At least seven congregations in western Washington state are seeking to form an Anglican diocese outside of the Episcopal Church but within its ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The congregations, calling themselves the Diocese of Cascadia, have sent a formal application for membership as a diocese to the newly formed Anglican Church in North America, said the Rev. Kevin Allen, rector of the recently formed St. Brendan's Anglican Church in Bellingham.
"We have various Anglican churches in the region that want to continue in mission and support what we share in common," Allen said in a telephone interview from his office March 18. "It seems very natural to come together and explore how to do that together under the eventual jurisdiction of a bishop."
He called it "a very positive move ahead in what we feel we have to offer among all the choices of ecumenical churches in the region. Our hope is to grow successfully in our church and mission and to welcome other congregations so they feel part of a larger community -- and that's the Good News proposition as well," he added. Read moreWhen posting your comments please give a full name and location. Comments without this information may not be posted.
I am pleased to see that the congregations in Washington are forming a diocese.
ReplyDeleteI am writing a series on governance in the Anglican Church in North America in which I examine the provisional constitution and canons and their implications. I already have two articles in that series posted on the Internet. I thought that English readers might be interested in reading them. The first is Bigger Is Better. Or Is It?" It is on the Internet at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-is-better-or-is-it.html
ReplyDeleteThe second article is "Ecclesiastical Government in the Anglican Church in North America." It is on the Internet at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/03/ecclesiastical-government-in-anglican.html
I am in the midst of drafting a third article, "The Episcopate in the Anglican Church of North America."
One of my concerns is the ACNA's abandonment of the synodical form of ecclesiastical government. Too much power is concentrated in the Provincial Council. The ACNA leadership is doing by constitutional and canonical means in the ACNA what Presiding Bishop Schori and the Executive Council are seeking to do by extraconstitutional and extracanonical meansin The Episcopal Church. I am not going to speculate on the motives of the ACNA leadership but from my perspective they are on the wrong track.
I have submitted an alternative constitution or the ACNA to the ACNA leadership. It is based upon the constitutions of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone of America and is on the Internet at:http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/01/proposed-constitution-of-anglican.html
For those who may be interested, I have posted the third article in my series on the ACNA provisional constitution and canons, "The Episcopate in the Anglican Church in North America," on my web log Anglicans Ablaze at:
ReplyDeletehttp://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/03/episcopate-in-anglican-church-in-north.html
It is also on the Internet at: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10184