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DIFFERING TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN COMMUNION (TAC) REACTIONS TO ROMAN INCLUSION

IN THE TAC'S CANADIAN AFFILIATE, the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC), the top leaders of which generally agreed to follow through on the decision to go under Roman Catholic jurisdiction (see The Certain Trumpet Summer 2010), dissenters have had to take the initiative in opting out of the prospective Anglican Ordinariate approved by Pope Benedict and the Vatican in late 2009.

So far, two ACCC congregations in British Columbia (Holy Cross, Nanaimo, and St. Columba's, Halfmoon Bay) and five in Ontario (St. Mary's, Chapleau; St. Athanasius', Belleville; St. John's, Parry Sound; Holy Trinity and St. Jude's, Thunder Bay; and Resurrection, Windsor) have done so. In addition, three splinter congregations have been formed to oppose the move (St. Bride's, from St. Patrick's, Pitt Meadows, BC; St. Mark's, from St. John's Cathedral, Victoria; and St. Matthew's, from Annunciation Cathedral, Ottawa).

All of these are small, having less than 50 communicants each, but so are the ACCC's 30 remaining congregations (listed in its February 2011 Diocesan Calendar). And this latter majority group is estimated by our Canadian correspondent to number less than 500 communicants. Each of the dissenting congregations has become affiliated with a US-based Continuing Church jurisdiction: Holy Cross and St. Mark's with the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), and the other eight with the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), which in turn is in communion with the APCK.

IT HAS BEEN A DIFFERENT STORY with the TAC's US jurisdiction, the Anglican Church in America (ACA). Perhaps sensing a large enough opposition to coming under Rome to cause problems, the ACA leadership set up in October 2010 a "Patrimony of the Primate" under Bishop David Moyer as a way-station for congregations wishing to go into the Ordinariate. In other words, ACA parishes and missions have had to opt in rather than opt out, as in Canada.

Moreover, three out of the ACA's four continental US diocesans decided to stay put; only Bishop Louis Campese of the Diocese of the Eastern US (DEUS) followed the desires of TAC Archbishop John Hepworth and the ACA House of Bishops President Louis Falk in moving Romeward.

Consistent with this, Bishop Campese's DEUS appears to have contributed the largest number of congregations of any ACA diocese to the Patrimony (we have counted 11, and there may be up to six more) and it furnishes the two largest parishes in the latter: Christ the King, Towson, MD, and the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Orlando, FL (with approximately 180 and 160 communicants, respectively). Of the other nine parishes we have identified, we know of only one, Our Lady of the Angels, New Smyrna Beach, FL, as having 50 or more communicants. Even so, with a rough estimate of 550 communicants, it looks as if just the DEUS component of the Patrimony alone is responsible for more persons going to Rome than all those from the ACCC doing so. In recognition of all this, Bishop Campese, who claims to have brought 40 of his DEUS priests with him, was allowed to retain the one sub-structure noted within the Patrimony, the Pro-Diocese of the Holy Family. (Note that the DEUS website listed 25 congregations as of October 2010.)

Clearly next in importance is the group going to Rome from the ACA Diocese of the West, for it has Christ the Redeemer, San Diego (over 100 communicants); St. Mary of the Angels, Hollywood (80); Holy Nativity, Payson, AZ (60); and St. Augustine of Canterbury, Vista, CA (60) among its six congregations (out of a diocese formerly numbering 20). The total communicant strength of the group there is thought to be about 350. The (non-Patrimonial) ACA Bishop of the Diocese of the Missouri Valley (20 congregations) doubts that any one of his five departing parishes, except for St. Barnabas', Omaha (100), has more than 20 communicants (but St. Aidan's, Des Moines, claims about 25). His counterpart in the Diocese of the Northeast sees few departures. (We found one out of 30, but it has an in-season attendance of less than ten.)

WE HAVE ACCOUNTED for 23 out of the 29 congregations Archbishop Hepworth cited as joining the Patrimony as of February 2011. (1) Admittedly, our DEUS list may not be complete, and the primate may have included here the four Puerto Rican congregations said to be ready to go to Rome (along with their bishop Juan Garcia), but who have not as yet made formal application. Rome is not likely to be too excited about some 1,000 Americans and 500 Canadians joining its ranks, but might find it useful to have a pool of priests (61 from the ACA), according to Hepworth (2) from which to draw much-needed clergy. The rival Anglican Catholic Church has secured at least 12 new parishes as a result of this situation (see also The Certain Trumpet Summer 2010); but the ACA, at about 70 congregations, still remains one of the larger Continuing jurisdictions.

THE MISSIONARY DIOCESE OF ALL SAINTS (MDAS)

Forward in Faith, North America (FIF/NA), which is theologically opposed to women's ordination, is continuing its policy of cooperating with conservative but pro-priestess elements in opposing the homosexual agenda and thereby remaining linked to the (we hope) "moral majority" within the worldwide Anglican Communion. Thus, FIF/NA participated in the June 2009 founding of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the "new province" led by Archbishop Robert Duncan and recognized by leaders representing most members of the Communion. The three Episcopal Church (TEC) dioceses that were under FIF/NA leadership (Fort Worth, Quincy, and San Joaquin), plus the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), entered the ACNA intact, forming a sort of anti-priestess cabal therein. To give additional congregations the same opportunity, the FIF/NA set up, under its senior vice president, William H. Ilgenfritz, a catch-all Missionary Diocese of All Saints. The latter's founding convocation was just such a catch-all, with its eight congregations including four from outside the ACNA, two from ACNA jurisdictions not opposed to women priests, and two "church plants." But its three subsequent convocations were all pre-existing dioceses that had originally come from the anti-priestess, anti-gay Charismatic Episcopal Church, a body formed by Pentecostals and Evangelicals in the early ’90s.

The convocational structure of the MDAS looks like this:

So far, the MDAS is one of the ACNA's "dioceses-in-formation". It has met one of the ACNA's requirements for full status—total average Sunday attendance (ASA) of at least 1,000. (It has nearly 1,300.) It has not as yet met the other requirement of 12 parishes of 50 or more communicants, for it has only seven in this category:

THE ANGLICAN WAY OF DIOCESAN FORMATION?

A modest beginning thus marks both the Patrimony and the Missionary Diocese. For sure, only seven of the 31 congregations of the MDAS have an average Sunday attendance of 50 or more. And we can only find eight of the 23-29 parishes and missions of the Patrimony of the TAC Primate with a communicant strength exceeding this number. Each has an identifiable plurality of about 33 percent: the Convocation of Christ the Redeemer in the MDAS (10 congregations) and the Pro-Diocese of the Holy Family (11 or more) with the Patrimony.

But even more amazing than these numerical similarities are the dual positions held by their top leaders: each is simultaneously a rector of a parish not under his jurisdiction but in a Pennsylvania diocese that accepts women priests. MDAS ordinary William Ilgenfritz is also rector of St. Mary's, Charleroi, Diocese of Pittsburgh, Anglican Church in North America; and Patrimony head David Moyer is de facto rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Diocese of Pennsylvania, Episcopal Church (which does not, however, recognize him in this position).

TRIPLE-THREAT WOMEN AND THEIR COMMON INSTITUTION

With the major divisive factors in The Episcopal Church (TEC) in recent years being the provision for ordaining women as priests and bishops in 1976, and the homosexual agenda (culminating in the Robinson consecration in 2003), and, arguably, its major moral issue being that of abortion, it is interesting how all three of these unorthodoxies are so often found in single individuals associated with the same institution. Moreover, some of the outstanding lesbian "priests" pushing the abortion "rights" issue—Katherine Ragsdale, Carter Heyward, and Elizabeth Kaeton—have all been associated with Episcopal Divinity School (EDS), Cambridge, MA.

Ragsdale, most recently in the news for "marrying" fellow cleric Mally Lloyd, has been dean of EDS since 2009. She had been chairman from 1992-2000 of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), which even opposed the federal ban on partial-birth abortion. In 2007, Ragsdale made a well-publicized speech in which she called abortion a "blessing". (3)

Heyward, upon her 2005 retirement from the EDS faculty, received the Louis Crew award from Integrity, the chief homosexual advocacy group in TEC. Among other things, Heyward is famous for her 1985 statement that "if women were in charge, abortion would be a sacrament". (4)

Kaeton is convener of the Episcopal Women's Caucus (EWC), a feminist group advocating women in the priesthood and episcopate as well as abortion "rights" (and, as such, an affiliate of the RCRC, as is the TEC as a whole). A former member of the Integrity Board, Kaeton authored the appreciation of Heyward in the fall 2005 Voice of Integrity at the time of the latter's retirement. At present, Kaeton is "Proctor Fellow" at—you guessed it—EDS.

It is appalling that such people have been so successful!

IN DEFENSE OF THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

Liberal Episcopalians, in reacting to the Nigerian Anglican Church's strong stand against homosexual practice, often accuse it of hypocrisy, in light of its perceived toleration of polygamy. But VirtueOnline carried a May 5, 2008 statement by former Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola condemning polygamy in no uncertain terms.

Anglo-Catholics sometimes complain that the Nigerian Church is "too protty". Maybe so, but I would like to relate my one direct contact with it. I attended the Lagos Cathedral on a weekday feria and found that it had Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, each attended by about 40 people and with about a 50 percent overlap (some 20 attending both services). Would that some of our Anglo-Catholic parishes could do as well!

THE RED FACE DEPARTMENT

In the hardcopy of our last The Certain Trumpet (Summer 2010; corrected online), we had St. Barnabas', Omaha as a Forward in Faith parish still in The Episcopal Church. In fact it left TEC in 2007 for the Anglican Church in America and recently opted for Rome via the Patrimony of the Primate (see above).

R.I.P. DONALD DEKIEFFER

We mourn the death of Donald DeKieffer, former FCC secretary and still publisher of The Certain Trumpet at the time of his unexpected death in February. Mr. DeKieffer was a Washington, DC, lawyer specializing in foreign trade and an author and world traveler as well. He was a communicant and sometime vestryman of SS. Andrew and Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church (ACC), Alexandria, VA. A memorial service for Don at that parish is tentatively scheduled at this writing for the afternoon of Wednesday, May 11. Contact the church at (703) 683-3343 for details.

VICTORIA CONFERENCE: "RE-AFFIRMATION: CELEBRATING OUR ANGLICAN HERITAGE"

Elements of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) remaining out of that jurisdiction's move toward Rome are sponsoring a conference on the future of Anglicanism in Victoria, BC, from Wednesday, June 1 at 5 PM thru Saturday, June 4, at 1:30 PM.

Archbishops Mark Haverland (ACC) and James Provence (APCK) as well as leaders of other jurisdictions will be attending. The FCC is fully supporting this meeting, which takes the place of its normal biennial regional conference.

Registration is $200, which includes the cost of lunches and dinners during the span of the conference. Hotels in downtown Victoria run from about $105 per night (including tax).

There is a passenger-only hydrofoil from Seattle that makes it to Victoria in less than three hours. Car ferries are available from Vancouver, BC, and Port Angeles and Anacortes in Washington State (the latter going through the scenic San Juan Islands). Victoria is a tourist destination, and combining the conference with a few extra vacation days should be a consideration (e.g., the nearby Buchart Gardens are world famous!).

For further information, call Father Marriott at (604) 551-4660.

Please note that US Citizens will need a passport to re-enter their own country.

Notes:

1. http://www.theanglocatholic.com/tag/archbishop-john-hepworth
2. Ibid.
3. http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/6831415856.html
4. http://www.soulwinning.info/wolves/carter.heyward.htm