Conservative Anglicans formalize split

The four dioceses that have left the Episcopal Church over theological differences yesterday announced that they are forming a new Anglican province in North America -- a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church of the US and the Anglican Church of Canada. The dioceses, as well as other parishes and individuals, have mostly left the Episcopal Church since the approval of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire. But they say they have other theological differences with the Episcopal Church in addition to teachings about sexuality. The significance of the move is the subject of debate, because the new province is not, at this point, recognized as part of the global Anglican Communion.

An excerpt from a statement by the new Anglican Church in North America:

The movement unites700 orthodox Anglican congregations, representing roughly 100,000 people, in an organization that members believe will be recognized as a province – the Anglican term for the church’s largest regional jurisdictions – by many of the world’s Anglican leaders. “The purpose of this province is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his transforming love in the United States, Canada and beyond,” said Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of the Common Cause Partnership. Church officials and lay people at the news conference said that the new church would heal many years of division and unite Anglicans committed to Scripture and traditional Anglican beliefs. The preamble to the provisional constitution says that they are “grieved by the current state of brokenness within the Anglican Communion (Anglicans’ worldwide church) prompted by those who have embraced erroneous teaching and who have rejected a repeated call to repentance.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury's spokesman issued a chilly statement today in London:

"There are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces. Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, the process has not yet begun."

The New York Times had a story about the developments here, and the Chicago Tribune here.

(Photo, by Sally Ryan for The New York Times, shows a group of breakaway bishops meeting yesterday at Resurrection Anglican Church in West Chicago.)