General Secretary of Ekklesia, a coalition of about 170 Bishops Archbishops from thirty-one countries. Dr. Atwood says the step is "extremely serious, because severed communion is the most dramatic step a Province can take. In everyday terms, it's like a divorce. It's non-recognition." He says the step is so rare that it's difficult to establish exactly what it will mean in practical terms, adding that it is the strongest signal yet that the worldwide church may be on the brink of a real split. -30- For more information and backgrounders, please point your browser to http://www.acinw.org/media.html 2) http://www.anglican.tk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=193 30 May 2003 SEVERANCE OF COMMUNION WITH BISHOP INGHAM AND THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER The Church of Nigeria is deeply saddened by the news that "Anglicanism has officially sanctioned same-sex union." The telegraphic news has a story captioned "First Anglican 'gay wedding' infuriates traditionalists." In the body of the write-up the correspondents remarked, "Anglicanism's first officially sanctioned same-sex blessing took place on Wednesday night in St. Margaret's Church in Vancouver after Bishop Ingham published the rite." You will recall that at the ACC12 in Hong Kong, on September 25th 2002, I issued a statement to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. In that statement I said inter alia: "While I appreciate that the New Westminster diocese and the Church of Canada may not be, in numerical terms, especially large ecclesia bodies, but we value them as dearly as we value all our partner Provinces. We have a growing fear for the sense of loss which any sustained departure by them from our common path and mind must risk. We urge and pray that reflection will lead to reconsideration. It is hard indeed to see any action, which threatens our Communion to be justified as a "local mission priority." But there is also a further context of which I must speak, painful though it is. May of us from the two-thirds world feel that the global north still seeks to retain its disproportionate power and influence in our Church just as in the world. It is significant that those dioceses most tempted to indulge themselves with unilateral actions, taken without consulting the wider Communion, seem so often to be among those materially most advantaged and to be in the global north. Should this not occasion reflection? Do we not see here, in the ready assertion of superior wisdom, a new imperialism?" Regrettably, the much desired reflection that will ease the strain on our Communion has been jettisoned. Furthermore, failure to ensure strict compliance with resolutions duly passed at our meetings clearly shows that Bishop Ingham and his diocese see no value in being accountable to anybody. It is this flagrant disregard for the Anglican Communion and what the vast majority of it stand for; that has made it inevitable for the over 17 million Anglicans in Nigeria spread over 80 dioceses, served by 81 Bishops,10 Archbishops and one Metropolitan/Primate, to sever communion with Bishop Ingham and the diocese of New Westminster. Most Revd Peter J. Akinola DD. Primate of All Nigeria. Secretariat: 23, Douala Street, Wuse P. O. Box 212, ADCP, Abuja, Nigeria. Tel: +234-9-523-6950, 523-0987/9, Fax: 523-1527, 523-0986. E-mail: Website: http://www.anglican-nig.org 3) http://www.forwardinfaith.com/news/news-index.html Forward in Faith(North America) Statement Feast of the Visitation May 31, 2003 Forward in Faith (North America) wishes to commend the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, for his statement in response to the ecclesiastically and theologically erroneous decision of the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster to attempt to bless a same-sex relationship in the context of a religious ceremony. We commend the Archbishop's statement that this Diocese "has gone significantly further than the teachings of the Church or pastoral concern can justify." We also commend The Most Rev'd Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies, and Chairman of the Ekklesia Primates Council, for his hard work at the recent Primates Meeting in Brazil, and particularly for his godly judgment that Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster is now "outside the flock." We further commend The Most Rev'd Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo, Primate of Uganda, in his godly judgment of Bishop Ingham that, "He needs to repent. His teaching is heretical." Forward in Faith(North America) strives through prayer and teachings, and by submission to the historically accepted formularies for Faith and Order in God's Church, to uphold all that is true and life-giving. What New Westminster has done (and we are sadly aware of American Dioceses that do the same quietly) is to assert itself above and beyond Church teaching, thus causing disunity and further fragmentation in the Body of Christ. This Diocese and others do what they please, disregarding their primary calling as humble and obedient parts of a family of churches that comprise the Anglican Communion, whose primary calling is that of being a family of Gospel Truth. We respectfully and seriously call upon all Bishops and Dioceses to state that New Westminster and Dioceses that do the same have severed themselves from even the minimum of Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship that still binds the Anglican Communion together. Kyrie Elesion. End 4) http://www.anglican.tk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=192 Two Primates Speak Out Archbishops Yong and Kolini Statement Concerning Recent Events In New Westminster 5) Toronto Sun Newspaper, Sun, June 1, 2003 Outing the Anglicans, By Marianne Meed Ward To read, click on: http://www.torontosun.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/Lifestyle/2003/06/01/100571.html 6) http://www.acinw.org/ Anglican Communion Reacts to Same-sex blessings In New Westminster On May 28th, 2003, the first officially-sanctioned blessing of a same-sex union in the Anglican church took place at an Anglican parish in East Vancouver. The event occurred two days after the church's Primates who are the senior Archbishops of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion, collectively issued a pastoral letter. The letter read: "The question of public rites for the blessing of same sex unions is still a cause of potentially divisive controversy. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke for us all when he said that it is through liturgy that we express what we believe, and that there is no theological consensus about same sex unions. Therefore, we as a body cannot support the authorization of such rites." -Statement from the Anglican Communion in New Westminster: A Diocese does not have the mandate to raise itself above the spiritual unity of the Anglican Communion and the authority of Scripture on which it is based...Never before has a single Diocese so abruptly and brazenly repudiated the church's 38 Primates and their desire for Anglican unity. -Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams: As the recent Primates'meeting made clear, the public liturgy of the Church expresses the mind of the Church on doctrinal matters and there is nothing approaching a consensus in support of same-sex unions. In taking this action and ignoring the considerable reservations of the Church, repeatedly expressed and most recently by the Primates, the diocese has gone significantly further than the teaching of the Church or pastoral concern can justify and I very much regret the inevitable tension and division that will result from this development.' -Primate of All Nigeria, Most Revd Peter Akinola: "The much desired reflection that will ease the strain on our Communion has been jettisoned. Furthermore, failure to ensure strict compliance with resolutions duly passed at our meetings clearly shows that Bishop Ingham and his diocese see no value in being accountable to anybody. It is this flagrant disregard for the Anglican Communion and what the vast majority of it stand for, that has made it inevitable for the over 17 million Anglicans in Nigeria spread over 80 dioceses, served by 81 Bishops, 10 Archbishops and one Metropolitan/Primate, to severe communion with Bishop Ingham and the diocese of new Westminster. -Primate of The West Indies, Most Revd Archbishop Drexel Gomez (as quoted in London Daily Telegraph):"I am very disturbed and upset. I will be in consultation with some of the primates over the next few days, but it's clear to me that there's going to be some kind of dislocation.' Archbishop Gomez said Bishop Ingham should not be invited to the 2O08 Lambeth Conference, the yearly council of Anglican bishops, because he was now 'outside the flock'. -Primate of South India: 'Here is the truth: Because the Western Church, particularly in North America (USA and Canada) has utterly rejected the request from Anglican leaders of other provinces to abandon the pursuit of the divisive agenda of attempting to bless and normalize homosexual behavior, the consequence is that we are at a great and historic fork in the road. If Western provinces do not wish to continue in fellowship with us around a series of historically agreed positions, we will not force them to do so. Neither can we be forced to continue an association that is leading people away from Jesus Christ and the Anglican Way.' -Primate of Kenya, Most Rev'd Benjamin Nzimbi: What I am saying by [Ingham's] actions, that he does not regard the Primate Letters and Lambeth resolution, and therefore they are putting themselves out of the Communion. -Thirteen Canadian Bishops: Any bishops and clergy that do proceed will be breaking communion with large portions of the Anglican world, and will have impaired standing in the worldwide communion...In the face of the unconstitutional and independent action by New Westminster, the teachings of Scripture, the Universal Church, and the Global Anglican Communion and the Guidelines of the House of Bishops stand unchanged.This action of New Westminster is in clear contravention of the authority of the Canadian House of Bishops, which during their Mississauga meeting of October 2002 called on all Bishops to adhere to the guidelines.
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