"A battle currently is raging for the soul of the Anglican Communion." -- IRD Director of Anglican Action Ralph Webb
Contact: Loralei Coyle 202-682-4131, 202-905-6852 cell, lcoyle@ird-renew.org; Radio Interviews: Jeff Walton, jwalton@ird-renew.org; both with The Institute on Religion and Democracy
WASHINGTON, May 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Saturday, May 5, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns is scheduled to be installed as missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). CANA is a missionary arm of the Church of Nigeria for Nigerian Anglicans in the United States and other orthodox Anglicans who cannot in good conscience remain in the Episcopal Church. In a letter dated April 30, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori asked Church of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola not to proceed with the installation of Bishop Minns.
IRD Director of Anglican Action Ralph Webb commented,
"Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori's letter, coming as it does just a few days before Bishop Minns' installation, cannot be a serious attempt to stop the installation. Instead, it just restates what has already been known--that the Episcopal Church objects to the installation and, indeed, the very presence of CANA in the United States. She insultingly charges that the installation will jettison Anglican tradition, set back reconciliation efforts, and only contribute to division--actions that the Episcopal Church is guilty of many times over in its stances taken toward the Anglican Communion.
"Most offensively, Bishop Jefferts Schori says that the installation 'would not help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole.' Yet the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops recently rejected a 'pastoral scheme' offered by the leaders of worldwide Anglican provinces (called 'primates'). The 'scheme' was intended to promote reconciliation between the largely progressive Episcopal Church, its orthodox members, and the Anglican Communion worldwide.
"A battle currently is raging for the soul of the Anglican Communion. Most Anglicans increasingly see the need for a greater interdependence among the Communion provinces rooted in orthodox faith and practice. The Episcopal Church, however, seemingly prizes its autonomy and its own increasingly heterodox theology and social witness above the larger Anglican Communion.
"The ball remains in the Episcopal Church's court. Will it contribute to the healing of the Anglican Communion, or will it exacerbate division and disunity?"
